Sculpting the body
Here is the next article. Photos to come soon.
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I’ll go out on a limb and say that faces are probably the most important part of a sculpt. The composition should draw the eye to that face you’ve spent so much time making perfect. It must be the art training talking, but that’s just how I see things.
After sculpting your perfect face, the rest of the anatomy needs attention. What you will find with my favorite medium, green stuff, is that it handles skin very well. You can create a smooth skinned amazon woman, or a ripple-muscled barbarian relatively easily (everything is relative though). Using your reference material, you should be able to create almost any type of person.
Proportion is as important here as it was on the face. Make sure you keep things on target. The legs, arms and torso should match the figure you are looking to create. Your armature is your friend here. I’ve found that it is best to start a couple of mini’s using an existing armature, like the ones from Reaper. Once you get a feel for the proportions in 28mm you can start making your own out of wire.
Sculpting bodies:
There are a couple of approaches available to the mini sculptor.
• You can start with the torso. This works well in that the torso is the most static component. You create the muscle tone and musculature that will define the legs and arms. If you start with the torso, you can even leave off the leg and arm wires until you are done. This will allow you to easily shape the body without working around anything.
o Once you are happy you then drill a hole, add a wire for the legs and then sculpt those in the pose.
o Or you can drill holes add wire for arms and sculpt those.
• You can start with the feet and move up the body. Your armature is pretty much already in the pose you want and you start adding details ‘on the way up.’
In both cases you build up. Add some putty, shape it, let it cure, add more. If you make a mistake, you can always cut away the part you don’t like and try again. I have used both methods. The torso method and it’s variations is becoming a favorite of mine. You have to be extra careful of proportions, but I find my sculpting has been better in this case.
Hands and Feet:
• Feet can be a challenge. You have to make them look right and be small at the same time. Obviously if you are covering them with shoes, boots, etc. you only need to rough out a shape. Otherwise, spend some extra time here. Details really do make a difference. Don’t be afraid to make toenails. I’ll provide some tips on how to do that at the end of this article.
• Hands are almost as important as faces. Many people ‘skimp’ on hands. Give them the attention they deserve. Create all 4 fingers and make sure the thumb is in a realistic place. Try to shape the knuckles slightly. Remember that hands can be mostly smooth. Even the most muscular barbarian, doesn’t have too many ‘finger’ muscles defined.
• TIP: If you make your hands too big don’t fret. Turn them into gloves or gauntlets. Your hands in gauntlets will be bigger and your attention to detail won’t be wasted. Just add a cuff on the wrist and you now have leather gauntlets.
If you are adding clothing/armor:
• It is absolutely necessary to rough out the basic forms even if you are going to cover them with clothing. Fabric drapes in a specific way across the body. If you don’t have something underneath the putty that becomes the clothing, it is much more difficult to get the draping right.
• Some sculptors do more than rough out the form. They sculpt musculature and everything. I don’t do this, but you can’t argue with the results.
• Another reason to rough out the form of the body before adding clothing is to make sure of your proportions, once again. Cloth adds bulk to a body, not height, so having the arms and legs done before adding helps keep things as realistic as possible.
Sculpting Tips:
• A burnishing tool is a must here. The body, even a muscular one, is smooth. A burnisher will smooth the green stuff to almost a sheen. One the green stuff is no longer tacky is the perfect time to burnish. Burnishing is basically just rubbing the smooth tool over your sculpt to smooth and polish it. Be careful not to push too hard as the putty will change shape with the pressure of the tool.
• Remember that burnishing can get accidental finger prints off the mini too.
• For feet, I’ve found that it works well to shape the foot as one object first. Once you are happy with the anatomy of the foot and basic shape, then using your sharp knife, slice the front of the foot into toes. Remember to round them afterwards. Aside from the big toe, the others will be very small.
• After rounding the toes, it’s time for toenails. Most of the time, I only create one for the big toe, but it all depends on the sculpt. I’ve found the easiest is to press a small rounded blade flat on the toe, and then with a sharp blade, press in underneath and in two steps you have a pretty good representation of a toenail.
• For hands, I spend more time. I rough out the shape, cut in the fingers and shape the knuckles a bit. You can take a sharp blade and cut a few ridges for knuckles that look pretty good. Use a small rounded blade for fingernails, just like toenails.
• If you are going for the heroic musculature, the best method for muscle groups should be built up. I create small cigars of putty and use them for individual muscles. You place them in the right place and then shape them into flexed or relaxed pose. This makes for very dynamic musculature. It is time consuming and you must be careful to burnish as you go because burnishing doesn’t work well in nooks and crannies.
I think that’s about all the useful information I can impart in an article on the human form. In my experience, the human body is where everyone works the hardest. Because of that, you find excellent representations at all scales. You will also find lots of books and reference material on the subject.
In my next article I’ll try and show that even with top notch anatomy, draping clothing properly can make or break your sculpt. Many of the professionals I have corresponded with enjoy draping more because it has become the bigger challenge. I think that’s only because they have mastered the human form, but that’s just my opinion.
Until next time…
Game ON!
