[Miniatures] Advice?

[ToddSchumacher]

Does anyone here sculpt Minis?

I've been collecting and painting minis for a while now. I've done a little converting...mostly weapon swaps. I've been thinking about getting into full fledged sculpting.

Any advise as to what materials, tools, tips to use would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[kengar]

try checking this link:

http://lyonstudio.com/index.htm


I am nowhere near expert enough to try sculpting myself, but good luck!

 

[ToddSchumacher]

Thanks,

Just what I was looking for.

 

[mac1504]

Armatures

Reaper sells armatures in blister packs. They come in beginner and advanced (I think).

I hope that helps some in your road to sculpting.


mac1504

 

[Drakmar]

Yeah.. I just purchased a pack of the Reaper basic armatures. I have been wanting to start making my own mini's for a while.. and just found these suckers.. going to make a couple of my characters. And maybe some of the people from my campaign world.

 

[Tewligan]

On the mini I've been working on, I made the armature out of wire. I twisted a length of it so that the twisted-together part is the basis for the torso, and the two ends split off to make the legs. I roughly sculpted the figure without arms. Later, I drilled holes at the shoulders to take shorter pieces of wire, which gave the support for the arms.

Speaking of which, the mini (a CC2 high gorgon) is finally finished and painted, once I touch up the paint job on the face today. It's obviously not up to professional standards, but I'm pretty pleased with it for a first try. I'll get pix up today if I can get those #$%! eyes painted properly.

 

[Drakmar]

Sounds really cool Tewligan. I have gotten about a 1/3 of the way through my half-orc monk.. done his legs and his head...now I just have to get his arms into the drunken fist style that his stance promotes. I think that the hardest part for me is going to be his hands.

then the painting will begin.

 

[Tewligan]

I think that the hardest part for me is going to be his hands.

Actually, the hands weren't as hard as I feared they would be. For me, the toughest part was getting the musculature to look right, especially on the back. I'm going to pick up one of those books on anatomy for artists - my local Barnes & Noble had some on sale the last time I was there. Should be pretty useful if I intend to keep up this sculpting lark.

 

[Drakmar]

Yeah.. I have done one hand.. it worked out pretty good. and yeah.. the back musculature.. getting there slowly.. I have now done both his legs.. his left foot. his right arm and hand and his right shoulder and back. .and his head.. now I just have to wait for the green stuff to dry and then I can start on his left arm.

I think I may need to pick up one of those artist books too.

 

[Gizzard]

So how long does it end up taking to do a mini? From the FAQs it seemed that you had to work for 1-2 hours and then let everything dry (which is 12 hours with GreenStuff?). It seemed like it would be more than a week to do two layers of limbs plus the torso, the head and some touch-up.

Its not like I paint that much faster, so a week or two is fine, but I am curious.