Sculpey's Biatches: the Mike Mignola sculpting club

[JohnThompson]

If you are a sculptor or are interested in trying, this is the thread for you!

Open to all Hellboarders, the "club" is devoted to bringing the world of Mike Mignola to three-dimensional life. Any character, creature, or object from the works of Mignola's mighty pen or the realm of faery, mythology, or the supernatural is fair game. You know.... something "on topic"!

Ask questions, post tips or techniques, or get some motivational inspiration from your fellow members. Pick a subject to sculpt, and post pictures of your progress. Don't worry about skill level, this is just for the sheer joy of creating in 3D!

[JohnThompson]

A few words about Sculpey:

Sculpey is a brand of polymer clay, similar to oil-based modeling clays in that it it non-hardening, but with one important difference: you can bake it in your home oven to harden it into a permanent shape. Several brands of polymer clays are available in most art or craft stores, and all are suitable for our sculpting purposes, but the Sculpey brands are the most widely used of these clays.

Sculpey original is a soft, white clay, and is the weakest clay or the group. Large pieces are not recommended because the clay will fall under its own weight, even with an armature for support. The softness of this clay is also not recommended for holding fine details.

Super Sculpey is the preferred modeling medium of most polymer clay artists. It is firmer than the original Sculpey and is produced in a pinkish "flesh" color. It holds fine details very well, and can be worked over an armature.

Sculpey III is similar to Super Sculpey but comes in smaller "bricks" and is available in several colors. I have found it to be slightly softer than Super Sculpey, but it is still an excellent sculpting medium, and has the benefit of being more opaque than "Super", so fine details are easier to see as you work. The colors can be blended by mixing the clays together to get an infinite number of custom colors.

Premo, Fimo, and all the "rest" share most of the properties of the Sculpey brands, and are perfectly acceptable polymer clays. I have never used them myself, so I can't truly compare them to the Sculpeys.

Polymer clays can be worked with your hands or with sculpting tools, and can be smoothed by brushing them with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. After baking they can be sanded, carved, drilled, and painted (acrylics or water-based mediums preferred).

There are many "tricks" and tips to working with this stuff, and those will be shared in this thread. The important thing is to get some clay and experiment to find out what you prefer.

Have fun, and post your results here!

[Otto66]

............http://www.fmcs.de/PICS/fek_button_bluefox.gif

[icbm1987]

That title should be censored...

But it will be quite fun to see what people make.

icbm1987

[hellboyone]

That title is my fault. But I kinda like that. :) Anyway....great idea, Mr. Thompson. Good motivator! This will get me off my boney sculpting a$$.

R.

[JohnThompson]

On topic... rules... rules... rules... blah,blah, blah. :rolleyes:
(notes from the journal:soon, very soon)
Although I detest censorship in any form, I thought it would be good to at least start off with something on topic. There are no real rules as far as I'm concerned, merely guidelines. Besides, given the wide range of Mignola's work, everything is fair game from Superheroes to talking animals, as well as the Hellboy and Screw-On Head universes.
That title should be censored...

But it will be quite fun to see what people make.

icbm1987
Why not get yourself a box of clay and give it a try yourself?

[E. Spears]

I'll probably try my hand at this sometime soon...I can't sculpt worth a damn, but this might be fun.

Cool idea, John!

-ERS

[icbm1987]

Why not get yourself a box of clay and give it a try yourself?

Uh... that requires money... and time... time which I should be using to study for the SAT...

Curses... must do college visits too...

I do have some normal clay... but not the bakeable kind... I'll give it a shot if I can find time.

icbm1987

[jnapper]

Really looking forward to see what you guys create :)

JT, How about biAtCheS? I always liked the way that word is said :D

[JohnThompson]

JT, How about biAtCheS? I always liked the way that word is said :D
I don't really care what it's called.... feel free to change the name if it's offensive. :)

[jnapper]

I don't really care what it's called.... feel free to change the name if it's offensive. :)

Coolness, Thanks!

(ps Not offensive too much for me-- just being mod) :)

[gary bolt]

Biatchin' idea! I think I'll go get some Sculpey and give it a go.

[jnapper]

Any character, creature, or object from the works of Mignola's mighty pen or the realm of faery, mythology, or the supernatural is fair game. You know.... something "on topic"!


(from from http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?p=449846#post449846)
I say it should be Hellboy related. That covers sooooooooooooo much territory from eagles to goblins to witches, Kate, angels, pulp adventurers, tombstones, gothic architecture, Victorian gentlemen, etc. etc. My pet peeve: this is a Hellboy forum, if I was a newbie and clicked in and saw a bunch of Mignola sculptures I'd say "COOL!" If I clicked in and saw horses, girlfriends, kittens and pigs, I'd think there was a bad link. In all the TPBs there's gotta be something you could get excited about sculpting...

But I ain't in charge.

Yeah guys, JT and Tad are dead on--

hahahhahahaha... I'd love it for possibly loooong threads to try to keep to the theme of HB or Mignola for my sanity ;)

Again, can't wait to see what you guys do!

[Johann]

WOO HOO!, Of course I just got a commission to do a John Lennon Bust.

-Although I was planning on a LoJo in the near future, of course i've been planning alot of things.

but first i gotta get some more clay.

[zefo]

wait a minute....

then again, i cant wait to see what you guys do!

thats a green light for off topic! every one go crazy! HALO 2 RULES! *runs into a falming moshpit*

[Otto66]

zefo? You should do this image.
http://www.fmcs.de/PICS/fek_button_bluefox.gif

[zefo]

i cant see it. its a big red x.

[Maija]

OKAY... I was going to post some photos but the sun is going down here and shots taken with the halogen desk light look like crap, but I have done some stuff today!! Photos tomorrow!

In the meantime, here's a repost of some of my tools, although I've added a few more since this pic was taken:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2742

[KWAK!]

i'd be down for this, i haven't done a traditional sculpture in a year or so, i hear a Kriegraffe calling my name. Time to dig out the sculpey and sculpting tools .

[morna]

Gary and I bought a small block of sculpy and played around with it while we waited for the ferry to Saltspring...Gare did a great tiny RHOD and I did a shakey little skull. Pretty amateurish... but anybody wanna see 'em?

[Petersen]

YES!!!! It's about time someone posts some sculpture in this thread!!!

[JohnThompson]

Yes, post them! No need to ask, this is open to everyone. Your work on the graveyard thread inspired this whole thing anyway!

[morna]

well Gary's posting his separately... so here are my little guys. He's maybe an inch and a half tall and pretty rough... but hey I've never touched the stuff before and it was all of ten or fifteen minutes work!

again ... plenty of room for people to show me up ! go nutz kiddies!

[Tad]

Cool, morna! You have your own skull design and I've got the matching shot glasses to prove it!

[morna]

In the meantime, here's a repost of some of my tools, although I've added a few more since this pic was taken:


TOOLS ...What a concept!

[JohnThompson]

Cool, Morna! Seeing that skull in your car makes me wish it was large enough to fit over the shifter knob!

Okay, here's what I'll be working on first...

I'm determined to finally fix/finish this Lobster Johnson I started almost a year ago. I got a pretty good start on him then, finishing his head and baking that to keep me from mushing up his face while handling the rest of the sculpting. Unfortunately, my oldest son found him and decided he "looked mean", so he carved him up with my sculpting tools. Since then I've had the sculpture put away....

The body has an armature of coat hanger wire, bulked out with aluminum foil and a thin shell of pink Super Sculpey, baked, to form a firm surface to sculpt on. The outer layers are pre-colored Sculpey III.
http://www.indeestudios.com/sculpture/lojo1.jpg http://www.indeestudios.com/sculpture/lojo2.jpg http://www.indeestudios.com/sculpture/lojo3.jpg

[gary bolt]

Here's my little 5-6cm RHOD. It's not much but making it forced me to think out the structure of the thing. I looked at a couple of TPBs and decided that the palm of his hand must be concave. I solved the problem by making an indentation roughly the size of the tip of my thumb. Does anyone have a more definitive take on the structure of the RHOD?

[morna]

JT: HOLY SHEEP S%$T That's gorgeous! How big? How do you get such great definition ... oh ya - tools Well he rocks and I love him... those lips... that chin!

Tad: um it's a blatant rip from MM :o I'm just too inept for it to be obvious

[JohnThompson]

Does anyone have a more definitive take on the structure of the RHOD?
Your guess is as good as anyone's, Gary! Even Mignola says he doesn't know what it looks like.

Great start on the Hand! I did one of these for a Hellboy bust once, and I found it very useful to sculpt the inner core of the forearm first, then bake it to "set" the clay. Then adding the bands around it were much easier to do, working on a hard surface.
JT: HOLY SHEEP S%$T That's gorgeous! How big? How do you get such great definition ... oh ya - tools Well he rocks and I love him... those lips... that chin!
Thanks! He's about 4 inches tall, approx. 1/7 scale.

My favorite tool came from my dentist: ask yours if he/she has any old tools you can have, they are great for sculpting!

[Otto66]

Kid Nibblet still hasn't finished the LoJo sculpt? Whats it been? A year?
http://www.fmcs.de/PICS/fek_button_bluefox.gif

[JohnThompson]

Kid Nibblet still hasn't finished the LoJo sculpt? Whats it been? A year?
I'm determined to finally fix/finish this Lobster Johnson I started almost a year ago.
You know, maybe you two should be introduced to each other...:rolleyes:

[gary bolt]

I did one of these for a Hellboy bust once, and I found it very useful to sculpt the inner core of the forearm first, then bake it to "set" the clay. Then adding the bands around it were much easier to do, working on a hard surface.

