Funnymouth's sculpt along

[funnymouth]

im really looking forward to the sculpt along. problem is, i dont know what to sculpt - too many ideas! do i go fancy, or simple? i dont know what i can pull off, and ive only got a few days to decide :excruciating:. i'll take cybersquig's lead, and do some research, followed by a few sketches. time to hit the books.

 

[THEKAPPTIN]

problem is, i dont know what to sculpt - too many ideas!

This is a privilege, not a problem! Enjoy it!

do i go fancy, or simple?

Simple. Definitely. Simple minis often look just as good as complex ones, but they're much easier to sculpt.

 

[cybersquig]

Hey, maybe lay out a few of those ideas to us in text, and it might help you to decide in your own mind which one you're most keen on Alternatively you could be the first person to pledge to complete two simultaneous figures throughout the sculptalong (!)
James

 

[funnymouth]

Hey, maybe lay out a few of those ideas to us in text, and it might help you to decide in your own mind which one you're most keen on

will do!
first i was thinking "mushroom man" simple, seems fairly easy, and ive got a project involving mushroom men that ive been meaning to get off the ground. besides that, there arent many out there (and none like i envision). downside, maybe not challenging enough. some of the details could be tough, but they dont have faces or other anotomical features common to most humanoids, and some aspects may be very similar to monsters ive sculpted in the past. im doing this to improve, though, so i might as well challenge myself right? aim high and such.

IMHO humans should be the most difficult to sculpt, because you need to get it EXACTLY correct, or people will notice. any error in proportion or symmetry will show. and faces -oi! but thats why i'm here i suppose.

my knee jerk reaction was: "half naked babe with a weapon" to be based off of some character concepts ive had for awhile. always nice to see (and popular on cmon), but, perhaps a bit too tough. seems like some sculptors spend their careers trying to nail it (pun intended).

i needed a compromise, so i reflected upon my gaming history.
and it hit me. interestingly enough , you said:

Alternatively you could be the first person to pledge to complete two simultaneous figures throughout the sculptalong (!)
James

illiak and bobyan, the twins. villains that could best be described as chaos warriors of a sort - sporting armor covered in daemon faces and wielding Naginatas. i figured id portray one with his daemon face mask on, and the other with the mask off, so i could practice a face, i could even make it female.

so, what do you think? does it sound interesting enough? or will it be just another lame pair human chaos warriors? should i just stick with the mushroom man? which would you rather see? im open to both. as soon as i get some feedback ill post some of the research ive done.

 

[cybersquig]

Wow! that's quite some concept... I think the twins will work really nicely if you can get the armour, the mask and the poses to work togetherm, but what would you rather sculpt? That's more important, otherwise we'd all always be sculpting half naked female space marines...

 

[funnymouth]

ok, ive decided! the twins it is! soooo down to business.
the masks: ive found some great inspiration from bali
ok, you get the idea - tusks, bug eyes, stylistic demon
the armor: the basic shape will be fairly traditional half plate armor, covered in stylistic demon faces. in a myan embossed style
pose:
for one i was thinking of something like this:
only a bit more dynamic, like this:
anyhow, thats what ive got so far. next, ill start with some simple sketches.

 

[cybersquig]

love that last pic! Those masks are going to be a challenge not that that's a bad thing...

 

[funnymouth]

first installment! ive got the armatures nearly done. ive marked the location of joints on the armature with sharpie, to help guide me as i build up.


edit: after reviewing my post, i decided that something didnt sit right with me - eithr the limbs were too long, or the torso was too short. because im going for "imposing" ive opted to lengthen the torso by elevating the sholders. this will cause arm length problems with the armature, but i should be able to work around it. ill post my new and improved armature tomorrow.

 

[cybersquig]

Well they look good to me so far! You've got a really good shape to the hips which is good to see, and plenty of scope for bulking up around the torso, so you won't be limited by that, which again is good, so nice one!

 

[Onemonk]

I like how you shaped the pelvic bone as well. I think this will help with visualizing where to attach leg muscles, and define the width of the torso.
JIM

 

[funnymouth]

ok, so im a dirty little man. well, my hands are dirty little hands. i swear! i intended to sculpt some really butch chaos guys. right around the time i was smoothing the curvature of the breasts....
FAIL

but thats ok, im rolling with it. i've changed my end goal to that of an angel of death, heavily inspired by Itzpapaloyl, a fearsome aztec death goddess (one of my original ideas). this will end up working to my advantage b/c with my limited time, i dont think id be able to do both twins justice.
ugh. this camera has been plaguing me for ages - im going to buy myself an early b-day present this week i think - ill need it when we get to detail.

 

[Hinton]

That's looking pretty good.

 

[cybersquig]

lol! it's happened to the best of us! The overall shape is spot on frankly, really nicely smoothed. If I had to suggest anything, it would be to add a very small amount of extra bulk on the outside of each thigh, to keep the flow of the body consistently feminine. Also, the calf on the ground is really rather shorter than the knee-hip part! especially if she'll have heels on (I presume )

Nice one!
James

 

[funnymouth]

...add a very small amount of extra bulk on the outside of each thigh, to keep the flow of the body consistently feminine.

will do!

Also, the calf on the ground is really rather shorter than the knee-hip part! especially if she'll have heels on (I presume )

hmmm, hadn't noticed that my lower leg proportions were off until now. that definitely needs fixing. ill pull her out of the cork a bit and flesh them out a bit better (ill need to refer to the proportion guide). fortunately i havent done much below the knee so i should just have to bulk it up a bit in places.

tonight ill work on the upper back, arms, lower legs, and skull.

question about feet: how do you suggest i go about sculpting the elevated foot? should i sculpt a platform type column for her to stand on, or should i wait until i base her (im going to sculpt a fairly elaborate base)?

 

[cybersquig]

I tend to do hands and feet last (e.g. my harlequin wip), so that they fit with the surface that they're interacting with. My bloodletter on my cmon gallery is a good example of this. As for heels, I would grab a bunch of pictures, preferably from different angles, of a foot in high heels, or even better, get someone to model it for you, and then use the wire (if it's thin) either down the heel, by kinking it backwards away from the centre of balance slightly, or through the bulk of the foot (harder to get right, but good if you want fine stillettos) I'd bulk this up and then detail it in two separate parts tbh - I find doing heeled shoes difficult enough, but doing two that match is doubly difficult (as they have to match).

btw the thigh thing, the bulk should be greatest 1/3 - 1/2 way from the hip towards the knee.