Sculpting questions

[boogieoompa]

I’ve been converting miniatures rather extensively for a few years now and have just started trying my hand at sculpting from scratch however I had some questions. I have read most of the sculpting articles on this forum but I still had some very specific questions from the pros. Here’s my process so far
Tools: GW sculpting knife, pointed and flat claybrush, scalpel
Lubricant: Water, yeah I know that’s why I’m asking lol
Medium: Green stuff and plasticard
General method: I use paperclips to create the armature and usually stick them in a wine quark. I than kneed up the GS usually in a 50/50 ratio and sculpt with my fingers a general shape. I than wait 30 minutes or so and go back and start sculpting. I try to only do 1 thing a night which usually only takes like an hour. I often times will wait an additional hour (so now at the 2.5 hour mark since it was mixed) and clean some stuff up with the scalpel now that the mix is almost dry.
My specific questions are
1) If you use say olive oil or lip balm for lubricant what is the best way of making sure this comes off the model so that future GS and eventually paint doesn’t get messed up. Most of the lubrication methods I’ve seen don’t wash off too easy with water.
2) How often or when should you sculpt the fine detail or a model. I have read in some articles that some people wait for the model to completely dry and more “widdle” the model down with dremels and scalpels than actually sculpt it.
3) How do you make smooth armor. IE the shoulder pad of a space marine, it is round (so cant use plasticard) and often times people will have a perfect square border around it. I haven’t read a sure fire way of making a really smooth surface without using plasticard. Do you dremel this down?
I’m sure there are many different methods that people use but any help would do.
Thanks ahead of time

 

[freakinacage]

i would suggest trying some other putties for a start. gs is quite a difficult material to get used to. maybe try a magic sculp or milliput and gs mix. this will allow you to sand for a really smooth surface and also scrape/cut if you need.

fine detail i usually sculpt after is has hardened a bit. it up to you as to when you get your best results tbh

i use spit to lubricate. dont really have problems with that. if i am kneading it with my hands, i lubricate them with sebum (skin oil) from my nose/forhead/neck. talc also works well, especially when rolling out sheets, as it can be washed when rolled so it becomes sticky again

bear in mind you need to work in layers. get a rough shape of anatomy first, let that dry and build up from there. go to the hasslefree website and look at the wip section, it's a good place for seeing how models can be built up

 

[AegisD]

i use spit to lubricate. dont really have problems with that. if i am kneading it with my hands, i lubricate them with sebum (skin oil) from my nose/forhead/neck. talc also works well, especially when rolling out sheets, as it can be washed when rolled so it becomes sticky again

I would have never thought to use that, but amazingly I just tried it and it works wonders!

I too would have to recommend using something other than 'greenstuff' in general. I prefer procreate. It's grey and comes in two separate sticks so you can mix to your own desired consistency. It also takes a sanding much better than the greenstuff does in my opinion, which is another reason I like it.

 

[freakinacage]

i have to say that i loved procreate when it came out but have gone off it. so much so that it's the putty i use least. i behaves in a similar fashion to a gs heavy gs/miliput mix but i would rather mix tbh. i would say i generally prefer it to a pure gs blob

 

[Einion]

General method: I use paperclips to create the armature and usually stick them in a wine quark. I than kneed up the GS usually in a 50/50 ratio and sculpt with my fingers a general shape. I than wait 30 minutes or so and go back and start sculpting. I try to only do 1 thing a night which usually only takes like an hour. I often times will wait an additional hour (so now at the 2.5 hour mark since it was mixed) and clean some stuff up with the scalpel now that the mix is almost dry.

Sounds like a good general approach.

1) If you use say olive oil or lip balm for lubricant what is the best way of making sure this comes off the model so that future GS and eventually paint doesn’t get messed up. Most of the lubrication methods I’ve seen don’t wash off too easy with water.

That's the main reason I don't personally recommend using greasy lubricants! That said, they do work (and in a particular way that water or saliva do not) so if it's required just wash the sculpt after in soapy water.

For years I've mainly used saliva - not putting my tools directly in my mouth - but I've slowly been developing my technique to where I need to use very little lubrication anyway. Although this is not with GS, which is so tacky that it really requires some form of lubrication, except perhaps with teflon tools.

Talc is worth a shot as well if you've never tried it, since if there's any left it basically just brushes off the surface once the putty has hardened.

2) How often or when should you sculpt the fine detail or a model. I have read in some articles that some people wait for the model to completely dry and more “widdle” the model down with dremels and scalpels than actually sculpt it.

I would generally recommend doing this 'wet' and not trying to rely on carving. Quite apart from it being faster and more direct the results are often (usually IME) better when sculpted rather than carved.

But carving and other shaping when putty has cured definitely has its place - something it's the way to get a sharp edge or to refine something that doesn't look right when you come back to it next day.

3) How do you make smooth armor. IE the shoulder pad of a space marine, it is round (so cant use plasticard) and often times people will have a perfect square border around it. I haven’t read a sure fire way of making a really smooth surface without using plasticard. Do you dremel this down?

The sharp edge is perhaps best done by cutting using a very sharp blade, when the putty has gotten to the 'leather hard' stage, about that of tire rubber.

A lot of the smooth surface could be down to sanding/scraping smooth after the putty is hard but you can do it 'wet'. GS is not the best for this, which is one reason you so often see armour and other harder materials on greens done in Brown Stuff instead.

MagicSculp, Apoxie Sculpt and Milliput are also useful since they all get hard so they scrape, grind and sand very well so one of them is well worth having if you want to do this kind of shaping. MS is my personal favourite although AS is a close second as they're quite similar.

Einion

 

[cassar]

shoulder pads

make the pad itself sand it smooth with wet n dry paper super fine make a long thin sausage of milliputt/green stuff apply to the pad flatten it down then trim with sculpting tool, roberts your fathers brother. if the models a large scale like one of the ones i do then its mostly dremmmel router work to cut the pads edge even the smallest router blades are a little too large really for 28mm work so sculpt away:clap:

 

[boogieoompa]

Thanks for all the tips, I'm in the process of sculpting my first mini and I'll post it once I'm done.

Thanks again.

 

[Chrome]

Post some WIP-pictures in the work in progress section! that way you can get feedback while you work plus we will be able to share your fun!

 

[boogieoompa]

Should have read that before I finished lol, but here it is anyways, wasn't really taking it too seriously because I figured it would look sub standard anyways. It was a good learning experience but I still couldn’t pull off armor, I tried to add a shoulder plate but it didn’t look like armor but more like leather.

http://coolminiornot.com/236517

 

[freakinacage]

a damn good start!

 

[Trevor]

Other options for lubricant include the grease from the sides of your nose and KY jelly.
I like the vermin lord - good start indeed.

 

[freakinacage]

Other options for lubricant include the grease from the sides of your nose and KY jelly.
I like the vermin lord - good start indeed.

ahem:

, i lubricate them with sebum (skin oil) from my nose/forhead/neck.

:smile-big:

 

[boogieoompa]

As gross as it sounds I actually spit a little on a plate and used that as lubricant. It worked really well but my wife was kind of bewildered.

Thanks for the feed back. Figured I needed to get this sculpting thing down if I wanted to enter the LA games day next year.

 

[Chrome]

Doesn't sound more gross than using skin fat. For some reason that feels worse than using spit, but then again, I lick my tools.

 

[cassar]

thats just the space wolf in you lol, you should get your girlfriend to lick them for you, you know get her involved in the hobby :snicker: