Wolf head studies- columbus zoo.

Landscape thumbnail- fall semester.

Just queued up some old work for the next week- my internet is going to a bit sparse for the next month.

He likes chinese take out and going to carnivals.  The ferris wheel is his favorite ride.  

Ok, so decided to do a quick photographic run down of my process here.  As stated in a previous post when working on original sculptures I use a combination of Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm (in the gif above, the grey is the firm and the peachy colored one is regular super sculpey).  I mix the two in equal amounts, arriving at a firm but not too hard to manage middle ground.

It takes a decent amount of time to do and does a number on your hands but it’s worth it in the end.  You could invest in (and I probably will once I have some spare cash) in a cheap pasta maker so you can just put small chunks of sculpey through it a few times and save yourself a lot of time and trouble.

Anyway, when I have my clay all made up I create a foil structure for my bust- when doing a full figure, a wire armature is necessary but busts are such solid little lumps (unless you get into really decorative complicated stuff) that it isn’t really necessary.  

Now, when doing these guys for fun I don’t have a specific idea or concept in mind- I just want to play with shapes and see what happens.  As such, I don’t want to have a foil base that is so bulky that it will interfere with the clay.  Also note that a smart intelligent and rational artist would actually attach the sculpture to the base (that little wood square).  I haven’t gotten around to doing so yet- probably will after this fellow is finished- but if you don’t attach to a base you are setting yourself up for several headaches down the line when it comes to detailing.

After I get my foil thing in an appropriate size/shape, I apply the sculpey to it.  I tend to create a structure that has some sort of semi-realistic musculature so that my work has a base in reality from the beginning.  Makes the concept easier to work with down the line.  

Once I have something I like the look of I go in and do rough detailing.  Nothing at all approaching finished, but I want to get a sense of character across and layout a map of what my detailing will look like in the end and where.  All of the rough detail work show above was done with my favorite tool of all time.

Toothpicks.  Love of my life.  

You might also notice all of the detailing as of now is restricted to his head.  This is a result of not attaching him to a base.  Since he isn’t attached to a base I obviously have to hold onto him somehow as I work.  This then compromises my ability to detail all of him at once.  Which is a bad thing.  But since I’m a dunce it’s something I’m used to working against.  I will remedy this before I do another bust I swear. 

As of now I’m working on completing his details on his head/neck and won’t post any more pictures of him until that is completed (I’ll leave an image soaked post of how I detail for another time).  

iggy-b asked: Noticed that sculpt you're doing in the Redwall tag, is it supposed to be specific character from the books, or is it just a generic ferret? (looks good btw)

He kind of started out generic, but then I kept thinking of Vallug from Taggerung- so I think he’s kind of a character but not quite, if that makes any sense lol.  Since finishing him though I’ve thought about specific characters I might do and I would love to get around to Slagar :D (and thanks btw!)

hiphiphorrayholly asked: what kind of clay are you using to model? just some kind of oil clay? it looks like it has a lot of strength. my oil clay always gets too soft and I cant handle it for long.

I use sculpey for the most part- more detailed explanation here.

If you do want to continue using oil based clay, I know some people put their sculpts in the freezer for long periods of time in order to harden it.  Obviously doesn’t last forever as the heat from your hands will soften it as you work but might be something to try :)

Grrr.

He’s finished!  Now time to mix more clay and start another bust…  Click through to see a LOT more pictures. 

There.  Now the bugger has a hat.  Feather, sleeves and final finagling up next.