Darkwulf's Talon Halo Sculpt

**Darkwulf's Talon** · July 29th, 2009, 06:03 AM

Okay here goes. I don’t mind showing people the details as this is more for practice & c+c than actually competing, though of course I hope I do well 

So concept is Materchief vs Grunt. I built the armature out of medium strength garden wire and reinforced it a little bit more as the clay is actually quite heavy.

Using Chavant NSP Hard I put it in the microwave and experimented with times, 3 minutes seems to be the best for an 800W that gives a nice smooth putty consistency.

PANIC though as Microwave died and I thought I had blown it up, it however had over heated (anyone else done this?) and cut-out for safety reasons.

First Issue: The clay cools very quickly and I can no longer work with it easily (nearly blisters on thumbs from trying to layer it on). I’ve heard of a box and a lightbulb but how can you make an effective/practical one?

Second Issue: Detailing. NSP Hard is well, duh, Hard and I feel I will be challenged to get good details out of it. However I’ve seen some of the work on this site and detail is exceptional with NSP. What hints and tips are there to achieve this?

Thank you in advance for any comments and criticism

**JediDeni** · July 29th, 2009, 11:46 PM

D.T.,

You're off to a great start!

I love that Grunt. Even at this early stage, you've capture the proportions nicely. It's getting exciting now!

I don't have any links on hand, but there are numerous threads over at the Clubhouse in the Sculptor's Forum that will answer your questions. Just do a search for those keywords and you'll be good to go.

I can't wait for the next update!

Dennis

**Darkwulf's Talon** · July 30th, 2009, 06:18 AM

Cheers JediDeni,

For a newbie like me your kind words are very encouraging as I am still unsure how successful I can be at this.

Lets see how much more I can get out of that Grunt before he runs away with a white flag :-)

**Darkwulf's Talon** · July 30th, 2009, 03:58 PM

Onset of Swine flu may delay progress of this, have just been diagnosed and have cool fancy tablets to take. Only side effect is it may cause extreme vomiting, nice.

Temperature of 40 and wibbly arms gave me a clue earlier today :-)

Sorry if I do not update over the next few days.

**TeaMonster** · July 31st, 2009, 10:21 AM

Hey Darkwulf Hope you feel better soon! Damn that flu is everywhere.

I like your progress so far and forgive me for saying this....awww that grunt is sooo cute!

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 3rd, 2009, 06:20 PM

Swine flu is so not what it's hyped up to be, ill for a bit and then well again. Damn it's contagious though as I now have another 4 members of the family down with it.

But here's updates on sculp:

Comments & Criticism pretty please

**JediDeni** · August 4th, 2009, 12:35 PM

I hope you and yours are feeling better.

Comments: Looks great so far! You should be able to carve some pretty good details into the sculpt.

Crits: ??? ummmm, maybe it's the swine flu influence, but his nose looks kind of piggish??? Sorry, that's the best I can do as far as being critical is concerned. I guess I have none to make, I like it.

Dennis

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 4th, 2009, 02:11 PM

LOL @ swine flu influence ;-)

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 6th, 2009, 05:43 PM

Okay then next update showing work area, nearly finished grunt and beginnings of Masterchief.

C & C as usual :-)

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 6th, 2009, 06:09 PM

TeaMonster I hope you still find the Grunt cute as I tried to keep it in mind
JediDeni How's your sculpt coming on?
The others Who else is in this and when are you gonna start posting stuff? :-)

**JediDeni** · August 7th, 2009, 12:26 AM

DT, I hope you haven't stopped working on the grunt yet! Get those detailing tools out and go to town.

I stongly urge, nay,....demand that you do so!!!!!!!!! ??please??

Mine is not coming along as quickly as I'd like, but I have a couple of days coming up soon that should see me making a lot of progress. Of course, now that I've said (typed?) that out loud, it'll come back to bite me in the a$$, LOL!

Dennis

**TeaMonster** · August 7th, 2009, 05:15 AM

Howdy Darkwulf, good to see progress. You've got a good set up their, I do the same foil bowl thing lol.
Your right, peeps sure are keeping quiet, but you know the early stages are alot of planning, not much to show. That said I should pull my finger out and share where I'm at

(not officially entering, can't win prizes, but I just gotta to come out and play)

**Bongsplat** · August 7th, 2009, 05:24 PM

Hi Darkwulf's Talon

Great stuff so far, the grunts looking really nice,lots of detail.

Masterchief is coming along nice as well, Looking to forward to seeing this progress

I was tempted to enter but I don't think I could cope with so many straight edges..lol

**JediDeni** · August 8th, 2009, 12:36 AM

I was tempted to enter but I don't think I could cope with so many straight edges..lol

Enter a Flood, that should be about as organic as you can get in the HaloVerse. C'mon, you know you want to!

Dennis

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 10th, 2009, 05:02 AM

Straight edges is gonna be a nightmare this is true but we get no where if we do not push our own boundaries.

SO give it a shot eh? :-)

**Darkwulf's Talon** · August 10th, 2009, 06:47 PM

Okay, spent tonight working on Masterchiefs gun (still needs smoothing)

And here's Masterchief holding it

**Darkwulf's Talon** · September 4th, 2009, 06:38 PM

Umm, well this is 'annoying' but necessary.

I am unsure if I will be able to complete my entry and you will not see much in the way of items in the next half year.

This is because I am spending more time with wifey so as to get the 'spark' back into the marriage and do more around the house :-)

As such quite a few things have had to be sacrificed or curbed and I have chosen sculpting as one of them as I have only just really started out.

This is disappointing as I felt I was going to make this work but we all have priorities and this is one that can go on the back burner.

I will not be a stranger in the forums however and when life has settled and we are 'stronger' I will release this burning fire inside.

If there is one thing that the Halo sculpt has taught me it is that 'I can do it!'

P.S. I will submit something on the 20th, we'll just wait and see what that is though...