Following the thread - Sculpt a Confederate Medic

[Kevin D.]

adding to chin right side

 

[Kevin D.]

adiing cheek bones and forehead

 

[Kevin D.]

right side

 

[Kevin D.]

left quarter profile

 

[Kevin D.]

left side

 

[Kevin D.]

Questions that came up while doing this section of the face were:

How do I avoid the sharp angles as I apply the clay (forehead for example)

How do you smooth the clay, with a paint brush? Wasn't very successful for me.

Are there any techniques to working on the opposite side of your dominant hand?
For example, its much easier to apply the clay on the left side of the face since
I am right handed, but reaching across to the right side of the face is awkward.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hola Kevin,

Sorry to interupt your thread here but I just wanted to chime in and tell you that I think you are doing a great thing here. Not many people would put their neck out so to speak, learning to sculpt in a thread like this where you show your progress, get feed back and work from there.

I just wanted to congratulate you for taking the step and the heart to go about learning to sculpt in this excellent way. If you ever think you need any thing from me, let me know and I would be more then happy to do my best to help you.

Keep it up!

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by Kevin D.@Feb 28 2006, 01:33 AM
Questions that came up while doing this section of the face were:

How do I avoid the sharp angles as I apply the clay (forehead for example)

How do you smooth the clay, with a paint brush? Wasn't very successful for me.

Are there any techniques to working on the opposite side of your dominant hand?
For example, its much easier to apply the clay on the left side of the face since
I am right handed, but reaching across to the right side of the face is awkward.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Kevin, The head is looking good so far. As for the Diluent I will get you a bottle and have in the mail by tomorrow.

Foreheads are a pain to do in Sculpey. When doing a head in Sculpey you can pretty much complete the forhead while roughing in the head. If you don't you'll end up with a sloping forehead, unless the roughed in one is almost vertical. If you plan on adding some wrinkles leave yourself enough room so they do not end up popping out in front of the brow.

I used to use different painting mediums to smooth the Sculpey, but using too much normally results in brushstrokes and mushy Sculpey. Nowadays I get the Sculpey as smooth as possible with my tools and use very fine steel wool and fine sandpaper. Scotchbrite works good too, but experiment on a piece of baked Sculpey first as it seems better suited to harder putties.

I'm left handed so the left side seems to be a little tougher for me to do. The most important thing is to work on each area/feature equally. I typically have the head mounted on a piece of brass rod mounted on a piece of doweling or a pin vise. I tilt and turn the piece whichever way is best for what I'm working on. This is a part of sculpting that you really have to develope on your own. Your right handed and I'm wrong handed, so maybe there's a rightie out there than be be of more help.

Keep going your doing great.~Gary

PS, PM me with your mailing address when you get a chance.

 

[Kevin D.]

Anders,

Good morning and thanks for the kind words!

I have the horse information that you sent me just waiting for use! Hopefully, following this tutorial will help me to prepare to sculpt the hussar bending over his horse's hoof that we talked about last month.

Obviously its going to be awhile longer than I had hoped before I'll be getting to that project but I have to learn to crawl to learn to walk, etc.

As far as sticking my neck out is concerned, I agree with you whole heartedly that it was sticking my neck out. Immediately after my first post was sent, I regretted it and would have rescinded it if I could have figured out how.

I thought, Who in the world is going to be interested in watching some rank amateur botch up a ball of clay. Gary and Wong were both very quick to say "go for it" and that made me feel much better about trying this.

The responses from everyone have been wonderful and much appreciated. I've read and reviewed magazine articles, bought books and bought DVD's and have toyed with clay in various ways for about three years now (with some horrific results) and it was time to step out and do it or quit wasting my time.

This forum with so many excellent sculptors was exactly what I needed to find!

And Gary's SBS couldn't have had better timing for me. (much thanks Gary!) So, maybe some other beginners on the planet can watch me and go..... "OH MY, I can do much better than that!!" And go for it.

I'm having fun, I'm learning in a hobby that has had my interest for quite a while, I have thick skin and a good sense of humor and, quite frankly, "They can't eat me and they can't shoot me" which is more than I can say about my day job.

Thanks for the encouragement; Please keep watching and feel free to chime in at any time. Same goes for anyone else reading this.

Best,

Kevin D.

 

[TorMag]

Kevin, where do you live? You don't have that on your profile.

Tor

 

[Kevin D.]

Tor,

The great state of Texas!

