Miniature Sculpting - Classical Male

[Sickbunny]

I have had a lovely summervacation in which to hone some of my sculpting talents in what will hopefully be a fruitful freelancer-career as a maker of wargaming miniatures...

And here I present a classical male figure that will, when finished with a head and all, be about 33mm in height. He is presently rooted on a champaign cork...

I would like to hear your opinions on it.

[Santon]

I'm not an expert gamer...but don't they typically have robes or armor or some other symbol of combat?

Other than the missing head and arms, I quite like it.

Are you planning to cast these? Make individual/single/unique pieces? What are they going to be made of?

[Vermis]

Pretty damn good. I'd say you're up there with the best in this field. :) Although in the spirit of critique I'd say watch out for the serratus and the prominence of the obliques.
Looking forward to extra steps. What's your medium? And lastly, do you post on any of the miniature-specific forums out there? Your username seems vaguely familiar to me.

[Sickbunny]

First of all, thank you very much for the kind words, since as a 'beginning' sculptor it is quite nice to hear such praise.

Yes, miniatures do most often represent warriors of all sorts and thus, are armed and equipped, usually to the teeth. But as I said in my original post, this model is for the sole purpose of parading my sculpting skills more than anything.

And I wish to portray, as my topic said, a classical male figure, the muscles and features excessively pronounced due to the small scale where shadows must be deep and they have to convey emotions, pose, the art of the piece from several feet away.

I am likely to cast the model indeed as it has thus far come out very nicely and then make different versions of it, dress it up, so to speak ;)

As my medium, I use a two part epoxy called Magic Sculp which I feel is superior to simple green stuff in most every way as unlike green stuff, Magic Sculp has no organic memory, so it does not try to revert to a round shape, allowing very sharp end result and also, it cures much harder than green stuff, allowing it to be filed and carved with ease (Though I have to admit, no filing or carving has been done on the model thus far)

PS: Yes... there is hardly a miniature forum out there that does not have me, most often lurking, in their midsts... :)

[Vermis]

I've used apoxie sculpt myself. I hear it's almost the same thing. I do like the soft, slightly waxy texture compared to other putties but I find it a bit difficult to sculpt the kind of fine details to get in 30mm or less.

If you post pics here (http://heresyminiatures.com/forumofdoom/index.php?board=30.0) or here (http://frothersunite.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=5) I can guarantee a lot of drooling and appreciation. ;)

[teh roxxors]

I just finished a ring with a woman's face carved into it in 3/4 view. It was damn hard to do with just 3.5x magnification. In fact, some things--like nostrils--I couldn't really do, because I simply didn't have enough magnification.

So I wonder how the guys & gals that worked for Ral Partha and Grenadier did what they did. Julie Guthrie, for example, produced amazingly detailed and proportional sculpts in 25mm scale.

I'm thinking a dissecting microscope is really a requirement for miniature work. You can have the steadiest hands in the world, but if you can't see what you're doing, the detail you manage will be quite limited.

Dissecting microscopes look to start at around $100.

[mkat]

wow so much detail was put into this, it was well terminated. I would never be able to do something like that haha goodjob :)

[Seth.]

Good start sick bunny.

If I may, I would suggest that you should start working on making the volumes more proportionate, for instance the calf on the left leg looks bigger than the thigh, but this is all stuff that will come with practice. Also take another look at the way that the kneecap sits on the right leg, it is too proud at the moment if that makes any sense at all ?

A quick tip is to superglue a balsa wood piece to the cork, this will avoid your feet being curved due to the angles on the champagne cork.

it's a very promising start, keep at it :)

[Hurdy Gurdy Man]

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