Smellybugs Maquette Tutorial completed!

[Zaphod]

Oooh... nice job! Keep it up.

Say, Propoxy, is that perhaps some kind of epoxy clay?
I've read that Sculpey gets brittle and breaks easy. How thin is not good to go beyond if I don't want it to break easily?

Thanks for a great tutorial! You should ask the people at CA to host the images when you're done so that the tutorial will stay on the forum!

EDIT - Sorry, I should read more closely in the future. I saw the post where you wrote that you used an epoxy putty named Propoxy.

[Scotty]

Man, this is great. I'm loving this tutorial. I've been trying to figure out what to use for flat areas (wings for a giant bee I'm making) that I can add clay to, and that MESH is perfect for what I need it to do. Thanks!! :chug:

Oh, and this sculpt is looking amazing....love a good imaginary creature anytime! :cool:

[foster]

oh please more now, more now! this is so good i feel like i am watching a great film and then the lights go up and "continued" rolls across the screen. i must admit i have been avidly checking this thread for you updates, eagerly waiting for christmas.

smellybug, you have given of your time and talent way beyond any expectation. thank you so much. you are an incredible artist, gentleman and teacher.

hope to meet you some day at a convention or job.

jon

[MindCandyMan]

wow this thread is amazing! I'm so glad I found it...wow...awesome. I can't wait to see it totally done!

[smellybug]

Thanks again you guys.

Zaph: Yeah, it can break if it's unsupported. I'm close to too thin here, but I'll risk it. Superglue is your friend. If you need make thin strong parts, you can also make them out of something stronger, like the propoxy, though it can be a bit tricky. In the past I've made parts like this seperately and then molded them out of plastic and attached them...but that's another tutorial.

Scotty, yeah...wings are a challenge for sure. Good luck with that. You can further stiffen the mesh by painting 5min epoxy into it, or two part easy plastic. (get that at Douglas and Sturgess) If you put two layers of mesh together and bind them with those products, it'll be reeelly stiff, sorta like fiberglass.

Jon: I'm huge fan! I'll do my best to post more often. I'm glad you're getting something out of this. As for being a gentleman....have you read the chukw fiasco?! I'm a bad person...lol. Yikes!

MCM: Me too.

[Deth Jester]

Foster, my sentiments exactly... I keep checking this thread... sometimes 3 or 4 times a day just to see if there is anything new...

thank you smelly...

-mike

[Giottoface]

Smellybug. I know you have yet to get to this stage, but i cannot resist asking this question to someone so willing to help out us little guys.

I have a sculpey sculpture I just finished. I want to paint it, but fear that putting primer on it will lose detail. If i wanted to paint it with acrylic paint, would a primer coat be necessary? The sculpey I used was the big box of white sculpey mixed with black sculpey 3 to get a medium gray. thanks!

[smellybug]

No, it's not necessary. Just don't use oil based paints on it. Paint away!

[DanPerezStudios]

Sandable laquer-based primer and acrylic paints are the best way to go for painting super sculpey pieces.

You can get acrylic craft paints cheap at places like Michaels and Hobby Lobby. They come in 3 oz. bottles.

Great work on the tutorial, Smellybug. Keep it up!

[davidheijl]

Oh man, this is amazing stuff!
i always wanted to try this out, and now i'm finally getting a start-to-finish overview of how to do it!

please keep going!!

[smellybug]

Check for more updates tonight!

[Shadow Lady]

this is my first time on this site...and i thought that your sculpture looked awesome...i'm really hoping to do more sculpey myself..i just started out a few months ago...had to do one for an art class. it didn't turn out too bad..lol..and got myself into doing a lot of detail (scailed armor). i would love a job doing more of this...so i'm glad you made this tutorial...it really helps me learn more about skin textures and wrinkles and all that tedious "fun" stuff. you've been a big help. i want to post pics of my scuplture soon. i really want to see this one finished...great job...but i guess that's why you're a pro at it...lol

[smellybug]

Ok...notes:
Starting the detail process now. This is a multi stage process. I like to jump around, so you'll notice that there are many parts not yet ready for fine detail. Again, I work big to small through all stages of work, going over the sculpt in waves.