We are 80+ degrees today in the dead of winter. If it gets any colder, I may have to move farther south.

Have a great day,

Kevin D.

 

[Guy]

Same here Kevin....80 degrees in the middle of winter. If you ever get up this way let me know.

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by Kevin D.@Feb 28 2006, 10:19 AM
Obviously its going to be awhile longer than I had hoped before I'll be getting to that project but I have to learn to crawl to learn to walk, etc.

I thought, Who in the world is going to be interested in watching some rank amateur botch up a ball of clay. Gary and Wong were both very quick to say "go for it" and that made me feel much better about trying this.

And Gary's SBS couldn't have had better timing for me. (much thanks Gary!) So, maybe some other beginners on the planet can watch me and go..... "OH MY, I can do much better than that!!" And go for it.

Kevin D.

Kevin, I'm glad you were not able to retract your posting once you decided to give it a try. Your approach to scratchbuilding is something to take note of. Some folks start out wanting to just dive right in and expect to crank out figure in a few days or weeks. Though favorable results come a little sooner for some I think most of end up going the route of "earning" the results that will eventually satisfy us. The only way to do that is by not only putting in the time, but by showing your work, even if you're not too thrilled with the results. It never hurts to have a few extra sets of eyes looking at your work. Keep on sculpting.~Gary

 

[Kevin D.]

Amen to that Gary!!

Also, having a place to show my work and recieve constructive comments on a regular basis keeps me plugging away!




Guy,

I sometimes head in your direction and it seems to me there is a show up around that area each year, isn't there?

I will definitely look you up if the opportunity arises!

Kevin

 

[Manfred]

Please go on Kevin !

Its interesting to see you solve the sculpting problems.
One learns more from it than seeing 100 perfect heads.
We have a saying here which goes about "No master ever fell from heaven".

Thumbs up for your project.

I mix black and white FIMO into Sculpey and can actually see what I do lately

 

[Kevin D.]

Originally posted by ManfredL@Feb 28 2006, 03:11 PM

Its interesting to see you solve the sculpting problems.
One learns more from it than seeing 100 perfect heads.

We have a saying here which goes about "No master ever fell from heaven".

I mix black and white FIMO into Sculpey and can actually see what I do lately

Hi Manfred,

I never thought of it that way. I suppose seeing someone work through (and through and through and through) the rough spots could be of help. Good!

I have had several false starts with this head and have carved away at it several times to get to something that looked kind of "right" to me. The good news is that I'll have a better idea of where I am going when I start the next head.

I have had two projects in my head for quite some time and if I can learn from this confederate, I am going to go after my ideas. The first (I already have the basic drawing and items to scale on paper) is a mountain man of the US West, wind blown hair and clothes, on his knees with hat and Bible in hand. 50 Cal Hawkins rife and snow shoes resting with a pack behind him.

I think that will be complicated enough to keep me busy for a while.



I think we can be safe in saying that my work is far from heaven to date. The good news is that it can only go up in quality.

I wanted to get a gray mix as others have also suggested but the local crafts store was out of black sculpey III and the entire stock was on sale at a rediculously good price, so, I think y'all will be seeing my work in a mix of white with dark green for quite a while! :lol:

Question: When you mix FIMO with the Sculpey (Sculpey, Super Sculpey or Sculpey III?) does it change the tactile sense of the clay? I mean, do you notice a difference in the properties of FIMO with the sculpey vs. sculpey on its own?

Well... I think I'll review Gary's thread on eyes and my next step is going to be eyes, nose and cheeks.

Cheers.

Kevin D.

 

[Kevin D.]

Good morning,

I was going over the last few postings and realized an error... It was Gary and Roy Hunt that initially gave me encouragement. My apologies Roy, should give credit (or blame ) where it is due. Love your Ronin! I downloaded it to hard copy and was absorbed looking at your details and sbs during a recent airplane trip.

Kevin

 

[Kevin D.]

Ok, next installment and I could really use some guidance here. I have the shot of the head as it is now after several hours of work and then I'll include pics of getting there for anyone that may be interested.

For y'all that do these 120mm and smaller figures. What tools do you use. I know that Bill Horan has spoken of shaped toothpicks? I have dental tools but feel that they are almost too big to get the details in these small figures. The completed figures that I see have tremendous detail and so, what tools do y'all use to get there?

Again, and especially now, comments and suggestions are welcome!

Thanks,

Kevin D.

 

[Kevin D.]

Starting the eyes

 

[Kevin D.]

upper lids