I wanted to share my most recent hobby by showing you some pictures of the most recent model I've sculpted. Something I had wanted to get into for a while but never got around to it until recently. I had come across videos online of people modelling and sculpting and after some serious binges, I threw caution to the wind and bought some tools and clay.
Originally I bought Fimo, after trying it out I found it was far too pliable, so whatever I was working on would constantly lose its shape, so I shopped around a bit, for something slightly less pliable than the Fimo. I found a brand called super Sculpey: firm. I bought a 454-gram block of it. The same size as I bought with the Fimo and the Sculpey was perfect.
A tip I was given by my uncle was to use tinfoil as a base as it's cheap and will help it keep its shape, as well as being able to save myself clay.
After making a basic shape for the head with the tinfoil I got to work layering on some of the clay.
Once that was done I marked out some lines, for the eyes, nose and mouth, as you would when drawing a picture.
After adding the clay on, for the nose, eyes and lips, the face was starting to take shape.
I had no idea at this point what I was going for, it was very much just a free form session. Which at my level is probably the best thing to do, going out from the start to make something, in particular, I would imagine, could be disheartening if it doesn't turn out as you expected.
But, once I saw how the features turned out I got an idea.
Already I could see that it was already looking better than the previous ones.
This is the fourth and most recent of my sculpts, which meant I was able to put everything I learned from the previous ones into it.
As you can see in this picture, I'm slowly building it up, I've added eyelids, cheekbones and a brow already, but, took a picture of the jawline before I blended it into the face.
I wasn't too particular about being symmetrical, one it would be hard to be exactly symmetrical, but also naturally faces aren't. If it was something like a helmet or piece of armour you'd have to be, but as far as I'm concerned when it comes to faces you have a bit more freedom.
The way the face had turned out, I decided to go with a fantasy kind of elven model. I decided as well to try and make certain features sharper and make it seem a little bit less human.
I decided to take a break from the head and create a shoulder and neck for it, considering I was already happy with how it looked I figured I should put some work in and make it a bust.
Using the same method using the tinfoil but, as well as that using some wiring as a framework. Another tip I picked up, is you have to consider them as functioning and to function they need a skeleton. So, the wire acts as that. It's cheap too, I picked up about 5 spools of it, with different thicknesses, as well as some small wire cutters and plyers for bending the wire into shape. I can do it by hand as it isn't that thick, but, since I bought the stuff I wanted to use it, since I don't like wasting money.
For the creases in the jacket, I added some clay which I could then work in, to give a bit of detail later on.
So, there it is. In all its glory, it's not the best I've ever seen, but, it's the best I've made so far and took me about 6 hours to make.
The Reason I Got Into Sculpting
I'm fairly terrible at drawing, but, am good with my hands so was happy I could pick this up quickly. The reason though is that I'm writing a book with aliens in it, which I have mental images of what they look like but, need some kind of physical reference, especially to put into words what they look like. It sounds stupid, but, I think it would help me. So I gave it a go and currently I'm working on a design for one of the aliens from my book, so far so good. Hopefully, I can share it here soon.
I've always liked the idea of blender too, I've used it to design rooms, but, the sculpting confuses me. No matter how many videos I watch on it I can't seem to pick it up, however, doing it physically I think will give me some practical knowledge which could maybe make it easier to get started.
Cost
To be honest, as a hobby there is a really low price to get started. I spent about 60 euros on a set of tools, wire and Fimo. But, then went out and bought a different set of tools, when I bought the Sculpey clay. In total, I would say I paid 100-120. Which is fairly cheap for everything I got, you don't have to spend that much though, I could have cut down on that cost by not buying the first set of tools. But, since I didn't like the feel of them I kind of had to upgrade.
Conclusion
I've enjoyed the work I've done so far and have picked it up fast, I'm sticking with it, as I can only get better the more I do.
Thanks for reading my post and if you have any tips throw them out and hopefully I can incorporate them into my new piece.
