Sculpting Tips by pega

I received a lot of request about my sculpting technique and someone send me via email these questions. So i decided to make an article with my answers.

Sculpting Tips:


Q: Ok here goes the questions. What grade of millput do you use? I have never used it but since I have been reading sculpting
articles ever one refers to it.

A: I use the Standard Yellow-Grey Milliput (because i found only this but there are other types perhaps better) and usually i use it mixed with Green Stuff to make rough moulds of hand wepons and then dry sculpt the rough replica (i.e. for the Inq Covenant sword i make a very rough mould of the space marine terminator captain sword and then make a copy with a mix of green stuff and milliput and then dry sculpted it with files and sand paper).
I don't make a lot of attention to the amount of each product. Generally i use more milliput because it's less expensive and that bit of GS give to the mix a more elastic consistency. The milliput on the other way makes the mix once dried perfect to de dry sculpted with files and sand paper.
The GS that i use in the mix is made with more yellow component because 1) i think its the yellow part that give elasticity and 2) when i sculpt i use more blue than yellow and so i got a lot of yellow inutilized.

Q: What type of tools do you use? I have
assorted dental picks and clay sculpting tools that seem to do the job but
there something missing, also is there a trick to keeping the green stuff
from sticking to the tools so bad? I use water witch seems to help a little
bit.

A: Until now i used:
- toothpicks (rooling then on the GS i make a rough desired shape and at the same time i smooth the surface,
they are also perfect to make folds on garments etc.)
- two old ink pen (a 0.2 to make little holes and a 0.4 to make embossed rivets).
- screwdrivers (to give more accurate squared shapes)
- the GW Sculpting Tool (mainly to sculpt hair and fur)
and water, water, water:
- I think to keep the green stuff from sticking there is no other way than mantain your fingers and tools always wet (the toothpick being made of wood mantain the wetness for a long time, while the metal tools are to be bathed every time you use them).
- I begin with a blue yellow mix at 50% but lately i tend to use more blue and with this mix the GS tend to be less sticky.

Q: Also when your working with the green stuff do you let it harden up for
a bit before you start working with it or just start using it after you mix it?

A: Usually I start working it just after i mixed it (as i said before i use a bit more blue and so the mix result a little bit harder).
Infact to give the first rough shape (with a toothpick) its better worked when it is fresh. Then i refine the shape using the other tools
until i obtain the desired shape (at this point a good amount of time passed and a the last touches are done when the GS is a little harder).
However it depend on what do you want to do (when i do wire cables i prefer to work with the GS a little hardened).

Q: One last question most of the greens I have seen; when they are done
have a shinny wet look to them what causes that? It just looks cool and wish mine would turn out that way lol.


A: As i said to achieve the desired shape it tooks a good amount of time of adjustement using the various tools (very wet) and in this process
i achieve the smooth an shinny look. (the shinny look i think depends from the use of very wet tools).
However try these steps:
- bathe your fingers and make a GS mix with a little more blue
- take an amount of GS that you think is needed to make the shape you want and put it on the mini you want to convert or you are sculpting
giving a very very rough shape with your fingers.
- bathe a toothpick and begin to give the give a finer shape (mainly rolling it between your fingers and at the same time along the piece of GS you are shaping)
- When you have achieved a rough desired shape bathe the toothpick and keep rolling it on the GS making a little pressure (this should give a smooth and a bit of
shinny look).
- If the shape need to be squared, bathe the screwdriver and begin to adjust the shape. and so on.
- If its a garment or something similar begin to make the folds with a wet toothpick but now moving it along its length (not rolling it).

With this steps you should achieve the desired shape (usually a robe, a garment ,a peice of armour, a breat plate etc). At this point you have to
add all the little particular:
you can add rivets (embossed: making a little pressure with the 0.4 old inkpen or standard: making a very little sphere of GS and shaping a little where do you want it).wire cables, or sculpt little skulls etc. Mainly to make all this little particular yuo have to work with little balls and sausages.

That's all for now. I hope this tips would be useful.Let me know.And good work.

pega

P.S:To see my sculpts you can go to:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse.php?do...&submitter=pega