Jim Hartman (Onemonk)

[Onemonk]

I really glad I happened upon this group sculpting project. I have always wanted to give serious sculpting a try, so now is as good a time as any.

I am a life long fan of all things Fantasy and Sci-fi, and have been a miniature collector/painter and gamer for over 30 years. Currently I design papercraft miniatures for gaming for sale and free at my website One Monk Miniatures. But, now I thinks it's time I challenged myself a bit more and try to sculpt some of the things I draw.

For my first project I'm choosing one of my Cave Troll designs. It's humanoid, and little bits of clothing, so matches nicely with the Sculpt-along. I'm still picking up the tools and supplies, but should catch up real fast.
JIM

 

[funnymouth]

cool! should be a great mini
great to have you on cmon - i dig onemonk miniatures - very useful in a pinch (not to mention, you support some of my favorite games).

 

[cybersquig]

Yup, that'll be a fun one to do! looking foward to the results
James

 

[Onemonk]

I am still tracking down all the supplies, and should be able to get caught up this week, luckily the first parts are easy. I'll be posting my progress pictures here... I don't know if anyone else is photographing their stuff, but I'm going to look around and see...
JIM

 

[cybersquig]

I certainly hope others will be posting their stuff in photos- it's totally the best way to compare progress

 

[Onemonk]

I now have the initial wire armature formed up. I couldn't find thick enough copper wire locally, so just doubled, and quadrupled it up for strength. I know I'll have to fill all those nooks and crannies with putty, so there are no air spaces left inside the finished sculpture. I also couldn't find any large corks locally, and will order them online for any future projects like this.

I still need to putty the pelvis and torso, and will do that tomorrow, and shoot a new pic.

A few things I did wrong, was to build the armature in the final pose from the start. I need to build it flat so the legs and arms are the same length, and I can mark off the bend points to keep them right, THEN bend the limbs into the correct positions. Second thing I to work on is keeping spine curved, and not straight and stiff, so at least I can get a rough idea of the curvature of the belly and torso area, although I am probably over thinking it at this point.

So far, so good. I feel confident about being able to replicate the design, and I definitely had fun looking for tools and materials of all kinds.
Onemonk

edit: for spelling....as always.

 

[THEKAPPTIN]

Looking good. Though I think you would be better off not twisting the wire, leaving it thin. The putty itself actually gives plenty of support once you start bulking it on - the wire just gives you a base to stick it to. This is especially true if you're mixing in a bit of a harder putty, but even with pure green stuff, a thin wire is perfectly fine for a large creature, and the effort you'd have to go to filling all those gaps is probably not worthwhile.

 

[funnymouth]

i really like how you've used your own art/paper miniature to guide your armature. the wire does seem to thick, but not so thick that you wont be able to work with it.

 

[Onemonk]

I was concerned that the wire would be too thick in the joints, but I should be okay, that's what a Dremel tool is for anyway

I ordered some 16gauge wire, which should be good for the big stuff from now on. I think I was reference very large scale armatures, like 12 inches tall for the stuff with the wrapped wire! Thanks for the tip, I shall only use a single wire next time.

I have some Epoxy Sculpt from a while ago, so I decided to do the base blocking of the figure with that stuff. It cures ROCK hard, and will be nice and sturdy for me to sculpt over. I have a very heavy hand when drawing and painting, so wanted to be sure I could really tug and push on this model.

The putty is still wet at the time of the photo, so I adjusted the pelvis a bit more to approximate the shape of the bone structure. I still think I may have over done it, but can grind it back if needed. I really need to print out the skeletal guide to sit in front of my face when I do this, I get real lazy about looking at reference while working, and just guess it. I'd rather not have to go back and fix a bunch of stuff, so I will get a muscle reference as well for the buildup.

In any case, I have the putty phase started. I used 5 minute epoxy to coat all the wires, so they should be good as far as air pockets. I was told epoxy glue is good, and Superglue is bad from a vulcanizing point of view. I guess superglue breaks down in the heat and your miniature will fall apart at the glues joints.

I do have a bit of help from an experienced sculptor as well. His name is Steve Lortz, and he makes a pest of himself at my forum. He has a lot of experience in the scuplting business, and was one of the original Archive Miniatures sculptors! He is giving me advice as well, so I should be well taken care of.

I look forward to the next step, I have a fresh batch of green stuff just waiting to be mixed....
JIM

 

[cybersquig]

Jim, this is looking really great! Sadly I only have 2 mins ... will comment later, but I think it's looking great so far!