I made the forearm with bands first and set it down next to the shifter in our car. While I was figuring out how to make the hand Morna had to shift gears a couple of times and I got back a different object than I was expecting. Baking parts as you go sound like a great idea.

As for your Lobster sculpture I really find the use of different coloured clay bodies very effective. Your rendering of the character and the materials in his clothes, goggles and skin is awesome. Thanks for posting those pics and I hope you show us your progress with this project.

[THE REAL kirk]

This is a great topic! Perhaps I can take that block of clay I bought 5 years ago out of its wrapper finally!

Can't wait to see all of the cool stuff that shows up. I love that little skull and the RHoD.

You know, I've seen a lot of creations on this site, beit drawings, sculpts, or computer models and I've never seen anything that sucks. What an amazing group of talented people we have here. I'm out to change that. ;)

[Otto66]

You know, maybe you two should be introduced to each other...:rolleyes:
Maybe you should finish a project before going on to the next one. :rolleyes:

[Maija]

Great skull and RHOD, Gary & Morna! Hahaha, I agree-- the skull should be made into a topper for the stick shift... with glowing blue eyes, of course. = classy :cool:

LoJo looks awesome. The bright side of your son tearing into him is I get to see some of the understructure and your process.

Every mucked up LoJo has a silver--er--aluminum lining. ;)

[cantide]

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I've been wondering... how did you guys get started in Sculpey? (Not as in, how did you learn, but.. how did you first hear about it, and how long have you been sculpting).. Also, what's your favorite thing about using Sculpey?

[gary bolt]

I heard about it on this forum with great specific info earlier in this very thread. I've been working with Sculpey for nearly 24 hours now. I've followed John Thompsons advice and have the main core of my new improved RHOD baking in the oven. My favourite thing about it is the immediacy of the results.

[Ose]

I'm a bit of an odd case. I haven't done much actual sculpting with Sculpey, but I've known about it for ages. Mostly, I've used Sculpey III (as well as Premo, which has similar properties to Sculpey III) for doing bits and pieces for costumes - like noses and nails/claws. I can't quite remember if it was recommended to me, or if I just stumbled across it and found it worked very well for my costuming purposes. I've been doing costuming for about six years now, so I've been using Sculpey III off and on for that long.

This is the first time I'm playing around with regular Sculpey/Super Sculpey, though I've known about them for ages. I've never been very sculpting-inclined because of getting turned off the art form in high school, but recently I've been wanting to try it again.

[Maija]

Okay, I've gotten frustrated and annoyed with the other thing I'm working on, so I took a break to spend another 10 minutes making a little mummy head for Hell(o)Kitty to play with (Kitty is only about the size of my thumb, btw):

[Tad]

The connections your brain makes are amazing! Great little sculpt!

[JohnThompson]

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I've been wondering... how did you guys get started in Sculpey? (Not as in, how did you learn, but.. how did you first hear about it, and how long have you been sculpting).. Also, what's your favorite thing about using Sculpey?
I've been interested in sculpting since taking a sculpture class in high school, around 1983. I've been sculpting off and on since then (more off than on).

I first found out about Sculpey sometime in the late 80's, and the first thing I remember making with it was a charicature of one of my brothers as a molar playing baseball (holding a toothbrush as a bat). He was in dental school at the time. This was the same brother that inspired my desire to draw, so I guess I owed him one!

My favorite reasons for using it is that it stays relatively soft for a long time like modeling clay (so I can wait a year to finish a sculpt if I want to piss off Otto), and the convenience of baking it at home.

[JohnThompson]

I've followed John Thompsons advice...
I'm sorry, but I just wanted to see that quote again. :)
Okay, I've gotten frustrated and annoyed with the other thing I'm working on, so I took a break to spend another 10 minutes making a little mummy head for Hell(o)Kitty to play with (Kitty is only about the size of my thumb, btw):
That's great! Every kitty needs a ball of string to play with, so a mummy head is so very appropriate!

[THE REAL kirk]

Ruta...

AWESOME! That made me laugh out loud!

[Maija]

Hehehe... I'm glad people like him, but I must point those who don't know to the original gag (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=449337&postcount=39), because much though I like kittens, they're not normally an art subject for me. I don't want you thinking I'll be sculpting unicorns next (with the horn sawed off, of course). :p

[gary bolt]

I tried another RHOD in my kitchen rather than in my car. It's not much better but I learned a few things along the way. Like don't drink too much gin while watching the Hellboy movie and baking Sculpey in the oven. John, your advice was good to pre bake the main structure.

Here are a few pics. I read in The Art of Hellboy (p72) the part where Mignola doesn't even know what the palm looks like and was fascinated with the fact that the hand is shown seperate to illustrate that the wrist is a ball and socket joint. I think I made the hand too small but because it's not attached I can make a bigger one later and attach it when I am happy with it.

Sculpey is fun stuff!

[JohnThompson]

That turned out great! I really like the cracks you sculpted in it!

It looks like the parts you baked first are getting a little discolored after the second baking, which brings me to a tip I forgot to mention earlier.

I think the instructions on the Sculpey box say to bake at 275 F, 15 minutes for every 1/4 inch of clay thickness. Ignore these instructions! It will result in your clay burning, which is the discoloration you are seeing. It also makes the clay more brittle and easier to break.

Place the sculpture on a cookie sheet, tin foil, whatever, and place in a cold oven.

Set the temp for 225 F (or whatever this translates into Celsius). Set a timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off the oven, but don't remove the sculpt until the oven is cool.

Sculpey will cure at the lower temp just as well, but give it a little more time. You can bake it several times and never burn the clay.

[gary bolt]

Thanks for the low temp advice. I plan to do more Sculpey stuff but it will have to wait until after I teach a glass casting class in Oregon. That gives me a couple of weeks to decide what other cylindrical object from Hellboys universe I can sculpt. :o

[Maija]

Cool hand! As far as what the RHOD looks like on the palm side-- I would be inclined to cut the palm itself down at the level of the disc-shaped "knuckles". The ball joint is cool. Did you use a marble to make it so smooth?

In addition to JT's low-temp tip, I strongly recommend getting an oven thermometer, particularly if you've got an older oven or you want to use a toaster oven (the latter is handy if you want to conserve power and not heat up the whole house for a small piece). You can pick one up in the 'gadgets' section of the supermarket for about $5. I discovered that my oven gets 50-70 deg F hotter than what I set the dial to!! No wonder I was always burning my baking.

BTW, the fact that you're sticking to cylindrical objects reminds me of my days as a crafts director at a church camp-- the Christian Education director wanted to tie in the day's crafts lesson with the day's CE lesson which was the story of Noah's Ark. So naturally we got the kids to make pairs of animals for the Ark out of clay....

I don't think we got any lions, tigers, giraffes or even dogs-- maybe a pair of 4-legged cow-like creatures-- but there sure were a helluva lot of worms and snakes on that Ark. :)

[jakewebber]

Do you have to do a sculpt to be part of this board?

[Petersen]

Jake,
ya don't have to sculpt, but it's the point of this thread...that and comment/critique of sculpts..

As I am not up for sculpting right now..I will re-post an older piece.
Made with regular old sculpy (the white kind) and his coat was made out of an old pair of boxers, glued into position and burned in the oven.

http://www.materialsunlimited.com/petersen/prints/hellboy1.htm

[Maija]

Teeheehee... I kin see Petersen's underdrawers!!

But seriously-- very clever jacket solution. It looks quite good. I never would have guessed it was made from your delicate unmentionables. :D

[gary bolt]

BTW, the fact that you're sticking to cylindrical objects reminds me of my days as a crafts director at a church camp-- the Christian Education director wanted to tie in the day's crafts lesson with the day's CE lesson which was the story of Noah's Ark. So naturally we got the kids to make pairs of animals for the Ark out of clay....

I don't think we got any lions, tigers, giraffes or even dogs-- maybe a pair of 4-legged cow-like creatures-- but there sure were a helluva lot of worms and snakes on that Ark. :)

That reminds me of an old Far Side.... the caption below the cartoon says something like "God creates the snake". The toon shows god in his classic toga and sandles working at a table in the clouds with his hands rolling out a long thin shape. His word bubble says somethin like "These things are easy". And that right there is my motivation for making cylindrical objects (to start).

Gary

[Xedious]

You guys seen the new Hellboy bust by PinkertonFX?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/xedious/hellboy-front.jpg

[Ose]

I'm not up to sculpting right now either (maybe when I get over this flu or cold or whatever it is that's had me down for three days now). But...I do have a photo of the last sculpture I did, back in high school. I think it's been four or five years since my last high school art class, and thus the last time I did sculpture outside of costuming. It's Egyptian mythology, so hopefully that makes it semi-on-topic.

Anubis bas relief (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/loregryph/sculpture/anubisbasrelief.jpg)

It's a bas relief based on an Egyptian tomb painting. The base was a piece of wood, coated with tenastic. Then the bas relief was sculpted with tenastic as well. Neat stuff to work with, but incredibly messy. On the up side, once it's hard, the stuff is nearly as hard as rock.

