67 replies to this topic

[Hellbeard]

Added arms armature.





I think I'll pose him holding his binoculars in the right hand and gesturing with his left what with being a command sort of unit miniature. I'm thinking about how to make his boots; it seems like I should do the shoelaces in a separate go and the soles after I de-cork them. It seems reasonable to sculpt the binoculars separately and then attach them to the hand, I'll leave a bit of armature sticking out of it so I can merge it with the arm strands.

[joshuaslater]

I looked at pics of him from 1973 and you're really capturing the image in greenstuff. Carry on.

[Hellbeard]

I looked at pics of him from 1973 and you're really capturing the image in greenstuff. Carry on.

Cool. Thank you. I'm very pleased and yet I know I've still got some ways to go, the next one is always somehow better.

Faced my fear of manufactured objects- a pair of binoculars. I failed terribly. Everything needs an armature strong enough to push against or there's simply no way to work. I wound up gluing the piece to a bit of cardboard but the scale of it was so out of whack that I decided to try again. This time I'll work front to back.

1:64 armature-

1:100 armature(now obsolete)

The failure:



Binoculars v.2 armature:



And also added some mass (needs a bit more I think):

[joshuaslater]

I thought that faces and hands were the hardest to get. Now binoculars?

You'll muscle through this challenge. I see good things for this sculpt.

[evhorne969]

Mechanical bits seem to confound most newcomers to putty. The trick to them is to machine (cut, file, and sand) the main parts in stages, and then sculpt the final details on top. So for example on your binoculars I would sculpt a basic body shape, let it cure, then sand and file it into shape. I would then drill two holes into the body and putty in some brass rod or tubing. Once that was cured i would file the brass tubing ends flat. Finally, I would putty on the eye rings and other surface details. Mechanical bits typically aren't very hard to sculpt, but they're a pain because they usually take quite a few stages of sculpting / sanding to finish. As a side note, it will also help to sculpt the parts you plan to sand and file out of a harder putty like brownstuff, aves, or milliput gray. Greenstuff will work, it's just not quite as easy to machine as the other putties.

For the boots and laces there are a couple tricks I can share with you.

[This part about the boot soles is from a question I previously answered. I was just too lazy to rewrite it ;-)]

The boot soles are fairly easy, but I think an illustrated diagram is in order;



This is a Left Foot.  I start by sculpting the basic foot shape.  I don't worry about adding extra for the heel or sole, all that comes later.  Once I have my basic shape then I can start adding the sole, heel, and wrinkles.
I use a special wax minarette # 1709S from sculpt.com to add the sole lines, however any thin sharp blade will work like an xacto or a scalpel.  I start at the back of the boot at the height of the heel I want (#1) and very gently press in a line.  Then I work my way around the heel until I get to #2 where I angle the line down to the level of the sole.  Then I continue the line around the toe of the boot #3, #4, and #5 on the opposite side, go back up with #6 on the other side as well and then finish by connecting #6 and #1.  Once I have my sole/heel line in I use a needle and poke in a hole at #7 and #8 to make it look like a heel.  I then shape the #7/#8 holes to a triangular cutout that really sells the boot heel.  At this point I go back and start smoothing out the heel and the sole with a very tiny spoon tool I made using music wire. Here's a great tutorial on how to do that, http://sculptingtools.blogspot.com/  I use one similar to the one on page 29 only it's rounded on top and it's VERY small (.6mm music wire).  To make that small of a bend in music wire you don't need to heat it like it says in the tutorial, you can just gently bend it with pliers after you hammer it out flat. Sorry to get off track with the tools, I'm a tool junkie.  Anyway, after I smooth out the heel and sole I finish the boot by adding the wrinkles.  A couple above the heel, a couple where the toes flex, and a couple where the ankle flexes and I have a boot.

For the laces I would actually cut all those in with a scalpel. I would cut the two lines where the tongue of the boot would be. Next I would poke holes for the eyelets and then cut in the TOP laces all going from left to right (or right to left, whichever you prefer) then finally I would cut in the laces on the BOTTOM going the opposite direction. It sounds harder than it really is. Let me know of you need more specifics on that particular technique.

On another side note, GREAT rule of thumb on knowing when to cut a detail in as opposed to adding it on is if you want the detail to really stand out then you add it, if you want the detail to "blend in" you cut it in. In the boot lace example you don't want your laces to to stand out so you'd cut them in.

One last thing. I notice your putty seems to be getting a little brown. I'm assuming you're baking it to speed curing? If so, you'll want to turn the temp down a little bit because when putty turns brown like that it's actually scorching. When putty gets scorched it sort of "foams up" inside and that can have very unpleasant consequences when sending it to the moldmaker.

