Basics Challenge! Skullz!

**Garyo** · May 7th, 2007, 06:43 PM

Hey gang,
I had an exchange with Oblio and he is overwhelmed right now so I am putting forth a new sculpting challenge. As you may have guessed from the title this one will be about sculpting a skull. I'm going to experiment with the time frame and put it at a month, so nobody should have any trouble finishing. This is aimed at honing basic sculpting skills and plan on crits and comments during the progress, that doesn't mean some of you at higher levels can't play too. I actually hope to see some more creative skulls from the more talented of our group. Use of reference material is encouraged.

Skull images
Alien Skull images
Animal Skull images
Even something entirely different

So create a skull: Human, animal or alien... your choice as long as its a skull

WIP Shots are a must. I want to see at least one before we post our finished results. I would recommend posting at least one a week.

In June we'll do a poll for the entries and I'll post the next Basics Challenge

Garyo

**Borax** · May 11th, 2007, 07:31 PM

I am suprised the no one yet has replyed to this post, I wanted to try my hand at the last round of monsters but only found this 3D challenge a short time ago. And what is funny is that I began to make little skulls for fun to get ready for trying to sculpt something more challenging. Now I will have to make another harder skull......thinking thinking...

I really hope that others jump onto this fun challenge!

**KonstantinZ** · May 12th, 2007, 11:45 AM

Sorry, I was overwhelmed by work and the final months of school so I had to cut on my participation.

But Summer break just started and I should have enough time to participate

so I'm in.

I also agree with the whole idea of doing basic challanges first.
Happy to see you at the helm Gary! Rock on dude!

K

**Garyo** · May 13th, 2007, 05:59 PM

Alright guys! Glad to see you aboard. I've got my first wip shot and I'll add some pointers for anyone feeling they don't know where to start.

I'm doing a dog skull and I'm also lucky enough to have an actual skull casting to work from. But you can do the same with pictures. With pictures you want to at least have a front and side shot, having more is bonus

Once you have some reference shots or object.

Next you want to establish some points or landmarks so you don't get too lost. For a skull these are usually the widest parts. On the sides of a skull these are usually the Zygomatic. The top is the Parietal bone and the bottom is the Mandible at the chin. Back is the top of the Occipital bone near the Parietal and the Front is the Nasal bone. You can check this pageif you need to know where those bones are

Once you have those points you need to make some roads to connect those points. I've done this on my dog skull and you can see I've done it on the pictures of the human skull that I've attached too. You need to redraw them often as you work, as you can see some of mine have been partially wiped out.

Well I've rattled on long enough. KonstantinZ, Borax, and anyone else lurking looking forward to seeing your wips now.

Garyo

**Borax** · May 15th, 2007, 12:52 AM

Well, here is my early WIPs. I am going to try to do a bear skull. This one is a bit small though so I might restart a little bigger.

The flash here makes those teeth look way to big for the skull.

[edit] Added a few more WIP pics.....try to work more on the main shape.

Here are some updated Wip pics. I am never going to do this with out armeture again ! I have dropped it 3 like times and had to fix smashed bits not to mentions smushing it with my fingers...... ah well , I always got to learn the hard way.

I still have a bit of work to do on the back portion of the skull and then its all about the remaining detail. fun fun

**Garyo** · May 15th, 2007, 11:01 AM

Great start Borax! The teeth are great, but I think you have rushed to the details. Which might be why they seem out of proportion to the rest of the skull. Here I've marked up a couple of pictures I found doing a google search for bear skulls. I've drawn in some points (the circles) and roads (the lines) that I think will help you nail it if you establish them first and then start to work on the details like those excellent choppers. Using a pair of calipers you can take measurements to establish other landmarks like the bottom of the nasil opening and the ridge of the brow...

Keep up the good work

Garyo

**Borax** · May 16th, 2007, 12:42 AM

Thanks for the tips garyo! I will take all the advice I can get. The method to my madness on this one was trying to get almost all the main shape and detail before I added the cheek bones as well as the the that funky lower jaw for I have a tendency to smush things that are so fragile.

I also didnt wire the inside on this one because again since I am still learning I tend to put too much armeture in and then 'dig' down into it ( useing caliper would help that I think, but i am just to damn stuborn !) so i dont usually build with them. although once I get to those cheek bones i will use some wire to keep them ridgid.

This is just the very basic outline of where I will be puting the cheek and jaw
(with wire).

I like the pic you found Garyo, mine was not that close up but still had great shape. From all the ones that I found the bear species varied mainly in theeth count & shape and skull dome slope & width.