Here I've sorta cheated, combining the first stage and second. I should have taken a picture earlier in the day...
STAGE 1: Muscle details. Very important to get the "canvas" ready for the finer details. This involves tightening the muscle shapes. Making sure muscles read like they are interacting with eachother realistically. The overs and unders. Reference is a must. Even with a fictional creature like this, people can spot that something just ain't right if you don't understand how the real thing works in the natural world.

STAGE2/3: See the larger wrinkles and folds? This is stage 2 work. Every stage of work depends on the previous stage being right. So before I add the finer lines and textures, the ones they lay upon need to be worked out.

Notice also that the surface detail is very tooled looking and rough. Eventually once I get the entire character detailed to this point, I will go over the surface with turpenoid and a soft, relatively small brush. But that will be in future updates.

He I'm showing that only half the model is textured. Normally I'd do both sides, but since I'm trying to replicate or get the feeling of the original drawing, i want to work out that side first. I will then mirror it over to the other side, which is a challenge by itself. More on that later.


* A word on patience. I can't teach it, but you gotta have it. This is something that masters like Foster understand very well. You have to be able to sit and work methodically and focused for long periods of time. This is one thing that gets overlooked with a number of people just getting started. You reeeally want to see the finished product, I know. But there are few shortcuts to learning the craft and going through the necessare steps to complete something that will knock peoples socks off. All of the kickass people on this site have put their time in and done their homework, even extra credit. That's the only way you can get to the point of making cool things look effortless. Normally if I was working on this full time, I could crank it out in a couple of days. But speed only comes with experience. Take your time and pay the dues, it will pay off later.

[TARGETE]

Petey,

This is freakin wicked, we are grateful that you took the time to show us how its done.

And this all free to us..people have paid much tuition learning
half this stuff.

knowledge is invaluable, not sure whats going on with thunderdome, but I still want that studio tour man.

peace homeboy,

JP

[Giottoface]

Very very nice/inspiring. got a pic of how the relaxed flap came out?

[Zaphod]

Wow! That is truly nice! Amazing texture!

Is there any reason for just texuring just half of the creature? Is it to make it easier for the 3D-modelers perhaps?

Is this finished for baking now? Will you paint it later on and show us the process of that too? That would totally rock.

Thank you for the indepth tutorial, I learned a lot!

[Scotty]

Excellent detailing! In comparing it now to the initial concept sketch....it's uncanny. Thank you for taking the time to do this....it's greatly appreciated. (Especially for "self-taughts" like myself) You've answered many questions :chug:

[pixelherder]

i only stumbled across this by accident, and even though i'm not a sculptor, i thought i had to say how good this tutorial is. thanks for the time and information. VERY much appreciated!

Cant wait to see more...

[fukifino]

Holy crap! When I saw these pictures this morning I had to go back a page and see if I missed a step. Damn, that's an awesome jump in detail.

And thanks for mentioning patience..I need every good artist to pound that into my head. I'm so impatient when it comes to this stuff.

Brilliant stuff, can't wait to see it continue!!

[volk23]

it would of been great if you could show some screen shots of how and what tools you use to add the skin texture like this. Other than that its awesome!

[smellybug]

I will scan my tools and put them up tonight. Can't ftp from work. There are some pics of them on the first page though.

[Caspergt]

This is insane. I keep shaking my head. Drooling.

[FunkYeti]

I just want to say how inspirational this tutorial has been. I have never done this before but always considered it after watching the special features on the Star Wars and LOTR dvds. Now with this tutorial and a long over due break from school I'm going to give it a try.

A few question from a complete newbie:
1. Is there any certain procedure for maintaining yor tools?
2. My wife is a into making ceramics but she has taken sculpting before and understands your tutorial better than I do. She uses regular clay I guess, well not super sculpy. I was wondering if I could use this but she says she can't use armetures because her clay shrinks when baked (fired)?

Eagerly awaiting the rest of this tutorial

[CopyNumberFive]

This tutorial is amazing, I'm so happy someone at the Kid Robot forums pointed it out. I have a question about eyes. It looks like you used some kind of ball bearing and was wondering if this is the best way to go, or should i use pre-baked sculpey spheres, especially if I want to paint the piece later. Thanks for all your time with this, it is a real thrill to see.
cheers :beer:
-Craig-

[smellybug]

FunkYeti:
1) No, not really. I usually customize them a little for particular uses, but no, you just use them, clean'm when dirty.\
2) Ceramics clay is great on an armature as long as you plan to make a mold from it. It will crack and fall apart otherwise. I usually use clay called "06 buff" for water clay. It has a nice fine texture, easy to work with. See my Ogre post for an example of what you can do with it.

