# My first sculpt attempt



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Thought I'd share some in progress pics of my first sculpt.

I'm enjoying this and it's not as hard as I thought it would be. Might help if I had something other than a medium sized paper clip and wooden skewer to work with. I picked up some small wood carving tools and pics at lunch today. No real craft store under an hours drive 

I did cheat a bit by using hard plastic skull as an armature for the clay and just loaded the clay up on it. Then started pulling and cutting away the areas I wanted less clay. I'm sure I'll have to add some clay back here and there as I continue.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

What a marvelous face he has!


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## scaryjak (Sep 28, 2009)

he's looking bad in a good way . Looking forward to seeing this finished. I keep adding bits to my foam head every day so hopefully by next October mine should be done.


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## Lauriebeast (Feb 27, 2007)

Very nice job, Joker. You've got the touch


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

I agree, nice job.


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## morbidmike (Sep 11, 2009)

well done hes cool looking


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

Awesome!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Thanks for the kudos everybody!

Added a nose and worked on some texturing with a dish sponge. Notice make shift tools on the right. I taped 1/2 a paper clip to a pencil and used the handle from an exacto knife with another piece of paper clip in a different shape for another tool.


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## aquariumreef (Sep 16, 2010)

Love the nose!

I'd smooth the brow ridge down smoothly on the top though. Just my ).2


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You might try playing with coffee stirs, tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, etc., that can be easily shaped to create tools of your own. Sections or parts of paint mixing sticks can be shaped with a knife, sandpaper, emory boards, etc. to let you fine tune your custom tools.

What do you plan on doing with this guy when you are done?
How big is this creature?


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

fontgeek said:


> You might try playing with coffee stirs, tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, etc., that can be easily shaped to create tools of your own. Sections or parts of paint mixing sticks can be shaped with a knife, sandpaper, emory boards, etc. to let you fine tune your custom tools.
> 
> What do you plan on doing with this guy when you are done?
> How big is this creature?


I've been looking at just about any and everything I can use or convert into a tool...lol.

Not sure What I'll do with him when he's done. I really was just going to use this piece for practice and work on my skills. Unfortunately he's only about 4" x 5".


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

A little bit of progress....some torn flesh and exposed muscle tissue. Added a pointed slip on pencil eraser to my arsenal of tools. I used it in a stippling approach to create the muscle tissue where the skin is removed.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

He just keeps getting better and better

You know you're going to have to sculpt a body for this little guy when the head is done, don't you?


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

RoxyBlue said:


> He just keeps getting better and better
> 
> You know you're going to have to sculpt a body for this little guy when the head is done, don't you?


Yeah I've thought about that. Maybe an upper torso or something.

Problem is this modeling clay is very soft. I bought the clay at Micheals a couple of years ago to use to fill in some voids when I was trying to make a mold of a skull. This stuff will firm up some but it doesn't dry out or really harden.

I'd like to attempt a mold, but if that doesn't work I loose the sculpt. If I don't mold it then I'm going to have to mount it in a display box or something to keep it from being damaged. I'm having to be very careful with it. I've lightly bumped a few areas and had to go back and fix them numerous times.

It was probably not the best clay for this type of project, but who knew it would turn out this well?


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## Creep Cringle (Jun 23, 2009)

Looks Great! Float him in a jar.... that might have to be a pretty large jar?!??!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Creep Cringle said:


> Looks Great! Float him in a jar.... that might have to be a pretty large jar?!??!


Maybe I could suspend him in a jar....hmmm. I remember reading (not sure on the source) where someone used a bunch of clear hand sanitizer in a jar to suspend an item in the middle of it. He's about 4" x 5".


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I like to take corn dog sticks and shape them into sculpting tools, joker. They work great!


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## playfx (Mar 10, 2007)

Nice work, you have a eye for sculpting, and the more you do the better you'll get!


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## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

That is looking like the start of some pure awesomeness! I wouldn't call using an armature 'cheating', I'd call it a very smart move.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

This would make a good shrunken head. It's the right size, and your added effects of peeled skin, exposed muscle and tissue help add some more creepiness.
You might look at doing a plaster cast or maybe a silicone casting of it. Dragon Skin or something of that nature would allow you to keep the detail and texture, and may let you keep the original piece in tact. But if you get a mold you can use, you can cast as many as you woul like from something a bit more stable than the clay you're using.
And as you have already pointed out you've already gotten your chops in for the practice end of things.
Like the others, I don't think using an armature is cheating, quite the opposite actually.
Why waste time and material to build up to the same thing when you don't have to. After all, it's the end result that matters for this.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

playfx said:


> Nice work, you have a eye for sculpting, and the more you do the better you'll get!


Thanks play that's definitely a compliment coming from you. I've admired your sculpts for a while here on HF.



Zurgh said:


> That is looking like the start of some pure awesomeness! I wouldn't call using an armature 'cheating', I'd call it a very smart move.


Thanks Zurgh.



fontgeek said:


> This would make a good shrunken head. It's the right size, and your added effects of peeled skin, exposed muscle and tissue help add some more creepiness.
> You might look at doing a plaster cast or maybe a silicone casting of it. Dragon Skin or something of that nature would allow you to keep the detail and texture, and may let you keep the original piece in tact. But if you get a mold you can use, you can cast as many as you would would like from something a bit more stable than the clay you're using.
> And as you have already pointed out you've already gotten your chops in for the practice end of things.
> Like the others, I don't think using an armature is cheating, quite the opposite actually.
> Why waste time and material to build up to the same thing when you don't have to. After all, it's the end result that matters for this.


I've never done any casting so I'm really not sure. I thought about trying a plaster cast but if I don't get it right I ruin the original. Any tips, how to's or vids using Dragon Skin? Keeping the original in tact would be pretty cool if I could.


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## BadMonkey (Sep 7, 2011)

Fantastic sculpting!! Looking forward to the finished product!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Project kind of came to a hault. I'm not sure what I want to do with it at this point, but here's another update photo. I've actually been sculpting some molds for making my own latex appliances. New thread and photo for that coming soon.


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## Spooky Dave (May 12, 2011)

Looking plenty creepy.


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## AzKittie74 (Aug 10, 2007)

oh my gosh he is handsome!


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## Intrepid (Nov 24, 2011)

Wow, you did a wonderful job with that. The texture and detail look great. Creative tool making to boot.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

And this is your FIRST attempt at sculpting? Damn!

Absolutely professional in every way.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I'd give the good people at Reynolds Advanced Materials/reynoldsam.com a scream, they now their stuff, and deal with this kind of thing every day. Have as much info on the clay/material you used on hand when you write or talk to them, the more info you can give the faster they can give you a good working answer to your question. You may find that you can do a good silicone cast of the head, but that you may have to destroy your soft clay head (at least to a certain point) to get the casting out and away from the original head. But that still lets you cast massive numbers of new heads from the silicone mold you made. The problem with most of those never hardening clays is that they get dinged up and really dirty or slimy with age. You're best off if you can get a casting while it's in good shape and clean, but the people at Reynolds can tell you how to do it.


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## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

awesome job on that!


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Damn that's REALLY REALLY Good. I hope you successfully mold the piece and keep us posted.


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## HalloweenBlues (Dec 20, 2011)

Wow, that's a really impressive looking mold. Creepy little fella.


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