[JohnThompson]

You guys seen the new Hellboy bust by PinkertonFX?
Haven't seen that one yet, Jerry. The textures are great, but to me the mouth is kinda funky... might need a big cigar to help hide it! Do you know how big it is?
I think it's been four or five years since my last high school art class, and thus the last time I did sculpture outside of costuming. It's Egyptian mythology, so hopefully that makes it semi-on-topic.
Cool sculpt, and I think anything relating to mythology/ folklore is "on topic" for this thread.

Besides, your costumes certainly qualify as sculpture... anything more you're hiding?

[Ose]

Besides, your costumes certainly qualify as sculpture... anything more you're hiding?

I wouldn't exactly call it hiding. In the case of the bas relief I honestly forgot I had that picture sitting on my drive.

Costuming...I do have a couple older costume masks I did that I haven't shown yet, but I figure those are best left for own thread or something.

[Draw4u]

Hey everyone, Im kinda new here. I was registered last year after Cure referred me to the board after chattign with him on the spawn.com boards, but alas my computer kinda went to hell since then so I reregistered. Figured you guys might dig my current project. He is also made out of sculpey and im in the process of glueing on his real hair. teh paint on him is not quite done yet, I think I'll probabaly add a brown or yellow wash to his eyeballs so theyre not so Bright looking.

[Ming]

How did i miss this thread!?! :confused: here is a the head of hellboy i did a while back...this is the only pic i could find to post.i've been trying to find the rest :(

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/hellboy1.jpg

check out my other works i'm jumbbled with a few other sculptors.i think i'm on page 6 or 5 they keep moving me around:

http://sculptureunderground.com/gallery/albums.php

[gary bolt]

Wow, two great Hellboys head sculpts in a row!

Draw4u I really like your sculpt of Hellboys head. In its various stages it is close to Mignola and stylized at the same time. How do you achieve the texturing of the skin, do you stipple laboriously one pockmark at a time? I find it quite demonic, which is good, real good. I have to admit that I like the raw clay images more than the final painted and hairy presentation (did you know that most classical Greek and Roman stone sculptures were painted and embellished in their day?) Part of it may be the lighting and presentation. The raw images have a single light source casting dramatic shadows on the features and textures of your sculpt while the final presentation has a more uniform wash approach to the lighting. Do you have any images of the final piece that are lit similar to the raw clay shots? Thanks for the post.

Ming I really like your sculpt of Hellboys head too. It has a great angular almost cut quality to it. I think you've done a good job of representing his hair. Thanks to you too for posting your Hellboy.

I think it's great to see different artists putting their own style and interpretation of Hellboy into their work. Until we see Mignola do a Sculpey, clay, wax, or whatever material 3D piece we can only speculate about how he really looks in the "real" world.

[JohnThompson]

Figured you guys might dig my current project.
Great work, I admire anyone with the cajones to sculpt this large, and has the patience to create all those pores! Welcome again!
How did i miss this thread!?! :confused: here is a the head of hellboy i did a while back...this is the only pic i could find to post.i've been trying to find the rest
Ming, that's a great head! I hope you can find the rest of your pictures. Did you do more than the head?
check out my other works i'm jumbbled with a few other sculptors.i think i'm on page 6 or 5 they keep moving me around
You're on page 2 now! You do amazing charicature work! Do you have any more work to show other than what's on this site? I'll have to check it out in detail when I get some time. So many very talented people... :D

Here are some pics of my version of a Hellboy museum bust. I posted this sculpt in my art thread, but have made some revisions to the sculpt based on some fan comments on this board:

http://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/bust/right_front.jpghttp://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/bust/left_front.jpghttp://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/bust/left_rear.jpghttp://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/bust/right.jpghttp://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/bust/closeup_2.jpg

[gary bolt]

That's a really, really Mignola like 3D rendering. I've never seen these images before and I think they’re incredibly good. This Hellboy looks like he should have comic book all yellow eyes. Is that how you envision this piece if you even intend to colour it? I quite like the textures.

[cantide]

That's great, JT! (Hope you don't mind if I call you that :D) I've never seen a bust in the comic style before!

And, man, all of you guys have such talent/skill!

Alright, you guys have convinced me to give this stuff a shot- but before I go and try anything, I have a quick question. When I was in elementary school, we used some sort of clay in art class (probably not polymer-based, though) and got our hands wet to mold it, and help stuff stick. That's probably not a good idea with sculpey (of any kind), right? Just checkin' :p

[Ming]

actually thats another ming-thats his real name-i'm moses-I'm paying tribute to the almight Ming the Merciless.i went to see i'm on page 6.i noticed i have to update my gallery...gonna be updating it this week end.thanks for the kind words! :D

[JohnThompson]

This Hellboy looks like he should have comic book all yellow eyes. Is that how you envision this piece if you even intend to colour it? I quite like the textures.
I sculpted this in red Sculpey III clay, but in my digital photos the color was burning out the detail, so it now has a coat of primer on it. Yes, he will eventually get the comic-style color treatment.
When I was in elementary school, we used some sort of clay in art class (probably not polymer-based, though) and got our hands wet to mold it, and help stuff stick. That's probably not a good idea with sculpey (of any kind), right? Just checkin' :p
No need to wet any kind of poymer clay. It works like oil-based modeling clays, and will stick to itself. After baking, you can add new clay easily by brushing on some Sculpey Clay Softener; another common trick is to dab a little Vaseline onto the hardened clay, then wiping off the excess. The fresh clay will now cling to the area where the petroleum jelly was applied.
actually thats another ming-thats his real name-i'm moses-I'm paying tribute to the almight Ming the Merciless.i went to see i'm on page 6.i noticed i have to update my gallery...gonna be updating it this week end.thanks for the kind words! :D
Oops! Sorry, Ming! What is your name on that site, I'd like to see your real work!

[Tad]

Great work, I admire anyone with the cajones to sculpt this large, and has the patience to create all those pores!

All the sculpts are looking great. I especial like the ones left with a rough quality.

As to pores: When I did some make up and mask sculpture I used a trick from Dick Smith. Paint an orange or grapefruit with latex. Peel off the latex and press it repeatedly into the sculpt - instant pores!

[JohnThompson]

actually thats another ming-thats his real name-i'm moses-
Ah, I missed that you said you're Moses!

I just took a look at your gallery, and I really like the Rasputin bust you did, and I want that Superman bust on the first page! Beautiful work, and please update your gallery, I want to see more!

[fitzroy]

Some great stuff on this thread, not something I've ever tried (or think I'd be able to do)
JT, absolutely fantastic.

[morna]

wow JT that's looking really great. I'm gonna have to go to your thread to see what changes you've made but I definitely like it more now! It kinda cracks me up that you now have it looking more like raw clay* - but it's actually more finished.

Damn fine Hellboy heads all three of you... bravo



* I was a potter for years and the clay was JUST that colour before drying and firing

[JohnThompson]

wow JT that's looking really great. I'm gonna have to go to your thread to see what changes you've made but I definitely like it more now!
Thanks! The biggest change was I made his neck much thinner. I also angled the horn stumps downward and lowered them on the brow, and re-sculpted the muttonchops because they were broken to bits! Sculpey is brittle stuff when baked, don't let the "chip resistant" bit on the box fool you!

[Jakob Westman]

John,
that bust is AMAZING!!

/ Jakob

[Maija]

Wow, so much talent lurking around here! Ose, is that a material you have to work with quickly before it dries or is it like Sculpey and you bake it?

Draw4U, I agree that you should try to photograph the painted head with the same shadowy light as the photos of the unfinished light. Great texturing.

Ming, I like the angularity of that bust. I hope you can find some other photos of it.

JT, you disgust me. ;) That is a sweet bust. What did you use for primer? How did you make the surface look so stone-like and gritty?

[Ose]

Wow, so much talent lurking around here! Ose, is that a material you have to work with quickly before it dries or is it like Sculpey and you bake it?


Hehe...tenastic is a poor man's modelling material. The dry mixture is a 50/50 mix of plaster of paris and saw dust (the finer, the better, unless you want a really gritty texture), and the wet mixture is 50/50 water and white glue. You mix the dry and the wet seperately, then mix up small amounts of the two together at a time because it dries very quickly. It's not very good for fine detail work for obvious reasons, but works great for grittier looking pieces. I imagine it'd work great for gothic gargoyles and the like.

[icbm1987]

Amazing work JT...

Still planning on selling some? If legal issues are resolved?

And that's a very nice head you've got there Ming.

icbm1987

[JohnThompson]

JT, you disgust me. ;) That is a sweet bust. What did you use for primer? How did you make the surface look so stone-like and gritty?
The primer is called Citadel Color, its made for gaming miniatures, but I've always used it for model painting. The gritty surface is due to poor sculpting and a macro camera setting emphasizing the primer coat.:p
Still planning on selling some? If legal issues are resolved?
I've contacted the appropriate parties and am awaiting a response...

cross your fingers.

[icbm1987]

I've contacted the appropriate parties and am awaiting a response...

cross your fingers.

adone sands domed!

*aggh! can't type*

[Maija]

The gritty surface is due to poor sculpting and a macro camera setting emphasizing the primer coat.:p

You didn't have to tell me that! I like the look and it's a surface I'm interesting in trying to achieve since several sculpts I'm planning and one I'm working on right now involve stone. So any idea what you did wrong so I can replicate it? :)

[Ose]

I just thought of a question for the more experienced sculptors here. For your wire armatures, what kind of store-bought wire do you use? Back in high school was the last time I did any sculpture that required a solid wire armature, and we used cut up coathangers (coated with varnish to prevent rusting). But wire coathangers are not exactly common nowadays.

