So I've decided to try my hand at sculpting! I haven't done any sculptures since I was in High School and I can't really say that what I was doing back then was done very well! I was a little more into drawing in those days! So I took one of the characters we've created over at
SpeakeasyFX and decided to make a maquette of him!
I've basically taken a look at the techniques of some other "full time" scluptors to use as my guideline! I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's a learning experience!!!
After posing him out I start to frame out the armature. This will be the main "skeleton" to build up the clay on. I traced the center line of the character and bent wire to fit. The wire extends beyond the feet so that they can be attached to a wooden base later.
I then wrap the multiple sections of wire together with some smaller wire...
Note: I'm slightly worried that his arms are so thin that they won't be able to hold up his hand straight out, like I had originally posed out. I've played around with a couple alternative hand poses and decided to just place his hand on his hip. I may revisit this original pose later, but for now I'm taking the easier road. Since this is my first foray into this medium I don't want to get too crazy...YET! Here's the new pose.
Here is the armature fully fastened together with wire. I have also drilled two small holes in the wood base and placed the wires
I used plumbers putty to bond the weaker parts (Shoulders, Hips and Hand on Axe) of the armature together. I then begin to wrap the entire skeleton up using aluminum foil wrap. This will bulk out the entire sculpture so I use less Sculpey, and also so it will bake a little more evenly. This is the most tedious part so far, just slowly wrapping and gluing small strips of aluminum. Also the Sculpey will have something to cling to as it's applied to the skeleton, I also started to wrap the arms and legs, since they are so thin, in smaller wire for the same reason
So after getting everything bulked up I started to place the Sculpey. I mixed soft and firm Sculpey together (which took forever by hand... now I know why people use pasta mixers!) Now I've got most of the basic form mapped out, but still very rough...
More to come soon....
I made couple of eyeballs and baked them. 
I'll put place those inside the eye sockets toninght and start blocking in the eyebrows. Maybe I'll start adding the feet as well. I need to secure the sculpture to the wood base. I'm finding that the more I handle it the more I ruin the work I just did!!!
