New to Sculpting

[Wim Keller]

I have been a painter of scale figures and busts for more than four years. Being tired to wait for more interesting pieces to be produced, I finally decided to take up sculpting!

I do, however, require some assistance:
- What are the essential tools for sculpting?
- Are there some techniques that I must first master before I sculpt?
- Are there any informative books that can be useful to me?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[Dan Morton]

Do a search of past posts by Gary Dombroski. He put together a great "how-to" series for PF. As I recall it should answer most of your questions. Others might be able to recommend a book on sculpting, but really I would troll the web first. You'd be surprised how much is available on the subject.

All the best,
Dan

 

[Wim Keller]

OK mate, thanks.

 

[gordy]

- What are the essential tools for sculpting?

A variety of pointy instruments : back end of paintbrushes, knitting needles, toothpicks..

Here are some good references from folks here:
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29991&highlight=tools

- Are there some techniques that I must first master before I sculpt?

Anatomy, anatomy anatomy! Spacial dimensions and working with depth. The ability to see basic shapes (cone, sphere, cube, etc ) within a complex structure.

- Are there any informative books that can be useful to me?

Anatomy books!
The Andrew Loomis series of books are a great start and can be viewed here online:
http://www.scribd.com/search?query=loomis

 

[Einion]

- What are the essential tools for sculpting?

There are a couple of past threads here on tools that I linked to on another forum just the other day, Tools of the trade, and Homemade Tools of the Trade. If you do a search on any modelling forum for sculpting tools I'm sure you'll find many more.

There are numerous commercial tools for sculpting and wax carving that can be very useful but at the simplest you can do it with a few sharpened cocktail sticks or similar wooden tools (usually coated with superglue), one or two craft knives and maybe a soft brush for smoothing. What matters at the end of the day is what your hands can do with them.

- Are there some techniques that I must first master before I sculpt?

I don't really think so to be honest, although it depends on how much experience you have with epoxy putty from filling gaps etc. Anyway, most people sort of 'bootstrap' themselves as we say, learn as they go. Rather than master the material first and then learn to sculpt the two things go hand in hand.

Previous threads with more on tools, book recommendations etc:
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34855
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33637
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33148
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28160
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27995
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25200
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18889
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18499

Lots more great threads here on pF to look at if you search for specific topics and for step-by-step threads look for threads started by particular members like garyjd (Gary Dombrowski), bonehead (Mike Good), T50 (Taesung Harmms), palmielcore (Paul Deheleanu), Mortimer (Alfonso Gozalo Torres) and Joaquin Palacios.

Einion

 

[Wim Keller]

Thanks, everyone!
Now all that remains for me is to start practicing.

 

[gordy]

Thanks, everyone!
Now all that remains for me is to start practicing.

Best of luck, we're here for any questions!

 

[leokc_ng]

At the start you might want to play around with various sculpting material like Scylpey, magic sculpt ... and find out what you like best. My personal preference would be polymer clay. As I found it much easier to control.

Clay shaping tools are nice but not essential, I start with hobby blade and toothpick, you will find the type of tools you need along your sculpting journey you might end up creating your own tools. Clayshaper is one of my favorite tools there days.

The others tips are start observing people and things around you, sketching thing on paper will help you understand details and the scale your sculpting subject. I prefer drawing books then sculpting books as it help you understand the scales on human proportion better.

Here's my little tip, hope it helps