Beast (first sculpey sculpture)(BIG DL)

[juhone]

Hi everybody!
After seeing Smellybug's awesome tutorials, I really wanted to give clay sculpting a go. I did a crappy creature head with Fimo couple years ago (I basicly did everything wrong with it:) ), so I count this as my first proper sculpture, and oh boy it was fun!
I decided to do a monster beast or creature that I'm going to propably use in my 3d project. So I'm trying to do it allso in 3d. Hope it works out:)

Sculpting this one was so much fun, that I just had to buy some more super sculpey :tihi: So there's propably going to be another thread by me (if I don't mess it up).
Biiiiig thanks goes to Smellybug for those tutorials and inspirational stuff.


http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/final_comp.jpg

I changed the making of pics' place and added some more. Just scroll down and you'll see them.

[Saittam_j]

that's a cool design. the pain-job is greate.

[jungle]

DOPE!!! if you have more pics i know i wolud love to see em'

where can i get this "sculpy" ? is it expensive?

[dkounios]

wow.,....love the creature design and paint job on it. very very cool.
well done dude! :$

[juhone]

dkounios - Thanks!
jungle - I'll post more pics tonight. I promise. Well I got my super sculpey from finnish online shop. If you don't know any local store that sells it, go online. For example http://www.sculpt.com/. It's relatively cheap;)
Saittam_j - Thanks!

[Fax]

wait, was this your first time sculpting? or simply, your first time working with sculpey? cause if it was the first then damn.....and even if its the second, then its still a freaking awesome sculpt.

One critique is that the pose needs some work, it looks a little generic, as if its not really doing anything.

[kinkyMonkey]

juhone

I love the detail is unreal, Great job it will be nice to hear from you and the techniques you use. I love it , Great model

quick question?
How did you got that smooth look/feel on the model?

[juhone]

Fax - Yeah it was my first time using sculpey. As I mentioned, I did 2 Fimo soft "blobs" :D year or two ago. A cave trollish head and figure, but now as I watch them, they look pretty crap :) Thanks anyways! Yes, the pose is generic on purpose, because I plan of doing it in 3d allso. This way I can photo it in every angle and the I can use those pics as a reference in 3d app and model it.

Now, a big load of making of pics!

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/sketch_small.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/01.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/02.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/03.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/04.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/05.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/06.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/07.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/08.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/09.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/10.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/11.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/12.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/13.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/14.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/15.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/16.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/17.jpg

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/18.jpg

[limion]

great work! love the paint job and the front legs especially (almost identical to the ones on my first sculpt). sure wish i could handle my airbrush like that. so far all i can do with it is put one hudge layer of paint on the surface.

[Jive Turkey]

Very cool sculpt! The paint job is especially well done. the only place I might see a problem is with the anatomy of the from limbs. I'm not 100% sure and I havent really gone back and looked at any references, but I think it would look more convincing if you had him supporting himself on his knuckles rather than his wrists. Again, I'm not positive, but I dont think there are any animals that would stand that way. Obviously this is a fantasy style creature, but its always best to ground your design with realism....just a little point on an otherwise awesome job though

[juhone]

kinkyMonkey - Thanks a lot! Well, I don't have any special techniques because I'm still learning. Basicly I did everything pretty same way as Smellybug in his tut (or atleast I tried:) ). About smoothing: First I scraped the overall form and did the wrinkles, then I brushed it with lighter fluid. I'm not sure if it's the right way, but it did the job :D. I tried allso turpentine, it does the same thing, but it stinks (though lighter fluid stinks too). I'm not sure, but I think lighter fluid has a bit stronger effect and it dries or evaporates quicker. Remember good ventilation :D

limion - Thanks! Yeah, airbrushes are pretty tricky tools. I'm still learning it. Mine chokes up all the time and I'm pretty lazy cleaning it:)

Jive Turkey - Thanks! The idea was that it would walk on it's knuckles a bit like gorillas do, but I didn't manage to get the look I was after :( It turned out like elephant feets with some weird mutant claws sticking out of it's heel:)

[Jive Turkey]

Jive Turkey - Thanks! The idea was that it would walk on it's knuckles a bit like gorillas do, but I didn't manage to get the look I was after :( It turned out like elephant feets with some weird mutant claws sticking out of it's heel:)

You said that you're gonna use the model as reference for a 3d model, right? it wouldnt be too hard to fix it up there. All you really have to do is rotate the hand toward the head. See the part thats directly on the ground? That would be the top of his hand, opposite of his palm. If hes going to walk with his knuckles, the top of his hand should almost be in line with his arm (perhaps even on a slight angle in either direction depending on where his centre of gravity is) Does that make sense? Take a look at this rendering I found to get a better idea of what I mean.
http://mishilo.image.pbase.com/u17/erichmangl/upload/13900861.gorilla.jpg
The detail in your creature is amazing, its just some little anatomy changes. One thing that I found that I found kinda funny though...when he poops, wont be poop on his hind leg webbing? ;) I think you should leave that though. See if anyone notices. I really hope you dont think I'm picking apart your sculpture. If I didnt like it, I would've looked at the pictures once, then moved on. The reason I'm finding these things is because I'm looking at it so closely. I'm FAR from being an expert myself. I'm still very much a beginner. But I know how much I appreciate a little constructive critisism. Also, I could learn a lot from you about skin texturing. Yours is top notch!

