So I've been thinking of trying my hand at a little sculpting, so a quick trip to the shops and...
I also grabbed myself some heavy duty wire cutters as the wire I'll be using for my armatures is fairly strong (didn't want it snapping every time I bent it into place), but still thin and bendy enough to be usable.
After a LOT of Googling for info on sculpting from scratch, I decided to go for a polymer clay instead of an epoxy (greenstuff, milliput etc.). I'm not unfamiliar with using GS, but I wanted something that would give me a bit more working time (and also be non-toxic so I can sculpt whilst the kids are awake... which is always).
My clay of choice was, after a bit more Googling, was Sculptey. It's a bit more malleable than Fimo (so I'm lead to believe), and my choice of Sculptey III and Sculptey Premium was decided for me by what my local toy shop had in stock.
A bit of bending, twisting, clipping and gluing later...
This is Bob, my first attempt at making an armature.
Admittedly he's not the best in the world, but the dimensions are pretty much how I want them, I think it may turn out to be 30mm "heroic scale", once built up, rather than the standard 28mm, and I have no doubt that there will probably be Bob's MKII's, MKIII's and so on until I get it right.
Bare in mind this is my first attempt at sculpting a figure, and I am under no illusions, it's gonna get ugly. Whilst I may have Michaelangelo's David in my mind, I know I'm probably going to be looking at something a bit more like Nick Park's Morph.
... and you know what? That's fine by me. The purpose of this is to hone my skills, learn new techniques and slowly and surly develop my talents as an artist, rather than to rush in expecting perfection and give up after my first failed attempt.
With that said... wish me luck, and next time we'll see Bob with a bit more flesh on him once I've finalised my plans as regards to what it is exactly that I'm going to sculpt. (I'm thinking Pirate, but I'm not 100% sold on it yet).
- Dave :)
