Civilian female 1/35 - A newbies first try at sculpting a figure

[georch]

Dear Planet Figure Members!

I'm Zoltan Gorogh /georch from Hungary. I have tried myself at sculpting a female civilian from the WW2. This is my first sculpt, I've only made a bust for my girlfrend, and tried to make a 1/35 head for a soviet soldier before this (I have throw it out). I have used A+B putty (Alteco, wich is easy to find in Hungary) for the torso and for the head and I've decided to make a try with polimer clays (the brown is FIMO, the pink is a hungarian product called Formi), after the putty. It wasn't a good idea, on some places the clay haven't adhered to the putty, but after I had sanded down many from the putty torso, the clay started to work fine. Here are some pictures from the lady!
Hope You like it, any critics are welcomed!
Cheers:
Zoli/georch, from Hungary

 

[Jamie Stokes]

An excellent start, particularly in a smaller scale. she seems mostly 'on' with dimension size too. Will be good to see the rest of the figure progress towards completion.

cheers

 

[vergilius]

my wife shall be very happy with this. She always complains that we only make soldiers!

 

[dinovision79]

Hi Zoli,

looks good! The folds are natural and the face well resembles a female.

Look forward to see your progress!
Denes

 

[georch]

Thank You all for the comments Gents!
I'm happy to hear that You like her so far. I'm ready with the left arm and hand and I'm working on her right arm now!
Tomorrow I will post pictures, but now I don't have my camera at me...
Cheers:
Zoli / georch

 

[MINIATURE-ART]

great bob

 

[Dan Morton]

Very good! Please let us see the next step!

All the best,
Dan

 

[georch]

Hi Gents!
Sorry for the late update, but my weekend wasn't as calm, as I thought...
So, here are some pictures of the lady so far! I have sculpted the arms and the laft hand. I will have to work carefully with the right hand! On the pictures You can see the second try, the first wasn't good enough, so I decided to try it again. I will work on it in the next few days! (And I have to say that after watching the pictures and the figure in live, in some places she looks a bit thicker, than I've planned, so I will have to take more attention to the the overall shape and the ratios of the body, on the next figures!)
Hope You like it! I will post pictures if I will have something to show!
All the best!
Zoli / georch

 

[Mark Meuleman]

I like her, very well done, I'm looking forward to the next pictures!

best regards
Mark

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Continued good work!

And in one of the smaller scales!

Shes progressing nicely.

Going by the clothing & general build of the figure, I take it she is a mature woman, rather then a young teen?

Her facial structure, to me at least, suggests the same.

cheers

 

[georch]

Thank You Mark and Jamie!

Jamie you are rigth! She will be a mature woman! I've started to sculpt her to put her in to a small vignette with my SU-76 russian SPG and two soldiers (mostly I'm bulding scale models, airplanes and armor, but I've found these polimer clays at the local artists store and I just had to make a try... And I'm really enjoying it)!

Cheers:
Zoli / georch

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Sculpting - me too!!

Zoli,
I'm going to try my hand at sculpting too. Probably larger then 54mm/ 1:35 for a first effort.
Knowing my style, I'll probably do a whole bunch of first trial/ test efforts in Artists modelling clays (known as Plasticine sometimes), so if you can manage it in 54mm, I'm sure I could do similar in. say, 120mm.

cheers!

 

[georch]

Great to hear it Jamie!
Just go ahead and let us see how it's going!
I don't have any experiences with Plasticine, but I've read that it is a non drying clay and it couldn't been baked. so maybe a bakeable clay would be better, but others, with more experiences will tell, if it would work! I really like that if 'm done with a part of the figure, I can bake it and than I can continue sculpting without the danger of damage the already done things!
Cheers:
Zoli / georch

 

[georch]

Quick update

Ok! A quick update!
I am almost done with the right arm and hand, still needs to do some detail work, but it will look something liket this (maybe the upper part of the arm is a bit short, I don't know, something is not OK with it...)!
The hand was really hard to do... it was the 3rd try and I'm not sure if it would be better, so I let it as it is now. I will work on its overall shape and on the fingers in the next few days. The pullover still needs some details to be added.
I realised that the head and face (from epoxy putty) does not stand the high temperature (it was getting more and more browner...), that the clay needs to be baked, so I have made a resin copy of it, if anything unexpected would happen!
Hope to post some more updates, but I have to work hard, and to learn, so I'm not sure, when I will have something to show You!
Thanks for watching it! Criticism is welcomed, as always!
All the best!
Zoli / georch

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Continued improvement!

Georch,
like how she's progressing. I'm learning, from your efforts, the challenges of mixing two different types of 'clay'.

Anatomy; the arms look alright, nothing leaping out that looks off, so you must have sculpted her close to accurate, at least.

On the right hand, there is a slight over spacing between the 2nd & 3rd fingers. Short of correcting it by cutting out a sliver and closing the gap, not sure how else it could be corrected.

Very smart to do a resin copy of the head. I am going to steal that idea for my work bench!!
So far, so good.

As for references, I searched the site here, and the much respected (& missed) Roy Hunt posted these links, I attach below. Hope these help with your sculpting!

Main site for anatomy for artists
http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1

Heads and hands direct link, from the main site just above.
http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=14

Working on my sculpture efforts, still at the start stages of armature & dimensions. First one will be 40mm, tiny, but for fun & learning mostly!!

cheers

 

[georch]

Thanks Jamie for the links, and suggestion! I will try to correct the fingers, hopefully, it will turn out to be nicer!
Cheers:
Zoli

 

[Mark Meuleman]

I think...

...you did a brilliant job with this figure; I still haven’t given figure sculpting a try myself but I’m sure if I would, my first creature will look awful compared to this nice lady! My hat’s off to you!

Best regards
Mark

 

[georch]

Thank You Mark!
I'm glad You like her!

 

[georch]

She's almost done

Good evning Gents!
I can report, that my first figure is almost done!
I have made her boots and have resculpt her skirt from Fimo (first it was made from another clay and I did not really like its shape). I have resculpt her head and I've added a collar of her (invisible, becouse her pullover hides it from us) shirtwaist. I have added her hair today, maybe I will add some more hair to her back, to make it a little bit longer. While I was taking pictures, she fell down and one of her fingers was broke down... I am still not satisfied with the right hand, so I will try to sculpt another one. Pictures will show more than words!

I had a little problem, becouse during the baking of the figure small cracks have appeared... On theskirt and on the left boot... I really don't know why, I did the same every time and once it happened... I will corrcet them with surfacer, I think!

Hope You like her, and if you have suggestion, or critics, just let me know!
Cheers:
Zoli / georch

And a picture, that I have made earlyer, from the small vignette, that I'm planning to build:

 

[Jamie Stokes]

baking figures

Hi Georch,
one of the threads on here (I will find the link later if need be)
suggested baking the figures at a slightly lower temperature, for a little bit longer. Followed by letting the figure "cool off" either in the oven or just sitting somewhere safe.

I am trying this with my sitting duck. I will let you know how my results turn out.

Boots lok ok, hair looks fine, and sorry for the dropping of the figure; every one has a story like that......grrrr

cheers