I have so many ideas, but I keep realizing "aww crap, I don't have any wire to support that...".

[gary bolt]

Ose, we have a great chain of businesses in Canada (maybe they have stores in the US too) called The Metal Supermarket. Dumb name but good concept. Most metal supply businesses cater to welding and metal fabricating business but Metal Super caters to dumb ass regular folk. They carry everything from wire to rod to tubing to angle iron to blah blah blah. Anything metal they have it or can get it for you. If you called a regular metal supply place and told them you wanted wire like coathanger wire they'd say something like "Oh, you mean 16 guage? Do ya want cold rolled or hot treated" (I'm making up the jargon). Metal Super will just try to help you. If you can track them down they can sell it to you by the foot.

www.metalsupermarkets.com

[gary bolt]

Some great stuff on this thread, not something I've ever tried (or think I'd be able to do)


I'm thinking you'd probably be pretty good at sculpting if you gave it a go. You are an artistic whirlwind after all. Not to mention the fact that you're Bruce. Bruce never shied away from activities that would make him man dirty. (Did you ever notice that he always starts his movies with clean clothes and ends up lookin' filthy?)

[Tad]

(Did you ever notice that he always starts his movies with clean clothes and ends up lookin' filthy?)

12 Monkeys
Dirty to Clean

Exception that proves?

Fitz! Talk to ruta about sculpting. She had no clue that she could do it until she tried. (Start with no pressure - just try something with your kneaded eraser).

:D

[Maija]

Fitz! Talk to ruta about sculpting. She had no clue that she could do it until she tried. (Start with no pressure - just try something with your kneaded eraser). :D

No no no. Kneaded erasers are hard to sculpt. Too elastic. You'll be frustrated and annoyed and the Tate Modern will never include those works in your lifetime retrospective. Try plasticine or modelling clay or actual Sculpey-- actual Sculpey gives the best results because it is the most forgiving, and really I think I have to give the most credit for my "discovery" that I could do this to the material itself just because it is the most forgiving.

[JohnThompson]

Some great stuff on this thread, not something I've ever tried (or think I'd be able to do)
Fitz, if you can visualize what an object looks like from any angle (and I know that you can), you can shape clay to match that vision. Just think of it as drawing in 3 dimensions.

[icbm1987]

Fitz, if you can visualize what an object looks like from any angle (and I know that you can), you can shape clay to match that vision. Just think of it as drawing in 3 dimensions.

And the cool thing is that clay is so forgiving... one good smash and you can start all over... hehehehe...

[Tad]

I stand by kneaded eraser experimentation as veteran of many a skull, dinosaur, rocketship and "crazy face" pieces.


But, alas, she's right about the retrospective.

[JohnThompson]

I stand by kneaded eraser experimentation as veteran of many a skull, dinosaur, rocketship and "crazy face" pieces.


But, alas, she's right about the retrospective.
Tad, would you sculpt me a dinosaur? Please? :D

[fitzroy]

Thanks guys, I might give it a shot. Great thread.

JT, call him Taddly Taddles and he might.

[Maija]

Taddly Taddles, you know this means you have to make something out of your kneaded eraser and show us. :p

[morna]

ya Tad ye pretty much waltzed into that one!

[Ose]

Ose, we have a great chain of businesses in Canada (maybe they have stores in the US too) called The Metal Supermarket. Dumb name but good concept. Most metal supply businesses cater to welding and metal fabricating business but Metal Super caters to dumb ass regular folk. They carry everything from wire to rod to tubing to angle iron to blah blah blah. Anything metal they have it or can get it for you. If you called a regular metal supply place and told them you wanted wire like coathanger wire they'd say something like "Oh, you mean 16 guage? Do ya want cold rolled or hot treated" (I'm making up the jargon). Metal Super will just try to help you. If you can track them down they can sell it to you by the foot.

www.metalsupermarkets.com

Oh wow! Thanks Gary! By some miracle, there's even one here nearby...be damned if I know where the road is that it's on, but that's what maps and friends who actually know the city are for. I figured I'd have to go try Home Depot or something, and the last time I was there they didn't have much in the way of wire that was even remotely useable for sculpture.

[E. Spears]

I stand by kneaded eraser experimentation as veteran of many a skull, dinosaur, rocketship and "crazy face" pieces.


But, alas, she's right about the retrospective.
I've done plenty of kneaded eraser "scary hands", myself :D.

-ERS

[Johann]

JT- Your sculpts are beautiful, I'm currently working on a full HellBoy (direct comic version) I have the hand done and baked to make it easy to sculpt on, At the latest I have legs, belt, tail and chest complete, yet he still has no arms or a head, I fear the Head will be the hardest, How can you sculpt those wonderful heads directly from the comic???

How my sculpt is made up-

Legs-clothes hanger wire placed into a block of wood, bent into shape with aluminum foil buliding up until waist, Over that super sculpey.

abdomin-no foil (ran out at the time) instead just reg. sculpey around remaining leg armerature to form rough shape, Super scupey on top.

-tail stuck into waist foil with foil wrapped around (clay don't form well on just wire)
and then of coure super sculpey on the foil.

JT- if you have any more tips please do tell!

One more question- can I bake it with the wood block, or will it burn?!
-stupid question?

[JohnThompson]

One more question- can I bake it with the wood block, or will it burn?!
-stupid question?
Not a stupid question at all. Go ahead and bake the wood, it will not burn at the temperatures Sculpey cures at. Some people even place their clay on index cards for baking, and paper will not burn at that temp either.

It sounds like you're doing some really cool work, but without seeing what you're doing, its hard to lavish praise on you! Have you considered selling a kidney for digital camera money? (It doesn't have to be your own...)

As far as advice on sculpting heads..... gads, who knows? I think everyone develops their own ways of doing things. I usually start with a ball of foil in the general shape of the head (usually an egg shape), cover that with a skin of clay, then use a tool to dig out eye sockets, cheek hollows, etc. I just keep adding and subtracting small bits of clay until it looks right.

Keep a bunch of reference images around you while you sculpt, and occasionally hold your sculpture at the angle of the head in the reference. You can "draw" in the clay until the head matches the reference image. If your sculpt matches the reference from all angles, you probably have a good likeness. That's a bit harder to do with a character like Hellboy, because his head is usually drawn from fewer angles, but its possible to do if you have enough of the comics.

Maybe I'll create a "morgue file" of Hellboy scanned images for sculpting reference...

[cantide]

Should we keep the Sculpey stored in a special place? Will a Ziploc bag work? And.. does humidity do anything bad to uncured clay?

(Sorry for the pestering :p )

[Johann]

Thanks JT, thanks for the tips , you hold a vast amount of knowledge you do.

I started working on the head, and i have a long way to go, I hope you don't mind, i'll probably be using your scuplt for some referance.

cantide- you don't need to keep it any special place but if you plan on not going back for a while i suggest putting something over it as not to collect dust, the boxes it comes in works just fine.

-and i don't think humidity does much too it except maybe make it soft, I dunno I haven't really experienced to much Humidity while working with clay.

[JohnThompson]

Should we keep the Sculpey stored in a special place? Will a Ziploc bag work? And.. does humidity do anything bad to uncured clay?
I keep mine in a ziploc bag now, but for years just left the stuff in the box it came in. I think it keeps it from drying out a little better, but if your clay gets too dry, add a few drops of Sculpey Clay Softener to it and knead the clay until its thouroughly mixed in. Store it in a cool place, out of sunlight.

Humidity should not harm polymer clay at all.

[DannyBoy7783]

Hey everyone. I posted the partially complete image of this a long time ago. He isn't painted and I don't know if I even will, but here is my Hellboy bust. There is an influence from the Museum Style bust that Bowen put out, more so in the stony appearance of his chest and jacket. I didn't continue it onto his head. His base I thought was pretty darn clever: the right hand of doom, without the fingers. The right stump of doom? :) Lemme know what you think!

[DannyBoy7783]

These are pictures of my first Hellboy Bust. This is a few years old now (time sure flies!) Looking back, he appears too simian or monkey like now but I still like him. I really dig his base too I'm quite proud of it. There are a few things I'd fix on him but I don't want to mess up the paint job. I pretty much decided to fix this one by making the one in the previous post.

[Maija]

Actually, I like the second one as your own interpretation of Hellboy. It's a nice piece.

[zefo]

i like! keep it up

[gary bolt]

It sounds like you're doing some really cool work, but without seeing what you're doing, its hard to lavish praise on you! Have you considered selling a kidney for digital camera money? (It doesn't have to be your own...)

It's only a kidney. And it would be great to see the piece you're working on Johann.





Keep a bunch of reference images around you while you sculpt, and occasionally hold your sculpture at the angle of the head in the reference. You can "draw" in the clay until the head matches the reference image. If your sculpt matches the reference from all angles, you probably have a good likeness. That's a bit harder to do with a character like Hellboy, because his head is usually drawn from fewer angles, but its possible to do if you have enough of the comics.

Maybe I'll create a "morgue file" of Hellboy scanned images for sculpting reference...

That would be so great! Please do it. Please! Please!

[DannyBoy7783]

Forget him, praise me!!!


Just kidding. ;)


On another note, is this "club" only for hellboy or other mignola sculptures? I would imagine it is, but I have two other sculptures I'd like to show off (Cobra Commander and the alien from the movie "Signs"). Let me know please.

[Johann]

Hey I remember those, you posted em before right? I thought That HB looked familiar.

