First Big Project Questions;

[Remy LeBeau]

Hey all, seems like a really groovy forum.. i've been browsing a while and gathered a lot of info. Im an actor/musician/artist and I usaully lean towards painting (gouache) with some minimal yet very successful ventures in sculpture. I've decided to make my first full size sculpture Adam Jones from TOOL.

I have about four or five sketches (full size studies, all 12 inches in scale) of what I want to do as well as some facial studies. Trying to draw his face from quite a few angles to give myself the best reference possible when it comes time to sculpt it.

I'm also a huge comic fan and I have about thirty of Bowens statues, I plan on sculpting comic characters in time as well.


So my questions are fairly simple, just the few scraps I couldn't gather from all the previous posts I read.

1.) I bought a bit of super sculpy for this project. I've read after the initial armature to use epoxy clay for a skelaton like support on the armature on top of tin foil in larger areas. I'm in Long Island, NY and both Pearl Paint and Micheals Arts and Crafts doesnt seem to have any. Anyone know anywhere else to buy?

2.) Should I make the head and hands part of the armature or should they be left seperate due to the difficulty in sculpting them? Any ideas on the best way to be able to sculpt them seperately would be helpful.

3.) Randy is my major influence, I see he was using the supersculpy for a long while and now every so often I see he's using a grey sculpy, a harder one I believe. Any suggestions as to any place it may be beneficial to use the grey sculpy rather than the regular pink?

I'm sure I'll have a handful more questions once the process begins, but for now these seem like the issues i need to resolve before I can get the wheel going. I want to do this project right so thats why I came here.

thanks so much for your time guys,

charlie

[HankTheTurtle]

Originally Posted by Remy LeBeau

1.) I bought a bit of super sculpy for this project. I've read after the initial armature to use epoxy clay for a skelaton like support on the armature on top of tin foil in larger areas. I'm in Long Island, NY and both Pearl Paint and Micheals Arts and Crafts doesnt seem to have any. Anyone know anywhere else to buy?

2.) Should I make the head and hands part of the armature or should they be left seperate due to the difficulty in sculpting them? Any ideas on the best way to be able to sculpt them seperately would be helpful.

3.) Randy is my major influence, I see he was using the supersculpy for a long while and now every so often I see he's using a grey sculpy, a harder one I believe. Any suggestions as to any place it may be beneficial to use the grey sculpy rather than the regular pink?

Well, I'm far from being a pro, but I think I might be able to help.

1) I've read that too. Heven't done it yet though. Your best bet is online. http://www.avesstudio.com/ Otherwise I've seen people use plumber's epoxy puddy, which you can get at a hardware store.

2) I think this kinda depends on how you sculpt. I've done both. Personaly, I tend to handle my sculpture a lot while sculpting, so when I sculpted all together I left the head and hands for last. My last peice I sculpted the head first (with no hair) then baked it. Then I added the torso (it's a bust so I didnt need to worry about hands) and baked it again. Then I added fine details like hair and clothes. This let me handle it a whole lot more. If you're one of those sculptors who puts their work on a table and sculpts without handling it much, I don't think it matters as much.

3) The grey Sculpey may just be regular SuperSculpey with some black and white mixed in. A lot of people do that because it's easier to see details in grey, and it photographs better. Otherwise it was SuperSculpey Firm. I recently got some of this stuff. It holds fine details better, and is already grey, so you don't have to mix anything up. I got mine here -- http://www.theclaystore.com/


I hope that helped.

Other tips...

-A pasta roller might be a good investment.
-Terpinoid to smooth any tool marks.
-Lots and lots of referance pictures.
-The bigger the better. (and easier)

[endsongjen]

make sure u post progress pics! lou and coco are gonna love this!

[Remy LeBeau]

Terpenoid huh? never heard of it... I'll go look it up on the computer anyway but if you feel like giving me a little background on it, that would be much appreciated.

I'll most definitely post progress pictures. So far I've basically finished the sketches and built my armature.

The epoxy putty i used (the only one i could find) was in the plumbers supply section of home depot.

One word for any who have not used this stuff yet.

VENTILATE.

It smells horrifically bad. I dont mind the heat of it or the quick hardening but the smell was a lot to stomach.


So do I take it there are some other TOOL fans on this board?

[HankTheTurtle]

Terpinoid is just a paint thinner. Other people might use other stuff too. I know I've heard people talk about using lighter fluid or alcohol, but Terpinoid is what works for me. Just use a brush that's been dipped in it to smooth stuff out.

[Remy LeBeau]

wow, had no idea about that. sounds good to me...

guess ill be back off to home depot...

=)

[HankTheTurtle]

An art store should have Terpinoid.

[Remy LeBeau]

Do you recommend using the terpenoid on the clay while it's still soft? Thats what I'm assuming.

I'm also considering sculpting the head, baking it, and then attaching it and building the body around it. Is it wise to bake it say for three hours and then do that?

My concern is when I put it back in the oven for the full figure will the head crack? basically can you overbake the sculpty?



thanks again guys..

[HankTheTurtle]

Yeah, Terpinoid will only work on unbaked clay. But you can sand it after it's baked.

There's a sticky thread at the top of this page that has the baking mathod I use and I haven't had any problems with multiple bakes.

Actualy, the "Old Tutorials" thread has some good stuff too.

[Remy LeBeau]

Heres a question that i left on another thread and i imagine its a matter of preference but still id like some opinions...

when working on the eyes, especially when they're rather small... do you recommend layering or using a larger piece and cutting it down?

thanks