**Garyo** · May 16th, 2007, 10:53 AM

Well some people are carvers and some are moldelers. I tend to lean on the modeling side and by the sound of it you like to lean on the carving side maybe? The armature I'm using on my dog is the one I use to make ~1/4 scale busts. Inside is an egg shape ball of wire ~1 1/4" x ~1 3/4" and that gives me about 1/4" depth all around when making a human. On the dog it works out well for the brain case area, but I lack support for the snout. I think it will be fine though as I'm using a firm plasticene clay. I'm guessing by the color of your clay you are using sculpy? If you feel more comfortable carving you really need an armature as sculpy moves around on you more than firm plasticene. Now for an additive person I would make a sculpy egg that is 1/4" to 1/2" smaller and give it a quick bake. Then you can add on top

For you, I think you really need to add if you want to keep what you have made so far. Look at the outline of the skull reference front and profile. From the front it has sort of a diamond shape and the profile is kind of a seed shape. Now compare it to yours.

The reference itself was just a google image search using "bear skull" and turned up a ton. Many and the one I used as an example seem to be from the Muesum of Natural history's online archive which is always a great place to look for animal references. If you like to have something on hand, the discount book section of your local mega-bookstore always has those coffee table wildlife books on sale often under $20. I'm a firm believer that you can never have too many reference pictures, even for an imaginary creature

The Cyclopedia Anatomicae is also a great artist reference with anatomy of people and several popular animals, bears included. It's pretty cheap too and if you keep an eye on the discount racks it often pops up for under $10 which is how I got my copy.

Garyo

**KonstantinZ** · May 19th, 2007, 04:01 PM

I'm just going for a human skull for now. Medium is stoneware cone 10 that I have a lot left from my Ceramics 2 class. It's a lot of fun to work with water based clay

.

It's more of a study.
If I do ok with this one I'll do a lion's skull.

A bit hard to keep that line on in water clay. I'm thinking about using wooden pins or toothpicks.

Oh and that's my little hot box(kiln) doing a test firing right now.
I still have to find a glaze or stain that I'll use on this, but I'll probably just go with some form of iron oxide and wood ash.

Garyo thanks for keeping the Chalanges on. I am sure more people will join and it will become a blast. Borat, great start on the bear.
K
EDIT:loosing weight

**Garyo** · May 21st, 2007, 10:56 AM

Hey KonstantinZ

Great to see you onboard and an excellent start on the skull. Putting tooth picks in at the intersections is a great practice. As far as keeping the lines you just have to get in the good habbit of re-drawing them after they have gotten blurred

For specific crits on your work so far... The zygomatic is always the widest spot on the front view. Currently you have the bone around the eye socket as the widest. The second is the brian case in the side view is too round and should be egg shaped. For me this is the first shape I like to nail down and then move on to the complex structure of the facial bones saving the eyes for last.

I'll try to post an update on my progress later tonight, as well as a wip on a side project that I'll post in the regular forums

Garyo

**KonstantinZ** · May 21st, 2007, 08:50 PM

Thanks a lot for the crits Gary! They are really helpful. I see what you mean about the egg and the zygomatic. I hope that I fixed it to a degreee, though I still need to work on the zygomatic and the forehead is bothering me. I put in some toothpicks and am trying to keep the lines on and actually streight, hehe.

Sorry for the giant size. I'll scale them down on thursday since I'll have the evening free. If you see some glaring mistakes let me know so I fix them before I start refining this thing. Have to say that doing this even for 30 minutes after work is a blast

I think I'm improving a bit and that's great.

Borax, great progress. I think you should stick with the armature. It might feel wrong at first but when you get used to it, it gives you much more freedom and support. If you are working with sculptey you can also fire a small part of it to serve as a base, and than work from there.

Looking forward to seeing your progress guys, and if anyone else reading this feels like entering, join in

K

**Garyo** · May 22nd, 2007, 10:22 AM

Hey KonstantinZ,
Looking better, but the brain case could still be more egg like. Rounder and higher on the forehead and actually remove some from behind the jaw. Your zygomatic is much better now. The jaw line is a bit on the lantern side unless that is what you are going for. Looking forward to seeing your next wips.

I echo KonstantinZ invite for anyone else feeling they want to join in. There is still lots of time left. The aim in this challenge is for pushing or 3d skills to a new level. I know personally I never stop learning

Garyo

**Borax** · May 27th, 2007, 12:16 PM

Well I spent some more time on this baby. got more of the basic shape fixed, still needs work as you can see, but hopefully this will be ready to be baked soon.

**KonstantinZ** · May 27th, 2007, 03:29 PM

Good progress Borax. like how you disect your own work on a photo. I need to learn to do that since it adds direction and purpose to your work.
Are you going to tool it after you bake it?