[JohnThompson]

Forget him, praise me!!!
Sure! I really like both of those busts. You've improved a lot between these two, and the newer one is an excellent likeness. It looks like its been chiseled out of stone, which is a good look for Hellboy! The idea for a RHOD base is brilliant, too.:D

The painted one is very cool, too, and I especially like the last photo, great mood conveyed! Amazing how a simple head tilt or turn can create an attitude!
On another note, is this "club" only for hellboy or other mignola sculptures? I would imagine it is, but I have two other sculptures I'd like to show off (Cobra Commander and the alien from the movie "Signs"). Let me know please.
Well... the idea was to keep this thread devoted to Mignola-related stuff to keep jnapper's head from exploding. I personally would love to see any sculptures you've got, though. If you don't want to start your own art thread, I don't mind if you put 'em in here.

[DannyBoy7783]

I posted them on the old forum a few months ago.

[Ming]

took some more pics over the weekend...

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/hell2.sized.jpg

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/hb3.sized.jpg

[Ming]

here is my rasputin...his hands broke off so i'm redoing them in castilene...

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/nohans.jpg

[cantide]

Wwhooaa.. man.. that's just beautiful..

[JohnThompson]

Holy crap, Ming! That Rasputin is amazing! Post some more shots, please!

[Ming]

you guys like 'im ??

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/nohans2.sized.jpg

http://sculptureunderground.com/albums/mjs/mmm.sized.jpg

[F.K. Soft]

Holy freaking crap. That face on Rasputin is fantastic.

One comment (from a complete sculpting ignoramus): Is Rasputin's head a bit too disproportionately large for his body, or is that a camera angle thing?

[Ming]

yeah the heads too big- hence the broken hands :mad: :mad: ...but learned to live with it...i was thinking of adding something to the base make 'im look like hes coming out of hell or something -im thinking maybe tentecles.i have a love/hate relationship with this piece and i've gone back to it many times this is probably the 3 time i've come back to it....

[JohnThompson]

you guys like 'im ??
DUH!


More, more!

[DannyBoy7783]

I figured I'd just make one post about this so I can get some input but not clog up this thread. Here is my Cobra Commander and "Signs" alien. Lemme know what you think!

[Maija]

Ming, Rasputin is outstanding! The tentacles idea sounds like an excellent solution for his height.

DannyBoy, those are great busts, especially the Cobra Commander.

[petriacce]

I have a question for all of you amazing sculpt masters. I have the following model kit (Hellboy Mondes Imaginaires) in pieces and I would like to complete it some day.

http://www.hellboy.com/z-old-design/sculptures/mondeskit.jpg
Thanks J, I borrowed the site pic.

A couple of places have chips out of the resin and I was wondering what the best patching material would be. I'm assuming sculpey wouldn't work 'cause I'd have to bake it but I really have no clue.

I appreciate any help.

[Ming]

Aves epoxy works well-you can order that online.there also plumbers epxoy but the working time is about 10 to 15 mins.aves has about an hour and a little more working time...

[JohnThompson]

A couple of places have chips out of the resin and I was wondering what the best patching material would be.
MagicSculp is a great putty too. It also has approximately one hour of work time before it gets too hard, and you can smooth it with water.

http://www.magicsculp.com

[petriacce]

Thanks Ming and JT! Any of those options should work. The chipped portions would only take a few minutes to fill in. I suppose these materials accommodate sanding once they are dried.

I'm also hoping to do some original sculpting. I found a block of sculpey in the basement that I probably bought about four years ago and forgot about. Sheesh!

[Johann]

Amazing Raspution, Ming, its a beauty!
anything else?

[E. Spears]

Dang, everyone here has some great sculptures! I might have to get off my lazy arse and try it myself soon!

Ming--That is an especially excellent Rasputin.
Danny Boy--I remember the Cobra Commander from the old board, it's cool to see it painted up!

-ERS

[DannyBoy7783]

Thanks The Cure!

[hellgirl1886]

Forgot about this, made it over the summer, during a fit of insomnia, I had to fix the thumb, since it was in my book bag, and it kinda broke off, but I left it on the counter, and my dad called me at work tonight, while trying to clean up after the supper rush, and said and I quote, "Is this the right hand of doom, or the left hand of idiotancy (sp?)" I was suprised he remebered it was the right hand of doom, but I replied "Yeah it is suppose to be, but I think it is more the the stubby hand of a bad artist."
Sorry for the poor pics, taken with a camara phone, maybe I will take better pics of the others.

[Maija]

Awww, thumb-sized RHOD! Cute!

So you're saying you've got other bits of sculpting around too?

[Brossa]

Perhaps this is cheating, since these are only partly Sculpey, but here are a few Conqueror Worm 12-inch customs that I've been working on off-and-on forever. I posted some pix of LoJo a few months ago; he's the only one that's complete.

Inger has a detachable gas mask; the small VonKlempt head is meant to go inside the chest of his robot body (although I can't find an appropriately sized bell jar to fit it into); Roger has a Sculpey crotch clamp.

Comments? Advice?

[DaveLoad]

I've never tried scuplting in Scuply before, but it looks cool. The only sculpting I've done is the occasional halloween mask, which is done out of plasticine. I just can't seem to work in smaller scale than that. Is Sculpy similar in consistency to Roma Plastilina? Curious. Here's some pics of where I'm at for my Hellboy sculpt for my mask so far....

http://www.geocities.com/d_jeannotte/Lifecast.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/d_jeannotte/Front2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/d_jeannotte/side2.jpg

I've tried not to EXACTLY copy the movie version, but to go more with my own features to make it look more realistic when talking or changing expressions...
Let me know what you think!

[DannyBoy7783]

Great figures and great start on the mask. Seeing those customs makes my mouth start watering when I think of the Mezco figures based on the comics that are on the way. I always liked Von Klempt (as much as you can like a crazy, body-less, Nazi, mad scientist anyway)

I did custom figures for years before switching over to the mini busts. I like mini busts because I get to work on the head and chest details which is what I enjoy most and I don't get caught up in the legs and feet which would bore me to no end. Customf igures are great in that respect because they let me do that and have the whole character. I never got into 12" figures though...anyway, looks great! Can't wait to see more (of the figures and of the mask!)

[zefo]

haha! thank you brossa! rodger action figure :)

[morna]

Brossa... your heads rock!

[hellgirl1886]

So you're saying you've got other bits of sculpting around too?

Yeah I have a B.P.R.D patch keychain that I made, I will post it tomorrow after work, sorry I forgot about it. :D

Love roger, He needs his own action figure. :D

[hellboyone]

All right. This is my official first attempt at actually trying to finish something I've started sculpting. I've always lost interest before due to my lack of skill at this sculpting thing but now I'm motivated.

I'll take guesses as to who this Hellboy character is (or who I hope he will be).

Here's a progression from about an hour in on.

http://www.rickcortes.com/sculpt1.jpg

Knowing me, this'll come out great and I'll blow it in the painting.

On the tv at various times: Superman the movie, UFO Files on History Channel, and some dumb MTV show.

R.

[JohnThompson]

It's TAD!

Uh, I mean, the goblin guy! He'll be holding his pipe, right?

You've got a great start, Rick, and I hope you can finish it without frustration.

If you need some inspiration, check out this amazing Sculpey tutorial I found:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287&page=1&pp=60

[Maija]

Yay Rick!! Looking good so far. He's recognizable even at this stage.

Did you make the base with the armature wire sticking out of it, or are such things commercially available somewhere?

That is an amazing tutorial, John. Bookmarked!!

[hellboyone]

Ruta: I picked up the base and wire separately. (I long for a Dremel.)

John: That tutorial was amazing and exhaustive and depressing. :) But I picked up some good ideas.

Thanks, guys! I'm typing this and looking over at the sculpt feeling intimidated by it but I'll do my best.

R.

[JohnThompson]

John: That tutorial was amazing and exhaustive and depressing. :) But I picked up some good ideas.
Don't get depressed, remember that guy sculpts for a living. The point of the tutorial is that this guy covers everything, start to finish. Its an excellent reference tool for working in Sculpey.

Thanks, guys! I'm typing this and looking over at the sculpt feeling intimidated by it but I'll do my best.
If I may make a suggestion: gather all of your reference of the character, all the drawings from several angles. Scan and resize to the scale you're working at, or use a photocopier to scale them to the size of your sculpt. Since it will be hard to find drawings from all angles, duplicate and flop all of your reference to get the opposite side. Finally, print out all this reference so its all accessable at any time.

Then, working from one reference angle at a time, add or subtract clay until your sculpt matches the drawing. Work rough at first, don't worry about smoothing out the clay at this point (Mignola characters always look better when left a little rough anyway). Hold the print or copy of the reference next to the sculpture and quickly scan from one to the other, or use calipers to measure the proportions of features, and make changes in the clay until they match.

Hopefully, given enough reference from multiple angles, you will have an excellent likeness. Doesn't that sound easy?;)

[hellboyone]

John: I never thought about blowing up the reference drawing to the size of the sculpt before reading the tutorial above so I guess I'll give that a go. I did draw turnarounds of the sculpt (front, 3/4, side, and back) and although I've veering away from my original intent, it's still helping.

Thanks again for the tips and any future tips you have to give me! I'll need all of 'em.

R.

[Ose]

If you need some inspiration, check out this amazing Sculpey tutorial I found:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287&page=1&pp=60

Dear sweet lord, that guy does amazing work! Great find John! Lots of good information there, and the guy's work is an inspiration. Gees...if I could sculpt even half that well...