[juhone]

Jive Turkey - Thanks for all your effort and interest on this one. I appreciate constructive critisism too. You're right about the hand and those tips you gave are pretty good. I don't mind you "picking it apart", we're all here to learn:). About the pooping thing :D I noticed it allso myself and I've been waiting when somebody notices it allso :P

[Gorilla]

very great work!

can you write down the materials you use...so i can try to do my first one too^^

thx.

[juhone]

Gorilla - Thanks! I did a list of things I needed along the way. I hope it helps:)

I sort of splitted the process into 3 sections. 1. "pre-production". That's when you plan and dig all the reference stuff and draw (maybe) a picture of your sculpture. 2. "production" In this phase you produce your sculpture. 3. "post-production" Here you put final touches to your sculpture by giving it a coat of color.

Here it goes!

Pre-production

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/pre_production.jpg

1. Good reference and an idea of what you are doing.
2. Some preliminary silhouette sketches.
3. When a nice silhouette is found. A bit more defined sketch is done with big markers. Some lines are allso established.
4. Detailed pencil drawning.
5. Photocopied 150% bigger version because I drew it a bit too small.

Production

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/production.jpg

1. Armature wire, various wires, screw bar(?), nuts and those disks that come between the nuts.
2. Various tools, pliers, cutters, knives, tape and a marker.
3. Aluminium foil.
4. Main stuff! Super sculpey! Couple of two component epoxy putties. Gray and black putty is some plummer stuff. Yellow and blue is famous "green stuff".
5. Wood planks. I built myself a rotating base and another base to put my armature on.
6. Some more tools. Drill, files, saw that cuts iron and a screw vice.
7. Some of the sculpting tools. 3rd to 5th tool from left are my custom tools, that I built when I needed one.
8. Lighter fluid and brushes to make sculpey smooth.
9.Most important! Big box of patience! Though a bit hard to find from any store... I know I could use some:wink:

Post-production

http://koti.welho.com/jsalila/forum_posts/beast/post_production.jpg

1. Sparmax airbrush compressor.
2. Airbrushes. Left one is Badger 100-LGF. On the right is a 50 euro hardware store airbrush. I actually prefer that one. It's a bit more cruder than Badger but it doesn't choke that easily. And if you screw the tip off, the spray is actually quite sharp. The bottle is Vallejo airbrush cleaner (really good stuff).
3. Various paints. I used some old Createx paints to basecoat the figure. Mostly I used Vallejo Model Air acryl paints. I reeeaaaally like them. They cover pretty nicely and are quite cheap. I allso used Vallejo Game Colours when I painted with brushes. Model air paints are a bit too fluid or "wet" to paint with brushes. There's allso thinner, matt medium and glaze.
4. Various brushes.
5. A pallet to mix paints.

[tsunnamii]

great textures dude!!!!

how long did it take to sculpt it???

and... I see that when u painted it, u put the figura a bit higher... how did u do that???

[Artifex83]

One thing i noticed is that the bolt stock you used to support the sculpt had been removed for paint...How did you do it with out damaging anything? I had thought about trimming it back with a dremel and drilling through it untill it was recessed into the sculpt but i'm afraid to crack a finished piece.

[ClayDar]

Nice sculpt and kool design. I think you did a great job on the paint as well. Cleaning the airbrush does tend to be a pain in the ass.
Here is a tip about the sculpt, The bigass bolt in the center would not be neccesry at all if you just use your plumbers putty to cover more of the armature. The armature and Aves apoxie I use will hold a tremendous amont of clay and weight. Besides haveing to figure out how to remove it and it leaving a hole in the bottom of your sculpt. It kills me to see how many people use that technique. Look at any of my dragon sculpts, you will notice that none have had any bolts through the belly. I know you are new and after reading smellybugs toot and seeing the pictures. For some sculpts like a bird or maybe a sea creature perhaps. Some times it takes a little planning and figureing out weight distribution and the pose. If you plan to do more sculpts then it would be wise to switch to the Gray Super Sculpey due to the fact that the pink is semi translucient and it makes it easy to miss any flaws. This Sculpt is great and you did a killer job. Just a couple tips to concider on the next sculpt.

ClayDar-

[juhone]

tsunnamii - Thanks! Whole thing took about a month from first plan to final figure. I tried to do it a little bit (maybe an hour or two) every day. And to your second question: I just removed it from it's base. It stands on the armature wire that goes through the base.

Artifex83 - Well, I just removed it with iron saw and DID some damage :D. But luckily green stuff saves the day! :D

ClayDar - Thanks a lot for your tips! I really appreciate it. That "bigass bolt" was unnessesary. I just played it safe, because I wasn't sure how the armature wire would hold up. But I learned a lot of this one and maybe the next one is better. Yeah, the color of super sculpey is a bit difficult, I have to get some grey sculpey.

[Fax]

If you cant find any grey super sculpey just pick up a block of black sulpey 3, and mix it in with the standard super sculpey and you'll get a darker, non transluscent version which will make it easier to see the details.