VIIStar

Next to the head the hands are the second most important part of a sculpt. If you're ever in a hurry and can't get a full clean sculpt done, focus on the gesture of the hands and the expression of the face first. These are the two places the eye travels to first (what is the character feeling / doing) and if they are well done the rest is forgivable.

The first part of sculpting a hand is to determine if you require armature for the fingers. If the hand is large with heavy fingers, then you will need wire to support the clay. If the fingers are small and delicate you will not, and the wire will just interfere with the finger. Please look at your artwork and determine which is right for your sculpt.

please create your hands to this soundtrack:


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Here is a basic face tutorial. All faces are different, especially comparing cartoon characters with animals or realistic people, however there are similarities in blocking off and marking features that all characters share. I will walk you through sculpting my soldier's face and then talk to you individually again to make sure you're on the right track.



First off - rough in the shape of your character's head. Make sure it fits with the artwork by a side by side comparison. Just look for the shape of the head and not the hair/hat/horns/spikes, etc. Sketch in a center T and make sure the tilt and direction are correct.



COMPARE SIDE BY SIDE by holding it up to the artwork. I snatched that profile straight from the animation and resized it to fit my drawings. Since he is not my design I want his head to be as accurate as possible, and you create likeness through proportions.


more after the cut (image heavy)
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This stage concerns taking the initial built up forms and tightening them up into low poly then high poly forms.

Initially blocking in forms allows you to see how the base shapes move in space and compare them to the artwork easier. It is more difficult to make a rounded shape even than it is a squared one. You will build rounded shapes on top of the squared off ones.

When you build up forms, for the body or face, unless specified in an animated character, they are constructed out of convex (rounded outward) forms. Concavities will create a corpse-like, anorexic appearance which looks neither natural or alive.

After bulking up and adding clay to the proper volume, start blocking off the forms. Maintain a centerline in all forms, especially indicating twisting and hip / shoulder direction.



More after the cut.
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In this step we will take the foil forms, coated with a very thin layer of sculpey and start building them up. This is done by adding small pieces of clay in an additive method, slowly building up to balance the figure. There should be NO details at this stage. No muscles no features, just shapes and center lines sketched into the clay.



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Beneath the Super Sculpey and on top of the wire, we must add base forms to support the clay. This is because Sculpey has no strength of its own and therefore must be supported. If it is not properly supported it will crack and eventually destroy itself, if it doesn't do so while baking.

Keep in mind that Sculpey should not be thicker than a half an inch, absolute max an inch (requires longer baking). This is especially important on thicker more robust characters, or characters with thin legs.



These shapes were drawn on your artwork in the initial armature drawing stage and should fall deep within the form, centered, so that the Sculpey can be freely sculpted on top of it. You do not want the foil forms to interfere with the actual act of sculpting or to have to change the design to accommodate the armature or foil.

More after the cut.
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The second part of building armature is the limb attachment. This is very important to do correctly or your arms / wings / legs / etc will not be attached properly and can wiggle and move, if not fall off.

We will start by measuring the same way we measured the spine, but this time looking at the arms, shoulders, and U bend. You need to mark off which limbs have the least perspective and show their true length. Make sure you measure the shoulders as straight on as possible and take into account the U bend in the middle.


See the red arms drawn onto the armature.

Continued after the cut.
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When building armature, the best way to begin is with a well drawn out plan on good turnaround artwork. Find the joints and main points - elbows, shoulders, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, etc. - middle of the neck, middle of the waist, etc. place all points in the center of the form as indicated on the artwork above.

more after the cut -->

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Due on Friday the 1st:

- Quick List supplies, minus the finishing section, though you will want sandpaper to sand your tools smooth 320 and 600 3M grey.
Make sure you have CALIPERS and at least one pair of PLIERS, and either a wire cutter or a cutter included in the pliers.

- Turnaround artwork of a character that has at least one arm connection, AND one texture or clothing, or both.

Please no high heels, flying hair, flying cloth, or excessive layering as discussed in class. Any questions please email me and I will look it over before class.

Turnaround should have 4 points: front, back, side, 3/4 views. The more points the better. It will also help to have supplemental material and extra views of the character.


This artwork is the rubric that I will use to grade you. I will accept changing and tweaking the pose of a character, but the details and proportions MUST remain consistent.

Examples of artwork after the cut.
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This entire post is dedicated to tools. I can't emphasize the sheer amount of tools that I've accumulated in the single year that I have been sculpting. You can never have too many tools! Tools aren't just the wooden ones you buy in the store, but anything you can get your chubby little hands on that work and make the marks you want. I have it on good authority that the darling Damon Bard has a huge box of tools, which would be thrilling to look though.

You can modify, sand, grind, and use found objects to create the look and texture you want. A good example of this is the striations in osaja's belt and vaulker's goggles, I used a small comb to get them even, then reinforced them with a small wooden tool.

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For this step we start adding the basic shapes to the armature that will make up the core of the character. Personally, I prefer to use an epoxy clay called Magic Sculpt, but you will probably be using tightly packed and textured foil bound to the aluminium armature with thin steel wire. Regardless of which technique you use, the same rules apply.


These initial core shapes should indicate and block in the directions of the main forms through blocking with basic shapes, such as a box, egg or sphere. If you block in with foil, it might help to draw 'T' indicators with a sharpie on the foil so you can tell which direction the shapes are facing in space. I choose to mark into the clay with a wooden tool as indicated on the image above.

The shapes should also be deep enough inside the form of the sculpt so as not to interfere with the sculpting. Always check the shapes against the artwork to make sure.

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