I must try. But Sammy has to get finished first.

[morna]

yaaay Rick! I totally thought he was the alien (I guess it was the forehead marks) until the nose went on. He's looking great though. GO MAN!

I just looked at the tutorial - Thanks JT that rocks!

[King_Vold]

Arrgh! Stole my idea, Rick! Still, that's looking great, and now I don't have to do it. The list of things to sculpt just got a Tad shorter.

This may be a dumb question, but how'd you put the wire in the base? Drill? I currently just make a base out of Sculpey.

And JT, that tutorial is great, thanks for the link.

[hellboyone]

King Vold: Normally I'd use a Dremel for drilling (and for a million other things) but for this I just sort of dug it out with a pushpin. I'm not actually using the base for the sculpt here, just for a little stability since I'm working from the top down (which may be the wrong way to go). The base will eventually be Sculpey as well.

I hope it lives up to expectations. Post more pics tomorrow.

R.

[King_Vold]

I see, thanks! I didn't even realize a Dremel was a drill, not knowledgable in such matters. Looking forward to seeing more progress on it.

[hellgirl1886]

Not really scupley, but my brother had someone make this for his forum, I liked it and my brother wanted me to post in on the forum. Well here it is.

:D

[hellboyone]

ruta: yep...I took it easy on the forehead marks. A bit heavy a few days ago.

king vold: Dremels are great. Drilling is the least of what they do. A magical, all-purpose tool. :) I need one!!

More pics, a bit more progress. What do you guys think?

http://www.rickcortes.com/sculpt2.jpg

Gonna work on finishing up that arm next. Then it'll be time to "Mignola" it up.

R.

[morna]

That's looking really awesome Rick! Very good likeness.

I can't wait to see the Mignola-izing!

[Maija]

He's looking great, Rick!

Though you've just made me realize that the Goblin is in fact... Patrick Stewart! ;)

How tall is it?

[JohnThompson]

Great sculpt, Rick! More, more!

Meanwhile, I picked up some new clay to experiment with a few days ago. Its called "Hearty", one of several brands of paper clays. There are pulp fibers throughout, but the clay has a smooth texture and is not at all grainy. Weird stuff, but its also really cool to work with. It tools well, air dries without any need to bake, and can be smoothed with a wet brush or a fingertip dipped in water. When dry it is flexible, extremely lightweight, and will accept the addition of new clay.

To test it, I made a 1/6 scale skull that fits with Sgt. Schultz's helmet from my Sideshow Hogan's Heroes figures. Inspired by a Mignola drawing from Conqueror Worm, and morna's love of skulls! Total time was approx. 2 hours of sculpting + drybrushing with acrylics

http://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/skullsculpt1.jpghttp://www.indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/skullsculpt2.jpg

[hellboyone]

Geez, John! You knock that out in no time or what? Looks great.

ruta: I guess it's about 5 or 6 inches tall. It towers over the Bowen HB and Abe busts. And yeah...heheh....en-gage!

morna: thanks!

R.

[Johann]

Wow! keep it up rick. An' JT, That is effin amazing! I should pick up some of that stuff, where'd you get it.


And as for my HB sculpture...tis finished, painted and all -every bodys tips helped so much, sadly i did not smooth the finger prints out.. but it's one of the better things i've made, There may even be pics in the future if i can get the 'help'. The head resmbles JT's avatar. without the flames.

Yet I still need to make the base, i need to buy one of those wood circles Rick is using maybe this weekend...

[morna]

JT ... :)

PM coming...

[JohnThompson]

Geez, John! You knock that out in no time or what?
Well, speed was of the essence, since this clay begins to dry so fast that I wouldn't have had time to blend in the new clay if I worked too slow. It is a little unforgiving in that way. The clay does shrink a little as it dries, unlike Sculpey, and is prone to cracking a little. Still, it will work great for rocks, tombstones, old bones... maybe even the "mung" of a good rotting corpse!
I should pick up some of that stuff, where'd you get it.I got mine at a place called Hobby Lobby. There are 2 in the town I work in, so there must be a lot of "crafters" around. They moved in like Walmart and drove all the smaller art stores out of business, and even drove out our sole Michael's. :eek:

Morna-- response coming!

[morna]

Hey JT your PM box is full!!

[JohnThompson]

Sorry, morna! Please re-send!

[Johann]

[QUOTE=JohnThompson] I got mine at a place called Hobby Lobby. There are 2 in the town I work in, so there must be a lot of "crafters" around. They moved in like Walmart and drove all the smaller art stores out of business, and even drove out our sole Michael's. :eek: QUOTE]

Hmmm.... no Hobby Lobby around here I'll try Michael's, They might, If not its down to Joann's Fabrics (another craft store) or and artist supply store, I'm thinking the art supply store will have it.

-Thanks anyway.

[Ose]

Well, here goes nothing. I don't have any wire suitable for making armatures right now, so I have to stick to what can be sculpted over a ball of tin foil. First thing I'm trying is a Kappa, a Japanese water demon. I knocked out the rough sculpt in about half an hour. He's about two and a half inches tall.

Rough Kappa sculpt (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/kapparough.jpg)

[gary bolt]

Nice Kappa, Ose. Where did you learn about Japanese mythology?

Here's a little study I made with Sculpey. It's a template for sandcasting a glass tile. I'm also thinking of putting a thin layer of sculpey on a ceramic tile and making a shallow relief tile. I'll post that soon.

[Ose]

Mostly it's like every other bit of mythology I've picked up, regardless of culture - I just happened across the legends, or heard about them from others, or heard of the creature and did a search on it because I didn't know what the heck it was. I honestly can't remember where I learned about the Kappa, but I might have come across it while looking up Kitsune legends a few years back.

[JohnThompson]

I just found this new Hellboy sculpture over at the Shiflett brothers' sculpting thread:

http://theclubhouse1.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8108

Take a look!

[morna]

JT the link doesn't work for me... I just get a sign in thingy

[JohnThompson]

I'm not sure why this guy decided to have Hellboy fight Jason, but what the hell, its a Hellboy sculpt!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/acolella/hellboyvjasonpaint.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/acolella/1hellboypaint.jpg

[DannyBoy7783]

Why is Hellboy cowering....


Love it!

[Tad]

Why is Hellboy cowering....


I think he's just blocking the oncoming machete blow.

[DannyBoy7783]

I know Tad....but he's Hellboy. He doesn't tend to cower even when he's only blocking. He should have a more authoritative pose I think. He's fought creatures much worse than Jason Vorhees.

[Tad]

I knew what you meant. If the other hand was cocked back, ready to throw a counter punch, it would feel better to me.

[DannyBoy7783]

It would look cool if Hellboy was grabbing Jason's hand with the left hand and then had his right hand in the air ready to crush him (or punch him)

either way, this is still a great piece regardless. Jason is one of my favorite horror stars.

[Tim Townsend]

Hey folks~

Long time lurker, first time poster. This thread really piqued my interest. Im seeing some really fun stuff here and gaining alot of useful info. Ive been inking the X-books over at Marvel for the last 10 years now and just decided to break down and take a crack at sculpting. This is my first attempt so go easy. This piece is approx' 15 in tall and done with Super Sculpey. Sorry for the crappy pics'. Alot of the detail got lost. Anyway, hope you like.

http://members.aol.com/tdog10000/HBgrey.jpg


Best!
~TiM~

[DannyBoy7783]

Great piece! It's funny how he looks angry or surprised depending on the angle. I don't agree with the lower fangs or the horn decision but it looks good none the less. Reminds me of a cross between Young Hellboy and the wake the Devil cover. Keep it up!

[Tim Townsend]

Thanks Dannyboy~

It was inspired by the Wake the Devil cover but definitely done with the intention of staying "outside of the box". I dont get much satisfaction out of rehashing someone elses visions (thats my clever way of saying I suck too much to get it right 8). One of my favorite things about HB is the fact that, visually, hes so amazingly interpretive. As with a character like BATMAN, there really is no right or wrong as long as youve conveyed who exactly the image is of. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and the kind words!

Best~
~TiM~

[Tad]

Whoa, what a striking interpretation. The shape of the base adds to the weird feel. I'm not a big fan of veins, especially on Mignola characters since he simplifies so much, but they also add to the feeling of horror. Congratulations on joining the Sculpy Biatches!

[hellboyone]

Welcome aboard, Tim. I echo Tad's sentiments. And I agree about HB being a great subject for any artist's interpretation,. Looking forward to more of your posts!

R.

[Tim Townsend]

Thanks guys! And thanks for the welcome. Hopefully I can overcome my lurking nature and contribute something around here. :) Speaking of which, heres something else I have sitting in my studio. I know there are pics' floating around but I havent seen any on this site yet. This probably isnt even the folder to show it in so feel free to steer me in the right direction. Basically, I managed to obtain this AMAZING life bust of HB from the same group of guys that did the Batman and Supes pieces for Alex Ross. He's 1:1 scale, has hand punched, individual hair(s), eyes so real its almost ceepy, and is made of silicon. He actually has skin pores! The coat hes wearing is the actual screen worn coat from the final scene of the movie where, in shackles, HB grows his horns and fights off the bad-guys, hence its tattered nature. All-in-all, it makes for one helluva' cool conversation piece. I keep waiting for him to start talking to me!

http://members.aol.com/tdog10000/HBlife.jpg

Best!