Here is the next article. Photos to come soon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’ll go out on a limb and say that faces are probably the most important part of a sculpt. The composition should draw the eye to that face you’ve spent so much time making perfect. It must be the art training talking, but that’s just how I see things.
After sculpting your perfect face, the rest of the anatomy needs attention. What you will find with my favorite medium, green stuff, is that it handles skin very well. You can create a smooth skinned amazon woman, or a ripple-muscled barbarian relatively easily (everything is relative though). Using your reference material, you should be able to create almost any type of person.
Proportion is as important here as it was on the face. Make sure you keep things on target. The legs, arms and torso should match the figure you are looking to create. Your armature is your friend here. I’ve found that it is best to start a couple of mini’s using an existing armature, like the ones from Reaper. Once you get a feel for the proportions in 28mm you can start making your own out of wire.
Sculpting bodies:
There are a couple of approaches available to the mini sculptor.
• You can start with the torso. This works well in that the torso is the most static component. You create the muscle tone and musculature that will define the legs and arms. If you start with the torso, you can even leave off the leg and arm wires until you are done. This will allow you to easily shape the body without working around anything.
o Once you are happy you then drill a hole, add a wire for the legs and then sculpt those in the pose.
o Or you can drill holes add wire for arms and sculpt those.
• You can start with the feet and move up the body. Your armature is pretty much already in the pose you want and you start adding details ‘on the way up.’
In both cases you build up. Add some putty, shape it, let it cure, add more. If you make a mistake, you can always cut away the part you don’t like and try again. I have used both methods. The torso method and it’s variations is becoming a favorite of mine. You have to be extra careful of proportions, but I find my sculpting has been better in this case.
Hands and Feet:
• Feet can be a challenge. You have to make them look right and be small at the same time. Obviously if you are covering them with shoes, boots, etc. you only need to rough out a shape. Otherwise, spend some extra time here. Details really do make a difference. Don’t be afraid to make toenails. I’ll provide some tips on how to do that at the end of this article.
• Hands are almost as important as faces. Many people ‘skimp’ on hands. Give them the attention they deserve. Create all 4 fingers and make sure the thumb is in a realistic place. Try to shape the knuckles slightly. Remember that hands can be mostly smooth. Even the most muscular barbarian, doesn’t have too many ‘finger’ muscles defined.
• TIP: If you make your hands too big don’t fret. Turn them into gloves or gauntlets. Your hands in gauntlets will be bigger and your attention to detail won’t be wasted. Just add a cuff on the wrist and you now have leather gauntlets.
If you are adding clothing/armor:
• It is absolutely necessary to rough out the basic forms even if you are going to cover them with clothing. Fabric drapes in a specific way across the body. If you don’t have something underneath the putty that becomes the clothing, it is much more difficult to get the draping right.
• Some sculptors do more than rough out the form. They sculpt musculature and everything. I don’t do this, but you can’t argue with the results.
• Another reason to rough out the form of the body before adding clothing is to make sure of your proportions, once again. Cloth adds bulk to a body, not height, so having the arms and legs done before adding helps keep things as realistic as possible.
Sculpting Tips:
• A burnishing tool is a must here. The body, even a muscular one, is smooth. A burnisher will smooth the green stuff to almost a sheen. One the green stuff is no longer tacky is the perfect time to burnish. Burnishing is basically just rubbing the smooth tool over your sculpt to smooth and polish it. Be careful not to push too hard as the putty will change shape with the pressure of the tool.
• Remember that burnishing can get accidental finger prints off the mini too.
• For feet, I’ve found that it works well to shape the foot as one object first. Once you are happy with the anatomy of the foot and basic shape, then using your sharp knife, slice the front of the foot into toes. Remember to round them afterwards. Aside from the big toe, the others will be very small.
• After rounding the toes, it’s time for toenails. Most of the time, I only create one for the big toe, but it all depends on the sculpt. I’ve found the easiest is to press a small rounded blade flat on the toe, and then with a sharp blade, press in underneath and in two steps you have a pretty good representation of a toenail.
• For hands, I spend more time. I rough out the shape, cut in the fingers and shape the knuckles a bit. You can take a sharp blade and cut a few ridges for knuckles that look pretty good. Use a small rounded blade for fingernails, just like toenails.
• If you are going for the heroic musculature, the best method for muscle groups should be built up. I create small cigars of putty and use them for individual muscles. You place them in the right place and then shape them into flexed or relaxed pose. This makes for very dynamic musculature. It is time consuming and you must be careful to burnish as you go because burnishing doesn’t work well in nooks and crannies.
I think that’s about all the useful information I can impart in an article on the human form. In my experience, the human body is where everyone works the hardest. Because of that, you find excellent representations at all scales. You will also find lots of books and reference material on the subject.
In my next article I’ll try and show that even with top notch anatomy, draping clothing properly can make or break your sculpt. Many of the professionals I have corresponded with enjoy draping more because it has become the bigger challenge. I think that’s only because they have mastered the human form, but that’s just my opinion.
Until next time…
Game ON!
