Sculpting chainmail

[Magnus]

Ok, so I added a fur and a shield to cover up the back and cut the sleeve to a better angle. Unfortunately I feel I messed up with the arm sleeve fold, any suggestions?

 

[Gaudin]

More fur I would make it bulkier and wider to go a little over his back. And thicker to pad the shield a bit.

 

[Gaudin]

I am looking at it again, and actually its not too bad. Consider physics of a heavy chain - if he lifts arm up - all rows will shorten and the sleeve will "fall" down the arm, it has no structure to be rigid like a tube. So folds are actually appropriate, front looks good, its a little too flat on the back, so if you widen the fur slightly it will cover that surface.

 

[Magnus]

Thank you very much Gaudin, I bulked up the fur now, what do you think?

 

[Gaudin]

I think its better, I must say I really like your idea overall, it isn't a bog standard viking, something that is out of the box. I am pretty sure Nap will beg you to release it, but I think from details it looks like a "one off".
There are few things that you will need to consider for your next project, like width of shoulders and chest/body volume that accounts for padding underneath - but that's minor stuff. Bear claws could be a cool think to add, but may overload it.

 

[Magnus]

Thanks a lot, yes, it is just one off for fun. I have a long way to go still, to be able to sculpt to a commercial standard. Should the body volume (chest, shoulders etc.) be larger? I have a tendency to let my basic volumes wander off

 

[Gaudin]

If we are talking " golden"classical proportions, a body will be 8 lengths of face and shoulder width should be able to fit 2 face lengths. (It makes it easy to work out sizes as well, a 200 mm figure /8 = 25mm head length)
It is probably better to exaggerate that to "heroic" proportions for artistic effect.
A wider chest ( from shoulder to shoulder) will need to be a bit deeper in what is called "sagital plane" ( front to back, latin for arrow - kind of fitting name ) to account for well developed lungs and good pectoral muscles, and scapula's.
So that's your flesh, then add - a shirt, a gambezon padding, chainmail/ armour etc.

A good imagination test is - imagine him naked (above waist, lets not get excited), strip all clothing and see whats left. Does he look like a warrior or a skinny lad Of course for sculpting purposes it needs to happen at mannequin stage before clothing goes on or at armature stage.

 

[Magnus]

Yes, that's what I tried to do. Here is my basic mannequin that I did, with putty added to secure the mail links with. But as I said, I have a way of messing up my proportions as I progress. Think it is very hard to sculpt "even" around, I usually drift off with the volumes.

 

[Gaudin]

Get a printout in scale and make yourself a pair of calipers- invaluable tool, all you need is to make sure that measurement are same as your bust. This will work for any scale busts or figures.

Shoulders is a very common mistake and it took me a while to train my brain to actively look for it, figures look instantly better when its corrected, in my opinion.

 

[Magnus]

But that is what I tried to do! I guess I just have to follow the plan as well

 

[Gaudin]

Well, may be there isn't much of an issue, hard to see on photos sometimes if they are not face on. Proportions look alright, although I would say that chain mail and padding would add extra volume, I may be wrong.

Remember, opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one

Regardless, its a good bust. When you are ready to re-visit and do one for casting, I would ask for a copy please.

 

[Magnus]

I think you are absolutely correct about volumes and I highly appreciate all you support and coaching, means a lot.

 

[Gaudin]

And another point, like Steve Reed said not so long ago - start sculpting with casting in mind, its a completely different challenge.

You will need those skills eventually, so might as well start training brain to think along those lines.