~TiM~

[Maija]

That's a well executed bust, Tim, though the interpretation is surreal. Of course, Hellboy himself is a surreal character. I look forward to seeing other sculpts from you.

In other news, I snagged a fistful of old dental tools from my family dentist this weekend! I'm looking forward to using them, though they do give me a bit of the creeps, especially the really pointy ones. :p

I've been sculpting like a sculpting fiend, but none of it Hellboy-related. I'm planning on tackling that as a holiday activity. Hopefully the weather outside will be frightful so the sculpting inside will be delightful.

[Tim Townsend]

That's a well executed bust, Tim, though the interpretation is surreal. Of course, Hellboy himself is a surreal character. I look forward to seeing other sculpts from you.

In other news, I snagged a fistful of old dental tools from my family dentist this weekend! I'm looking forward to using them, though they do give me a bit of the creeps, especially the really pointy ones. :p

I've been sculpting like a sculpting fiend, but none of it Hellboy-related. I'm planning on tackling that as a holiday activity. Hopefully the weather outside will be frightful so the sculpting inside will be delightful.



Thanks for the kind words! I actually just managed to snag the motherload of gorgeous dental tools from my father-in-law who just so happens to be a retired dentist. Gotta' love that! :) Looking forward to seeing some of your work.

Best!

~TiM~

[Petersen]

Yeah Ruta...show some of your work! Hellboy related or not..I wanna see this frenzy you're workin up!!

[JohnThompson]

Tim, nice original take on Hellboy! Any plans to paint it?

Ruta, post some damn sculpture! I don't care if its on topic or not. You're overdue!

[Maija]

Ruta, post some damn sculpture! I don't care if its on topic or not. You're overdue!
Yesyesyes. I will. But not immediately. I have an assload (1 assload = 4.2 craploads = 125.7 gigapiles) of sculpts to make for Christmas gifts because I'm a masochist as well as broke. On top of those I have yet another piece to make for a local gallery auction for Monday. None of these involve Hellboy. Once the dust settles after Christmas I'm going to make up a portfolio on my website of everything that I have (hopefully) finished by then. In the meantime, I might post some preliminary images of some pieces if they're going well (eg. the auction piece, assuming I finish it on time). Right now I don't have a single piece far enough along to show.

Patience, my dear! ;)

[JohnThompson]

Patience my ass! Post your wine-cork sculpt awreddy!

Don't make me get out the chihuahua!!

[Tad]

Go ahead, JT. The woman won't listen to reason and her fans won't be denied.

[JohnThompson]

http://indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/evil_chihuahua.jpg

Sculpt, my minion! SCULPT!!

[morna]

sorry guys I think that mind control chip in the glass I cleverly planted has failed.

Maybe this will help

[Johann]

Tim-wow amazing sculpt different but fantastic, I would love to see sculpts you do that are from your owm mind, seeingthe added horror feel to the HB makes me sure you can come up with some monsters.

[Tim Townsend]

Tim, nice original take on Hellboy! Any plans to paint it?!



Thanks! Honestly, probably not. Theres something I just love the plain grayness of maquettes.

~TiM~

[Tim Townsend]

Tim-wow amazing sculpt different but fantastic, I would love to see sculpts you do that are from your owm mind, seeingthe added horror feel to the HB makes me sure you can come up with some monsters.


Thanks very much Johann. I plan on doing more as time permits but my regular inking duties on the X-Men barely leave me time for sleeping, let along sculpting. I sculpted this one during one of the recent hurricanes (I live in Orlando) and started another during one of the following storms. These were done by candle light since the power was out and there was nothing else to do. At any rate, I appreciate the vote of confidence!


Best~
~TiM~

[Neil Hill]

Hey folks~

Long time lurker, first time poster. This thread really piqued my interest. Im seeing some really fun stuff here and gaining alot of useful info. Ive been inking the X-books over at Marvel for the last 10 years now and just decided to break down and take a crack at sculpting. This is my first attempt so go easy. This piece is approx' 15 in tall and done with Super Sculpey. Sorry for the crappy pics'. Alot of the detail got lost. Anyway, hope you like.

http://members.aol.com/tdog10000/HBgrey.jpg


Best!
~TiM~

Great interpretation, Tim! For a first time effort, you are certainly no slouch and I'd love to see more of your "sketches" in sculpy form! BTW, you rock as an inker!! :D

[Maija]

AH!

Don't point that thing at me!! And now with the mind-control kitty too! AH!

Very well then, this is off-topic, but you and your mind-control animals drove me to it.

This was made for a fundraising auction for a local gallery. The theme of the auction was Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/). The title of my piece (a customized wine bottle stopper) is Lighten up, Hieronymus! Here, have a drink.

[DannyBoy7783]

I clicked the pictures before reading what you read. Boy, was I confused! HAha!

Great job!

[petriacce]

That is great ruta. What a wonderful stopper.

[morna]

Kool ruta!

Great subject. That mouse in a tube seems more like a torture device than something out of a "Garden of Eden"... very Boschey. I remember staring at that Bosch piece for hours - literally -as a kid. Especially the hell panel, it just fascinated me. I never knew it had the outer covers though, and I was a big fan of the piece. Thanks for posting this.

[Tad]

That is great ruta. What a wonderful stopper.

A show stopper! :p

[Maija]

Thanks for the compliments, folks. After Christmas I'll make a Ruta's Art Thread and put up the other stuff I'm working on that I have to have finished for Christmas (AAAG!)

All of the wacky elements in that stopper are in the painting. They're all in the lake on lower left side. Bosch was a bit cracked, I think. He also didn't want anybody to have any fun.

Nice avatar, Tad! :D

Less five points for the pun. :p

[Tim Townsend]

AH!

Don't point that thing at me!! And now with the mind-control kitty too! AH!

Very well then, this is off-topic, but you and your mind-control animals drove me to it.

This was made for a fundraising auction for a local gallery. The theme of the auction was Hieronymus Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/). The title of my piece (a customized wine bottle stopper) is Lighten up, Hieronymus! Here, have a drink.


Love it!!! ~T~

[gary bolt]

Ruta, that Bosch inspired piece is fantastic. I can't wait to see more of your sculpts!

[Maija]

Thanks, Tim and Sir Edward.

As for more sculpts, I'll be hunched over my work table from now until Christmas giving myself arthritis... I mean, cranking out a bunch more. In January I'll post a link to a gallery of them (if only because I suspect I'll be working on some of them on Christmas Eve :p ). Then it's on to Hellboy related sculpey shennanigans at long last.

[gary bolt]

Yay, I can't wait!

[Johann]

Hey check this out...

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34414

[Johann]

Oh and ruta, that stopper is wicked, why haven't i ever heard of this guy? He's awsome!

The Madness!!

[King_Vold]

I can finally post in here with something on-topic! This is the piece I did for the art exchange, a bust of the movie version of Hellboy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/King_Vold/Hellboy-sculpt-website-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/King_Vold/Hellboy-sculpt-website.jpg

If anyone wants to see the process at all, I have work-in-progress photos I took as well, and 360 degree shots of the final piece, just ask and I'll post 'em. Any feedback would be much appreciated, as there's a wealth of sculpting talent on this board and I would greatly value your opinions.

[Bailzzararco]

Hey, I am a sculptor. I have used sculpy clay, good stuff. What I like most about it, is that you can make very fine details and it won't shatter while baking it. I think I am pretty good at sculpting, so I think I will take up this challange. I am already in the progress of making a halloween mask, of a skull-faced dog demon, so along the side I could be making a little Sammael. Last time I used Fimo, I didn't like it, it had too much resitance for taste, and it seemed to become brittle when I wanted to make tiny details, like teeth or something. I do, however, have a tip for other scultpors who use sculpy, if your creature has whiskers, you can use a needle to poke tiny holes in the soft clay where you want to put your whiskers, say, if you want to make one of Hellboys many pet cats. After baking, pluck out a hair or two from you head. With a pair of tweezer, any ordinary white glue, and an exacto blade, cut the lenght of the whiskers, pick up the hair with the tweezers, dip one end in the glue and put that glue end in the hole you poked into the now hardened clay.

[Ming]

Welcome to the board!Can't wait to see your sculpts!! :)

[Johann]

welcome, Bailzzararco.

king vold- very nice sculpt! a bit shiny though.

[Bailzzararco]

I think i will be starting it today. I will have to bug a friend to take pictures though, because although I am pretty good at sculpting, I would have to work my way up to be a rank amature photographer. I don't know what it is with me and cameras. I can't even make a good picture with one of those foolproof Nimrod brand cameras that gaurantee even YOU can take a picture with this thing, dummy.

[King_Vold]

Welcome Bailzzy (that's what I'm calling you from now on because I'll for get how to spell your name), and thankyou Johann. The shininess is because I too am a fairly lousy photographer and was too close up with the flash, combined with the paints, I assume.

[Bailzzararco]

It's okay if you call me Bailzzy, or just Bailz, I know it's a long name. I started in on my Sammael sculpture yesteday, but it's going to take longer than I thought because I have left the sculpy alone for so long that it's gotten hard and brittle, so it needs to be kneeded and softened up first, but I have gotten a rough base of his torso, and upper legs and arms, nothing done of his head yet. I am building him from memory alone, so he might be a little embellished. It's been a while since I made anything, so my fingers aren't used to the hard work. But I am having fun all the same. My cat is interested in the sculpture, too, I think she just likes the scent of the sculpy, but thankfully she won't bite into it, otherwise I would have to hide the unfinnished Sammy so he won't get bite holes in him.