Hope that helps and keep up the Great Work!! :-D

Gene

[joshuaslater]

"Hope that helps."

Gene, you are a sculpting instructional machine. Hellbeard asks for advice, you drop a tutorial, Hellbeard picks it up and runs with it, and it just keeps getting better.

I love watching this process of two sculptors in two different countries collaborate, teach, learn, and produce amazing results.

Kings to you man.

[Hellbeard]

Thank you very much for the information.
I need to study your reply more intently but the brown is from brown stuff which is somehow now makes it good. I'll get hacking immediately. I'm not baking but letting it sit.
Can you explain the laces bit more also, because they're supposed to go over the two sides and then there's a recess behind them where the tongue is. How can I cut them in but have them go above another detail I also cut in? Blending with a tool maybe?

[evhorne969]

Here's another quick diagram for you:



You're correct, you WILL cut the laces over other lines you've already cut in, but the extra lines will disappear fairly quickly just by blending a little bit. Tidy up the laces by recutting the lines. Also repoke the eyelet holes to "stretch" the lace and that should be about it. For the bottom laces you'll cut to the top lace but you won't cut over them. In other words for each top lace you make TWO cuts, from eyelet to eyelet. For each bottom lace you'll make FOUR cuts from eyelet to top lace and then from top lace to eyelet. Try practicing it a time or two before attempting it on your figure. It really is very simple.

Gene

[evhorne969]

"Hope that helps."

Gene, you are a sculpting instructional machine. Hellbeard asks for advice, you drop a tutorial, Hellbeard picks it up and runs with it, and it just keeps getting better.

I love watching this process of two sculptors in two different countries collaborate, teach, learn, and produce amazing results.

Kings to you man.

[Hellbeard]

Yes. Very simple. I need to practice more.

Some shoelace and eye studies:









I think it's best to start cutting around t+01:30 and after cutting the shapes to let it sit for 20 or so before "blending".
I'll practice several more until I get it better.


More bulk:



V.1 V.2 and V.3 binoculars. V.1 is looking pretty good but I got high hopes for V.3.



Thanks again Gene, I really appreciate it.

[evhorne969]

Glad to help :-)

Practice is looking good. The eyes are great! Laces are a little rough, but you're getting there. ;-)

Are you using an xacto or a scalpel to make the cuts? If youre using an xacto, I would recommend switching to a scalpel. If you are using a scalpel, I would make sure you have a fresh blade. The sharper and thinner the blade, the better. My favorite scalpel blade is a #11 Feather. They are SUPER thin and SCARY sharp.

Here's something else you can try for your laces. Make the first cut as normal. Just gently press a line in with your blade. As you pull up to make your second cut, don't pull the blade 100% out of the putty. Leave a TINY bit of the blade in the putty as you move over to make your second cut. You'll be dragging or stretching the putty over the lines you've already cut so you shouldn't have to worry about touch up later. It also makes the "skin" of the putty tight which will give you a nice smooth surface. Try it a see what you think.

Gene

[TaleSpinner]

My favorite scalpel blade is a #11 Feather. They are SUPER thin and SCARY sharp.

Where do you get these Gene? Is this it: http://www.amazon.co...W6K33A9TV5DHH24

[Hellbeard]

Thank you, Gene. I don't have any new scalpels but gave the X-acto some swipes on a very fine whet-stone I have for straight razors (Belgian blue if anyone cares). I don't think I got your other technique of partially leaving the blade in but I think I understand the theory of it. My main thing is after I try to indent the bit behind the laces it gets messy really fast and I don't know what I'm looking at anymore but I think when I make the boot on the mini the shoelaces will be so small there won't be very much room between them.

Here's more shoe lace studies and a complete boot study on an old armature I had lying around.

[evhorne969]

Where do you get these Gene? Is this it: http://www.amazon.co...W6K33A9TV5DHH24

It is now! I got them from a medical supply place that was quite a bit more expensive. Gotta love Amazon!!

[evhorne969]

Thank you, Gene. I don't have any new scalpels but gave the X-acto some swipes on a very fine whet-stone I have for straight razors (Belgian blue if anyone cares). I don't think I got your other technique of partially leaving the blade in but I think I understand the theory of it. My main thing is after I try to indent the bit behind the laces it gets messy really fast and I don't know what I'm looking at anymore but I think when I make the boot on the mini the shoelaces will be so small there won't be very much room between them.

There's definite improvement there. :-) It looks to me like you've got the technique down. I would consider purchasing a scalpel if its within the hobby budget to do so. It really will make a difference. Apart from that, it's just going to take a BF touch and practice.

Gene