K

**Borax** · May 27th, 2007, 07:17 PM

Thanks KonstantinZ, yeah since I dont have any turpenoid handy I am going to smooth out and buff everything and then dig out the spots that need it, for example, I will grind out the jaw area to separate them and hollow out the mouth portion. mabye do some final touch up to the teeth. I have not decided yet if i will make this rough finish like a dig find, or smooth and polished as a museum peice would be. I want to paint and detail it for the final touch.

**Garyo** · May 28th, 2007, 10:08 PM

Great work Borax and I like that you are using your pictures to help with corrections. I'd still like to see a wider zygomatic in that front view to give that diamond shaped outline.

Here's my latest. Basically I've added the jaw and hope to add teeth and start some of the other details next weekend.

Well keep up the good work and keep those wips comming

Garyo

**KonstantinZ** · May 31st, 2007, 07:48 PM

Good wips Gary. What medium are you using? Oil Clay?

I've added more clay to the top on mine and brought out the jaw. I still need to fix all the symetry and then I'll start to work on the teeth this weekend.
It's a bit confusing when you have a lot of refs and none of the sculls look the same, hehe

Still, I think I'm getting somewhere.

cheers

K

**sculptridge** · June 4th, 2007, 12:44 PM

Hey everyone!...brand new here and just found this challenge. I'd love to play but am thinkin I'm out of time...when's the deadline?
peace,
sculptridge

**Garyo** · June 5th, 2007, 10:21 AM

Ok guys, I'd like to see your finals posted this weekend and we'll put up a poll Monday between KonstantinZ and Borax. You both have done some great skulls and if you want to take them further I hope you keep sharing

I'm also open to taking suggestions for the next basics challenge? Sculptridge sorry you missed this one. Anyone, feel free to put your thoughts in on this next venture. Just keep in mind the project should be possible to do in a months time.

Oh and to answer KonstantinZ's question... I do use oil clay. Mainly to keep the dust to a minimum in my apartment. I tend to be partial to oil and water clays for the initial sculpting. If I want to take something further into detail like the rocket or the monkey I'll do a cast in wax.

Garyo

**KonstantinZ** · June 6th, 2007, 08:34 PM

Thanks Garyo.

I'm going to finish this weekend. A bit more progress. I still need to fix symetry in some places and add more volume to the forehead. Need to finish the teeth and start finishing the surface.

Any idea where to get good anatomy refs for human teeth?

Konstantin

**KonstantinZ** · June 9th, 2007, 07:33 PM

Ok, this is as much as I could manage today. It's not as good as I wanted it to be, but it's an improvement from my last clay study, so I am not complaining.

If I manage to get back home before nightfall tomorrow I'll do some more work on it. Though I probably won't be able to do that so I decided to post current pics for the deadline. I hope that you'll get yours on time Borax. Looking forward to seeing how you did the finishing.

Oh, and I'll need to dry it and hollow it out before I fire it. I'm thinking of doing a smoke firing on it.

Cheers, and thanks for looking, crits and comments.

K

**Borax** · June 10th, 2007, 12:29 AM

looking good KonstantinZ ! I am still going to finish mine, just had a computer crisis today. hope I will finish tomorow morning and then put on the finishing touches to post.

**Garyo** · June 10th, 2007, 11:50 PM

Schweet! Looking good KonstantinZ. I can definitely see improvement in your sculpting and by all means continue it and let us know how the firing goes. Borax, looking forward to seeing yours tomorrow too.

Here's my final bit of work on mine. Not sure if I'll do anymore on it, but if I do maybe take it into a portrait.

Have you guys thought on what you would like to tackle next? I was thinking about something along this line http://www.flickr.com/groups/700pirates/pool/, we wouldn't have to do one of their pirates. If you do choose one of theirs, make sure you get the artists permission first! Or if you want to do something else I'm open to suggestions

Garyo

**Borax** · June 11th, 2007, 01:32 AM

Well, here is the final on mine. Could have been so much better but I rushed it at the end as always. Looked so much better before i tried to paint it. I had to brush it as my air brush is K.I.A. and the lighting for the pic sucked. so with all those excuses I think that this was a lot of fun and a great challenge to take on. Practice of any kind is always a good thing. great job on yours KonstantinZ, I love how big you were able to make yours. Wish you could have finished your garyo looked as if it was coming along nicely.

the paint clumped on this and so f*&*ed a lot of the detail on it. I spent so much time smoothingit out only to rough it back up

live 'n' learn

And as for something to do next..... I was thinking that trying to do some sort of spider might be a fun challenge as it would require a fancy armature.