My First Sculpted Figure
Posted: July 8th, 2018, 1:17 pmI've been working with clay in recent weeks to sculpt various types of furniture. Last night I put together this kitchen. Notice background left, the spitted roast over the kitchen fire. In the background on the right is a wood burning oven.
Here's a side view of the kitchen with a human server. Since the chef figurine was a halfling, I scaled the kitchen for the halfling. If this was real life, you can imagine what fun the innkeeper would have if the halfling chef were ever to quit. A human chef would have to stoop to use the kitchen tools and equipment. (GRIN)
In this picture you can also see the stone tank for washing dishes and the barrel of fresh water for cooking. In the foreground is the cook's work table.
After working on the kitchen, I got to thinking about crafting figures. I watched three youtube videos about how to sculpt figures and decided to craft an ent, one of those sentient walking trees from Tolkien's fantasy. I chose the ent because it's a walking tree. Since it's a tree, I only needed to make this figure vaguely tree-like. I didn't have to worry about musculature or proportional sizes as I would if I was sculpting a humanoid figure.
According to the video, the first thing I needed to do was to assemble a wire frame. The video recommended 22 gauge. The wire I had was much finer since I originally bought this to craft replacement lances for my 15 mm. French Chevauleger light cavalry. Pictured here are 8. I have 72 total pieces for the French and another 108 for the Austrian equivalent.
To make the wire thick enough to support the clay sculpture, I braided 3-4 strands of wire together, twisting them together as tightly as possible. The legs were made extra long so I could stick them through a temporary cork base.
I then used sculpting clay to "flesh out" the wire frame.
After baking this in the oven to set the clay, I painted it.
I then added foliage.
For a first effort, I think this figure turned out well. Here is the ent wandering through a forest.
I might try crafting a dwarf next. Since I only have a few weeks of vacation left before I have to return to work, I don't really want to buy a higher grade of sculpting clay since I won't have time to use most of it.Since facial features for 25 mm. figures can be challenging, I thought I might try a dwarf next since a helm and a thick bushy beard would obscure a lot of his face. With his short squat physique, I think a dwarf would be a lot easier to sculpt than a classic barbarian with bare legs and a bare chest.
Here's a side view of the kitchen with a human server. Since the chef figurine was a halfling, I scaled the kitchen for the halfling. If this was real life, you can imagine what fun the innkeeper would have if the halfling chef were ever to quit. A human chef would have to stoop to use the kitchen tools and equipment. (GRIN)
In this picture you can also see the stone tank for washing dishes and the barrel of fresh water for cooking. In the foreground is the cook's work table.
After working on the kitchen, I got to thinking about crafting figures. I watched three youtube videos about how to sculpt figures and decided to craft an ent, one of those sentient walking trees from Tolkien's fantasy. I chose the ent because it's a walking tree. Since it's a tree, I only needed to make this figure vaguely tree-like. I didn't have to worry about musculature or proportional sizes as I would if I was sculpting a humanoid figure.
According to the video, the first thing I needed to do was to assemble a wire frame. The video recommended 22 gauge. The wire I had was much finer since I originally bought this to craft replacement lances for my 15 mm. French Chevauleger light cavalry. Pictured here are 8. I have 72 total pieces for the French and another 108 for the Austrian equivalent.
To make the wire thick enough to support the clay sculpture, I braided 3-4 strands of wire together, twisting them together as tightly as possible. The legs were made extra long so I could stick them through a temporary cork base.
I then used sculpting clay to "flesh out" the wire frame.
After baking this in the oven to set the clay, I painted it.
I then added foliage.
For a first effort, I think this figure turned out well. Here is the ent wandering through a forest.
I might try crafting a dwarf next. Since I only have a few weeks of vacation left before I have to return to work, I don't really want to buy a higher grade of sculpting clay since I won't have time to use most of it.Since facial features for 25 mm. figures can be challenging, I thought I might try a dwarf next since a helm and a thick bushy beard would obscure a lot of his face. With his short squat physique, I think a dwarf would be a lot easier to sculpt than a classic barbarian with bare legs and a bare chest.