[Johann]

I did a sammy bust a while ago, people thought it was great so did i, now it looks like crap so i've been thinking of re-doing ol' sammy. I have nothing on my to-do list so i think i'll take a shot at a full figured one, most likely in Mignola's style or Barlow's from the concept art it the Art of the Movie book.

[Ose]

Ok, you people sculpting Sammy better post pictures! And Johann, show us the old one! It can't be that bad, and then that way we can see how much better the new one is in comparison.

[Anakin]

Hey, I found this thread! Cool!

I have always had a hard time scuplting clay, my artisitc skills are not the best. But I do work in foam and duct tape for building boffer swords (www.arsmagicae.com) and I'd like to try building a boffer RHOD. Looking at all these sculpts has given me a wonderful frame of refrence!

My one concern is that I'd have to build a framework to put my hand in. Can anyone thing of something that is plastic, round, about 6-8" in diameter and about as structurally sound as 1/2" CPVC? I would need something like that to mold the foam around for the arm, and the fist would have to be permantly closed.

[JohnThompson]

Anakin, I made one of these RHoDs about a year ago. The core was a piece of 4" diameter PVC sewer pipe bought at a hardware store. I made a crossbar hand grip with a piece of 1" dia. PVC that was attached with PVC cement. I wrapped that in 2" thick upholstry foam, with 1" thick foam for the "bands" at the ends of the forearm cylinder (all foam was attached with contact cement). The hand was leftover foam.

I carved and ripped the foam to get cracks and texture in it, and also used an old soldering iron to burn in some detail. I mixed red acrylic paint into a jar of liquid latex and painted that over the foam for a tougher "skin".

[Petersen]

and where are the photos of this JT????? hmmmmm?

[JohnThompson]

I posted photos here at one time... it was hard to see much of the detail because the red "bleeds" so much in the digital photos. I'll have to see if I can dig those back up.

Edit: I found one of the photos, anyway. This was before I painted some darker washes on the enhance the details.

[Anakin]

Neat! Figgures that someone has done this already. But I think I'll give a shot anyway, if nothing else it'll be cool to have for Arisia.

[Bailzzararco]

Ok, you people sculpting Sammy better post pictures! And Johann, show us the old one! It can't be that bad, and then that way we can see how much better the new one is in comparison.
HEY! I know you, you're on one of the same Live Journal communities as me. Can't wait to see the finnished Sammy suit.
<br/>As for my sculpture, it's coming along okay, since it's the weekday I probabaly won't touch it much. It's got a head now, but no eyes or mouth or any details to the face yet, and he still doesn't have any feet or hands. I am going to have to scratch the idea of making that schythe like claw of his, because it will just sag while baking it in the oven. He's coming along good, though.

[JohnThompson]

Some inspiration: a Hellboy sculpt by special effects artist Ryan Peterson http://www.ryankpeterson.com

[petriacce]

Wow, that's very nice. I like the detail. It looks like a mix between Hellboy and the demon/devil from "Legend".

I'll edit this to add: I checked out the web site and I would LOVE a house full of that stuff. Creepy is beautiful!

[Ose]

HEY! I know you, you're on one of the same Live Journal communities as me. Can't wait to see the finnished Sammy suit.


Small world! Actually, I think I saw your name in that community and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen it before!

Sammy was finished back on October 28th. My friend (+uniform.grey+, who hangs around here too) took plenty of pictures of it for me. A good chunk of them are here (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sammael.html). Also the best of 'em, since some of the others didn't do so well because my camera is a bit tempermental.

[Johann]

well, i've been working on my sammy re-do it is Mignola version though so quite different from the final you see in the movie. currently i only have one more arm to do and then i'll get down to detail.

And again i am unable to post pics so i should stop describing it, it'll only make you want it more.

JT: That sculpt by ryan peterson is awsome, i'm not too fond of the head but the rest is amazing.

[Maija]

Some inspiration: a Hellboy sculpt by special effects artist Ryan Peterson http://www.ryankpeterson.com

I like the ultra-smooth, geometric style (kinda Art Deco) but I don't care for his facial expression. It looks like he's stuck in an elevator with Abe and Abe spent all morning eating rotten eggs. :p

Really impressive technical execution though.

[Bailzzararco]

Did you sculpey users know that they have a web-site? I just bought a fresh box today so I wouldn't have to struggle with the curmbly brittle clay I have been using, and noticed on the bottom of the box a web-address. There are a few tips there, and I noticed there was even a mention of what to do with clay that's too firm, though it my case they didn't have a suggestion for crubley brittle sculpey. It really does have an experation date. I left mine alone for too long, and it got ukky, but it's still useable, it just takes more time to get it soft again. I was held up because of the lack of a tooth pick, but I finally got a box, so I can continue, and I plan on working on the sculpture this weekend while I am at a friend's birthday party. There will be a lot of time where we will be sitting around drawing and cracking jokes, and I will sculpt at that point. I am lucky to have many friends who are the creative variety, and love to make art. Oh, this is the address to the sculpey web site.
www.sculpey.com

[Bailzzararco]

Small world! Actually, I think I saw your name in that community and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen it before!

Sammy was finished back on October 28th. My friend (+uniform.grey+, who hangs around here too) took plenty of pictures of it for me. A good chunk of them are here (http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sammael.html). Also the best of 'em, since some of the others didn't do so well because my camera is a bit tempermental.


Wow, he looks great!

[Bailzzararco]

So I finally got the toothpicks I needed, and I finally got some more work done on my Sammy figure. He's coming right along now. I invited a friend over fed him some of my home made lentil soup, and then we got down to some artings. I worked on Sammy, and he worked on a drawing. Sammy has eyes now, and upper teeth, and a head full of tentacels. If I can remember I will ask my friend to bring their digital camera to take pictures of the Sammy so far. He's sort of small, too, if I put him next to an apple, he'd only be a little bigger, and only because his limbs stick out. I am pretty happy with him so far. I hope I don't accidentally squash him before I bake him.

[JohnThompson]

Sounds great, I can't wait to see the results.

Hmm, I wonder if Johann has a friend he could feed in exchange for taking some pictures of his sculpts... ;)

[Petersen]

So John,
What are you sculpting???
havn't seen anything in a bit and your avatar makes one want to see more!

[JohnThompson]

The LoJo bust pictured in my avatar is undergoing some changes-- I decided to have him face the opposite direction and make him a zombie pal to give a claw brand to. Its almost an entire re-do, but will be much more dynamic this way. I've got some other Mignola projects I'm working on, but as it turns out, the damn thing's a secret!

I'm currently working to finish some action figure conversions for Jakob Westman, which need to ship out this month. I've done more work on my Luke Skywalker bust, and started a Bettie Page bust as well.

I'll post pictures when I'm farther along.

[Petersen]

post pictures now!

[JohnThompson]

http://indeestudios.com/hellboyweb/lojo1.jpg

[gary bolt]

John, you sound like a very busy guy (I was going to say Hellgeek but you threw me off with Luke and Betty). My first reaction to you plans to alter LoJo was "Why mess with success?" But the description sounds awesome. How long do we have to wait to see the finished piece? Will you post images of the Jakob Westman pieces when they're done or should I be asking him that? And what's with the secrets? I thought we were family. :rolleyes:

[JohnThompson]

And what's with the secrets? I thought we were family. :rolleyes:
All "secrets" will be revealed in good time, I want the recipients to be surprised is all. The quote "the damn thing's a secret" is a line from the Amazing Screw-On Head, if that gives you any ideas...

And family? So, you will let me move in??

[gary bolt]

And family? So, you will let me move in??


Yes, as long as you remember the ground rules and can adapt to Canadian Mountain Dew having no caffeine.

[Maija]

I can't believe you're redoing Lobster, and yet I can because I've turned around and redone things just as they were almost finished too. The new scenario sounds cool though.

I finally found a place that sells Sculpey III so I'm going to pick some up this weekend to mix with the Super Sculpey. Hopefully they have some Sculpey Softener too. Does it work better than alcohol? I find that the alcohol raises tiny "pills" of sculpey, especially if you brush one area a lot and it leaves the surface grainy rather than smooth.

As for me, no Hellboy-related sculpts for a little while yet as I still haven't finished my Christmas gifts! :eek: They're sculpted and the recipients have seen them, but I still have to paint them.

[JohnThompson]

I can't believe you're redoing Lobster, and yet I can because I've turned around and redone things just as they were almost finished too. The new scenario sounds cool though.
The new LoJo will be 2 separate busts that combine to form the scene. That way, with the zombie guy out of the way you can get a good look at Lobby's brandin' hand.

I finally found a place that sells Sculpey III so I'm going to pick some up this weekend to mix with the Super Sculpey. Hopefully they have some Sculpey Softener too. Does it work better than alcohol? I find that the alcohol raises tiny "pills" of sculpey, especially if you brush one area a lot and it leaves the surface grainy rather than smooth.
I have read that if you use Premo (also made by the same company) instead of Sculpey III to mix into the Super Sculpey, the final baked sculpt will have more flexibility to it.

I used to use alcohol all the time to brush down/smooth Sculpey, but found that when it evaporates it dries out the clay. The "pils" you're getting are chemicals being leached from the clay, then drying on the surface. This results in the clay underneath getting more brittle.

The Sculpey Clay Softener is the same medium used in the clay itself, and is oily. It will not only smooth the clay, but conditions it too. Bizarro like it better.

[Maija]

Thanks, JT. I will def