Copy#5:
Glad you're getting something out of this! The prebaked spheres are a great way to go. THe ball bearings I use are just temp for now. I will eventually make some eyes, or find some appropriate glass eyes from a taxedermy supply. Bird and fish eyes might be great for this critter.

*Had a problem uploading my tool pic, I'll try again later.

[ChaosEidolon]

hey man, just thought id join the bandwagon and thank you for such a great thread. I think were all getting tons out of it. The absolute best way to learn from others is to see their process...
I cant wait to see the rest.

[smellybug]

chaos:
Thanks man. I definitely appreciate the positive response to the tutorial. Gets my butt in gear to get it done, that's for sure. I'm happy to do it, too. When I was trying to learn this stuff 20 years ago or so, there was little help around in my suburban hellhole. A couple magazines, but little else. If I can help to get someone going a little faster or demystify a technique, I feel like I've done something positive. I'll have a new update in a day or two. By Thursday definitely. Thanks again.

[the good war]

hi i've been wanting to get into maquettes for some time and i was wondering if it would be ok to bake glass eyes and is there a limit or anything to how many times you can bake super sculpey before it dicintigrates or deteriorates
excellent tutorial, thumbs up

[smellybug]

glass eyes are fine usually. And you can bake sculpey a number of times, but I haven't done it more than 3 times. Bake it at 200 or even a little lower for a longer time instead of what the box says. Seems to work better for me.

[smellybug]

Ok....the juicy part starts. DETAIL! Or I guess it continues. Looking two pics back, you can see the raw detail pass in closeup. Below I'm going over that surface with a soft brush and some turpernoid. I keep brushing it until it looks how I want it to. Starting with too many lines and pits and knocking it back until it feels right.



Now the right side before brushing...



A comparison to show how much I'm smacking down the rough lines at this stage. Yikes...those neck wrinkles look like crap!



Lets break down the next phase of detailing, shall we? Yes. Let's start with the arm. Here I am lightly dragging a homemade tool across the arm adding additional fine detail. Every texture has a number of levels of detail that make it what it is. It's up to you to decypher the trick and see how far you need to go to create the illusion you're after. Here i just want thick and leathery with some age to it.

Notice that I have a lot of lines there, but there is a sort of order to it, even though I'm trying to make it look natural and random. It needs some logic behind it to sell it. My reference is pictures of rhinos and elephants, even leather clothing has cool and interesting patterns to it, after all, it is skin.


I've brushed it very gently with the same brush and turp, now I'm using a simple piece of sponge to take away the super smooth, shiny look the brushing has. In some cases, like inside a mouth, you might want to leave it smooth. Doing this also helps the surface hold the paint, give it more age and cut down on reflection, making it a matte surface. Many sponges and foams will work, this one is very soft so I don't screw up the detail I just made.


So here is the result on the arm. Standing back a bit it looks ok. Looks like I need to give the elbow a different texture, it's starting to look a little monotonous (sp?). These pictures are helpful for me to see what works and what doesn't. Normally I use a mirror to get a different view of what I'm doing, but the pics work similarly.



Same process with the legs...



Here I'm going back over the wrinkles to emphasize some a little more. If you don't take time to punch things up here and there your texture can look bland and mechanical.


Now I've done the same to the right side of the body.
*note: You have to let the sculpey dry out a little between brushing and detail passes. After you apply the turpentine, the surface is very soft and liquidy. Wait an hour or mist some rubbing alcohol over it and that will help evaporate the turp. CAREful. No open flames nearby, right?



Check out the seemingly natural look of the skin. Learning how to achieve a feeling of randomness in your tool strokes is the key.
Also notice how some of these textures are more compressed and squeezed looking on this right side where the creature is pulling it's arm back. That's also something to learn through observation, how various materials react to pose or movement. Getting this down helps add another layer of believability to your creation. (although my dorsal spikes are hella weak! Dang...gotta fix that too!)



After sponging...





Cool! Well. Things are moving along. Next time I'll show more work on the bottom, the hands and the head, as well as some fixes to what you see here... Hope you like the latest.