 

[cybersquig]

Right, got back on. i think the beauty of this sculpt is that because it's a monster, if the proportions are slightly out, it doesn't matter! i'm pretty sure you don't need that sort of strength on the armature, but it doesn't hurt, and the tip with the epoxy is good, something I've done before when I've needed some serious strength. The hips might be a touch wide given the picture, but what you're doing is an approximation of that picture right? so that's fine then. Wonderful! Let us know how you get on with bulking up!
James

 

[Onemonk]

This is exactly why I wanted to do a monster, if the anatomy seems slightly off, I can just say "it's suppose to be that way!" Maybe newbies should start by sculpting mutant spawn.

I'll wait to do humans until I get comfortable with the tools and techniques, and have a good way to measure the anatomy of the limbs to keep them the same length.

The hips are too wide in the photo. The putty was still soft, so I pushed it around so they are less wide. If I still don't like them after I get started with the musculature, I'll just grind them down a bit with a Dremel.

More pics coming.
JIM
edit: yet more spelling fixes.

 

[cybersquig]

good plan, I'm looking foward to them!
James

 

[Onemonk]

I've started adding GreenStuff to the limbs. The thick wire is really effecting how thin I can get this stuff, so the trolls going to be a little on the thick side, but I might be able to add details over what I have.

I have been practicing with the various tools I have, and have still not found something I like to push the putty around smoothly. I have also been trying to smooth the finish on the putty, and not doing terribly well at it, I need a lot more practice.

I think the legs look okay from a anatomy point of view, I still need to bulk out the muscle groups, and really my only goal right now is to get a coating of putty on the thing for skinning and adding the other stuff on top.

I might have a old batch of GreenStuff as well, the stuff started setting up on me about 5 minutes after getting it thoroughly mixed. I'm going to order a fresh batch, and see if that helps, but this stuff will work for the under structure we are doing.

I'm just doing a little bit each day. It really takes some planning ahead for this.
JIM

 

[funnymouth]

i think those legs are really looking good (im having problems with the ones ive sculpted, so kudos). not too thick, good shape. the "skinning" should be fairly thin, so i dint see you having any problems.
ive been toying with the tools too, and ive settled on a spoon shaped dentist tool as my favorite.
keep at it!

 

[Onemonk]

Thanks! I ended up settling on the spoon one as well, nice rounded side that doesn't hang up on corners. I need to find a nice rounded flat tip for rubbing over the putty.

I still need to find a way to keep the putty from getting "lumpy" I can smooth areas, but they are still lumpy, smooth and lumpy. Maybe it just the wire underneath.

I'll also be adding shapes and details over this in much smaller batches. And looking for a putty mixer :cute: As my fingers are sore from mixing that damn putty for so long.

I think the next figure I'll try the ProCreate putty, and see if it's any easier to work with.

 

[THEKAPPTIN]

The legs are perfect for this stage.

A few tips on smoothing putty:

-Start it smooth and keep it smooth. Lay on a nice blob, and slooowwwllly push it around until it covers the area. Be careful not to make any marks in it, and use a nice smooth, flat tool. Clay shapers are not good at this stage. Use something like a knife or a flat metal sculpting tool to apply and shape the initial blob. It doesn't have to be perfect. Yet.
-Go over it with the clay shapers (if you have them). Again, moving slowly is key when the putty is still soft. Be careful not to make any marks you don't want, but if you do, just slowly and carefully smooth them over with a hard sculpting tool.
-Let the putty cure for about 15 minutes in your putty oven (or more or less time - try it out and see how you like it). Now that it's a little firmer you can press harder with your smoothing tool and work faster, and get a (slightly) smoother finish. Let it cure a bit more and repeat as necessary.

Hope this is useful.

 

[THEKAPPTIN]

If it comes out "lumpy but smooth", you're right, it's likely just the wire underneath. If not, maybe trying a flat tool will help.

About the sore fingers from mixing putty... my green stuff is never hard enough to do that. I would think either it's very cold where you are or your putty is getting too old.

 

[Onemonk]

The Green Stuff I have is over a year old, it's been sitting in a drawer at work. I do think I need some fresher stuff!
JIM

 

[cybersquig]

That's a pain, but i think you do. I think it could be that if the gs is old, and it comes in ribbon form, then the join between the yellow and blue bits can cure, and when you mix them together, it can break up and form a 'lumpy' putty. Try flattening it out on a smooth surface until it is almost translucent, this could help show whether or not it is lumpy because of that. You're quite right though, you can use it quite well to bulk up

James