HOW I SCULPTED MY FIRST 90MM ...

[quang]

Marc: On the contrary, in the silicon/resin duplicating system, making hundreds of castings would make more sense (and proportionally much cheaper) than casting 10 pieces. No doubt that if there's enough interest, some enterprising manufacturer might decide to take the plunge.

Mike: You're right. There's no perfect mannequin. While most work well for 'conventional' poses, for 'action' stances, you need to alter the casting or even discard it. Keep in mind that the mannequin is an aid. It not a short cut to the understanding of how the human machine works.

Q.

 

[JCOX]

Excellent sbs Quang. It's great to have an inside look at how the pros go about their business.

-jim cox

 

[TorMag]

Quang,

This is really cool, between you and Gary I am learning so much.... You guys are really helpful. I am truly amazed at how free you guys are with sharing how things are done. Most "trades" are so secrative about the process.

From one Noob, thanks so much.

Tor

 

[Roc]

Quang, great step by step, I'm really enjoying, looking forward to your next step.

Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.

Cheers
Roc.

 

[Dani A.]

Hi Quang,

I'm a little late to the thread, but I want to say I'm thrilled by your new venture - and of course, your postings are as interesting as always, and worth to keep watch on! :lol:

Regards,

Dani

 

[Marijn Van Gils]

Great sbs! Can't wait untill you get to the face and feet... I will be checking this one regularly! Thanks Quang!

Marc, it is in fact quite easy to do these kind of castings yourselves. At Vos Chemie, you can buy excellent RTV rubber and resin. It is easy to work with and has almost no smell (well, the rubber has a bit, but it is manageble), but it is not inexpensive: about 70 euros for a complete casting set. This will contain about 1 kg of rubber, a bottle of hardener for the rubber, 1 kg of resin and 1 kg of hardener though, so enough to make several hundreds of parts.

The disadvantage of casting yourself is the airbubles. To get rid of them properly, you need a vacuüm pump, which makes the undertaking immediately more expensive and space-consuming. But this is the beauty of these torso/pelvis parts: you will be sculpting over them anyway, so a couple of airbubles are no problem at all!

I first made a mold of my master, made some copies and then made a new mold with 6 of the copies. In this way, I can easily cast about 50 copies in one evening on my regular workbench, while still doing other things in-between...

Best wishes!

Marijn

 

[quang]

Thank you all for your comments and sorry for the long silence. Too many things to deal with lately!

Anyhow, back to bidness.

The putty is extended to the entire figure. Work has also started on the head to make sure that everything is still in proportion.

The arms are sawn at the shoulder and removed for the first dress reheasal. Why? Because otherwise, they would get in the way and they would be separate parts for the casting anyhow. A new pair of (definitive) arms is made up. Check for correct length and leave elbow and wrist joints 'free' for further adjustment.

Next step: first dress rehearsal. Now we see what it's all about.

This is an important step as we have our first glimpse of what the definitive figure will look like. It's also an opportunity to evaluate the masses, the volumes and the impression on the viewer (is the figure too squat, too spindly, too clumsy...). It also gives a general idea of the lay-out of parts (how the figure will be cut off) for the production casting.

The 'clothing' is only for temporary use, so anything can do like Blu-tack for hair and spare oversized feathers from my other 120mm kits. Special care is given to the shirt made from a sheet of Apoxie+Duro, cut to size and draped on the figure like the real garment. An understanding of how the real shirt was made, the pattern and material used is essential of course.

Questions and comments are welcome, as usual.

Quang

 

[garyjd]

It's great to see the progression of your 90mm figure. Who would have guessed you were going to sculpt a Native American/ ~Gary

 

[Edson]

the pics are great and the sculpture looks awesome Quang, coul you tell me what size or caliber is the wire you use?

Thanks
Ed

ooohhh one more thing, coul you send me again that pics you posted once from your travel boxes, I lost the archive sorry, could you please :lol:

 

[megroot]

Quang,

Keep posting. I'm enjoying this so much. I cannot wait for the finish.

Marijn.
Bedankt, zal Vos Chemie eens telefoneren.

Marc

 

[Roc]

There is no greater joy than to see a sculptor bring his sculpture to life, thanks for sharing and please continue to amaze us.

Cheers
Roc.

 

[quang]

So sorry for the long interlude.

At long last, here are the following-up steps.

They are self-explanatory. Comparaison between the subsequent pictures will show the progression of the sculpt. Note that to keep up with the global picture and to make sure that everything's under control, I do not concentrate on a single feature (like head, shoes, hands,...) but work on all the features at the same time.

Leggings and breech cloth added.

Before going further, the shirt is removed and the figure cut up as per the production lay-out of parts.

The disembodied sculpt is reassembled and detailing resumed.

We're ALMOST there. There's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Questions, remarks, comments are welcome as usual.

Next step: DELIVERANCE! :lol:

 

[johnnyboy]

quang,dude can i please buy one of these,thanks for sharing these pics always love your work johnny

 

[megroot]

Quang

As always there coming masterpieces out of your hands.

Now all i have to do is waiting for the painted figure.

Marc

 

[Roc]

Quang, keep them coming, excellent work.

Cheers
Roc.

 

[Jim Patrick]

Questions, remarks, comments are welcome as usual.

WOW! How's that for a remark? When is this going to be available? I'm starting to get an itch for American Indians........problem is, I ain't got nuttin to scratch! :lol:

Jim Patrick

 

[Guy]

Looks terrific Quang. I look forward to seeing this develop and become available.

 

[garyjd]

Quang, This is a subject you definitely have a passion for. The anatomical proportions and the attitude of the clothing are spot on.~Gary

 

[quang]

Thank you, friends.

Gary, your observation is spot-on as the main challenge of this project is to capture the characteristic attitude/pose seen on the vintage photographs and the bulk and the draping of the skin clothing.

The subject is a Crow (or a closely related Hidatsa) warrior in the mid-19th cent., some ten years after the exploratory trips of Bodmer and Catlin. At this later date, it was another European artist, the Swiss Rudolph Friederic Kurz who visited the region and brought back invaluable information about the Crow and the Hidatsa.

Kurz's drawings are the main inspiration for this piece together with Bill Holm's (another Crow specialist) painting. The elements of clothing came from artifacts preserved in European museums (the buffalo robe in Copenhagen, the shirt in the Czech Republic and the leggings in Hungary).

Here's a mock 'vintage' version of the painted figure. The colour pics are coming next.

Hope you like it.

Quang

 

[garyjd]

Quang, You nailed it. what I like about your sculpting style is that it can be identified directly to YOU. What makes it unique is that it is loose compared to a lot of other sculptors who are very very tight. You are able to make a loose style work for miniatures.~Gary