SCULPTING 101 STEP BY STEP

[John Long]

A fine job Gary. I have tried the wire armature for hands before and was sorely frustrated by the whole process. You have carried it off very well.

Hands are often neglected in miniatures, both in sculpting and painting. Hands are just as expressive as the face in my opinion.

 

[Ernest]

trully amazing!!

 

[marvin]

Hey Gary,

When I read you were using lead wire my first reaction was 'isn't that going to be too soft?'. So why didn't you just the same wire you used for the rest of the armature?

- Marvin -

 

[garyjd]

Mikko, Maurizio, Djoubri, Ernest,

Thanks for the kind words guys. Please feel free to make ANY comments you wish, do not worry about my feelings. if something is not right to you, say so. The subject of saying "good job" too much on Pf has come up on another thread.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by John Long@Apr 28 2006, 06:30 PM
I have tried the wire armature for hands before and was sorely frustrated by the whole process. You have carried it off very well.

Hands are often neglected in miniatures, both in sculpting and painting. Hands are just as expressive as the face in my opinion.

John, Thanks I appreciate it. this is not my first attempt at doing hands this way. It is however the first time I feel it actally worked...so far anyway.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that hands are somewhat neglected in miniatures. I'm going to make more of an effort in the future to give my figures more expressive hands. They especially could make a huge difference in a fairly relaxed or not overly dramatitc figure.~Gary

 

[Dan Morton]

Gary - Never tried making or altering hands using wire before. Neat approach. I'll have to try that and I actually have an opportunity with the Navy bugler for the "toot" diorama. And I completely agree that expressive hands can be a real plus. I have to admit I haven't given them enough attention sometimes in the past.

All the best,
Dan

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by marvin@Apr 29 2006, 05:14 AM
When I read you were using lead wire my first reaction was 'isn't that going to be too soft?'. So why didn't you just the same wire you used for the rest of the armature?

- Marvin -

Marvin, I guess I like to experiment, going ahead with the lead knowing it would most likely be too soft. Brass wire that is the same gauge as the lead may be too stiff. I'm going to look for copper as it may not be overly rigid.~Gary

 

[megroot]

Gary,

Now i can go further with my sculpting. I was thinking about leave it as it was and going to made a 54 mm. The reason. i cannot get hands or other stuff for 75 mm.
This is good, and i cannot critsim this because i can not sculpt.

Marc

 

[Ray]

Gary,
Instead of (sorry if you've read this from me before) switching from brass wire why not anneal the brass wire you have? If you heat the stuff with a torch to a dull red and let it cool naturally it won't be nearly so stiff as before, but will still be rigid enough to sculpt on. Also the wire will no longer have a memory, so will be easier to straighten should you make a mistake, or want to change a bend later. This process also works well for copper wire and non-ferrous sheet material.

Ray

 

[garyjd]

Ray, I found some wire in the foral section of a craft store that while flexible is not as soft as the lead that was used.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Now that I'm back home it's time to get down to finishing this figure.

Once the basic arms is completed Putty I applied Aves putty roughly in the shape of the sleeve. Typically I will try to work in the larger folds before the putty starts to cure. This works fine with 54's and maybe even 75's, but it poses a bit of a problem (for me anyway) when the figure is larger.

 

[garyjd]

The inside of the arm. There are no tricks to roughing in the sleeve. You'll want to pay the most attention to the overall shape of the sleeve. The sleeve is at it's fullest in the area of the elbow. I will have to go in and add more putty to the torso as the shoulder has to be enlarged as it's too small in it's present form.

 

[garyjd]

Two more views of the arms.

 

[garyjd]

The arm on the figure. Once the overall shape is achieved all of the folds will be carved, sanded or worked in with files.

 

[Ray]

Hi Gary,
I find it really interesting, your use of files and sanding to create detail on your figures. I've got a kind of personal aversion to the things myself, though I couldn't tell you exactly why, and only use them as a last resort, (you know when I really screw something up as I'm want to do sometimes). Still this method seems to work well for you, better sometimes than my insistence on working the putty only when soft. Hmm, there might be a lesson in here somewhere for me.

I hadn't thought of the floral wire, but it is a good idea if you can get it in a large enough gauge for our use. On the other hand the smaller gauge would probably work well if used the way Seo makes wire armatures. The additional benefit to the first application of putty to the wire might also make the smaller gauge desirable as the wrapped wire would certainly give some tooth to the structure not present with a single strand of smooth wire. Still I think I'll stick with the annealed brass, especially as I ended up buying a couple of roles of the stuff that will probably last me a lifetime and still become part of my boy’s eventual inheritance. :lol:

Ray

 

[garyjd]

Civil war reenactors can be a valuable reference when trying to duplicate the clothing of the period. Aside from the model being accurately uniformed it is a plus when the person has the weight and physical build of a person from the mid 19th century. Though there are many reenactors that are accurately uniformed, there are not as many that look as though they come from the period due largely in part to their physical build.

One feature of Civil War period military and civilian clothes is the fullness of the sleeves, especially in the area of the elbows.

 

[garyjd]

There is going to be little actual "sculpting" done on the sleeve. There will be more carving, sanding and filing than anything else. A little more material will be added once the initial folds and shape of the sleeve have been refined. Here are the tools that were used to do the work shown in the following pictures.

X-acto knife (with a fresh blade)

Razor blade (fresh blade)

files

rough and smooth sandpaper

 

[garyjd]

Since I had to enlarge the shoulder portion of the sleeve a little more had to be added to the upper torso.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the overall sleeve shape roughed in and smoothed out.

 

[garyjd]

I outline a portion of the sleeve that sticks out to far making the should look too broad.