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I've recently decided to teach myself how to sculpt people. All the sculpting I've done so far has been of animal subjects. Last night I started a small sculpture of a mermaid, but she was so tiny that I could barely work on her with any effectiveness, so I decided to start a larger sculpture. As Hart's Hope is the current audio book in my rotation, I decided to give Sleeve a whirl. So, here is the most powerful wizard in all of Burland, on a stick. My second attempt at sculpting anything humanoid. He's kind of cartoony, but that's a bit easier to do at this phase than strict realism.
I'll post more pics as he progresses, if anybody is interested in seeing more of him.
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Holy crap that's good! You were so self-deprecating, I was expecting something really amateurish, but that looks great!
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by breyerchic04: Libbie, I don't think I've ever seen any of your animal sculptures
Most people haven't. A lot of them, I've done as one-of-a-kind pieces just for friends or family, and stupidly didn't take any pics of. But I'm working on a Welsh pony, a Quarter Horse, and a Peruvian Paso for the model horse hobby, which SHOULD be done (hopefully) this spring and summer. I need to get better about photographing my work. Being a photographer, you'd think I'd do that already, but I don't. Go figure.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Holy crap that's good! You were so self-deprecating, I was expecting something really amateurish, but that looks great!
Oh, well thank you! I come from a large family of incredibly good artists whose footsteps are pretty hard to follow, so I tend to be harder on my work than most people think I should be. That said, there IS lots of room for improvement (there always is)! But I'm glad you like him. I'm very pleased with him, for being only my second try at a human.
Plus, he has rad pink eyes. That's just cool.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Squish: I like the eyes. ^_^ Nice work!
Thanks! The eyes are actually glass. I can't take credit for them. But I hope to do something good with them. Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Wow, Libbie, I'm with Icarus (that's been happening a lot lately, actually)--I was expecting something a lot rougher and less skilled than that. Very impressive, especially for your second attempt at a human.
How large is it? What's the medium?
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Thanks, guys! I'm really glad you like Sleeve. I have been sculpting for several years, just not human subjects. Really, a lot of sculpting is just learning how to use the tools well and understanding the mathematics of proportions. Once you have that down, in theory you should be able to sculpt most subjects.
Noemon - the head is a little over an inch high from crown to chin. Sleeve should be about seven inches tall when he's done. Aside from the glass eyes, it's made of a mixture of ProSculpt, which is a flesh-like polymer clay, and Sculpey III "Translucent" to give him a really pale complexion. They're both polymer clays, actually, which isn't clay at all, but PVC plastic, just like what your kitchen-sink pipes are made out of - just flexible and sculptable. You heat the "clay" to harden it to permanence, usually in an oven. It's pretty sturdy once it's cured.
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I'm with Icky and Noemon. That's not the least bit amateurish. That's fantastic! Holy crap, you have talent! And skill!
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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And I join with the crowd in saying that I was blown away after your "kind of cartoony" line. I haven't read Hart's Hope but your wizard on a stick makes me want to go find out who this interesting character, Sleeve, might be!
What are you sculpting with? (Not that I'll understand your answer, mind you!)
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I love details, and you didn't spare anything on your sculpture. I was absolutely taken by it. Well done!
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Thank you, guys! By "cartoony," I just meant that his proportions aren't strictly realistic. His skull is pretty narrow, and his nose is obviously a lot longer than you'll probably ever see in reality. But it is fitting for a wizard.
Uprooted - I'm sculpting with a mixture of artist-quality polymer "clays," which aren't actually clay, but malleable PVC plastic. For tools, I'm using various metal dental and modeling tools as well as an acacia stick that I love and that has been with me for dozens of previous sculptures. If we ever have the misfortune to have a house fire, I'll probably get my husband out first, the pets out second, and the acacia stick out third. I had to clean it for what seemed like hours to get all the old oil clay and wax off of it so it wouldn't discolor Sleeve's skin. And, of course, my hands, which I use more than anything else.
Hart's Hope is a very cool book - definitely one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. But it's unlike any fantasy book you've ever read, too. That's all I'll say. Sleeve doesn't play a huge role in the book, but he is an albino wizard, and I had some pink glass eyes sitting here staring at me, so I had to do something with them.
Mr. Card has actually given me permission to sell the sculpts I make of his characters, as long as they're original, one-of-a-kind pieces and not casts/reproductions. That was totally unexpected and VERY kind of him! So I'll most likely put Sleeve on eBay in a few days when he's all finished, providing he comes through the process of getting hands and feet and clothing OK with no scorching from my oven. Cross your fingers! I need money to get some attractive decor for my booth at the big wedding expo in January, so I gotta sell something! :roflol: If anybody might be interested in bidding on him, I'll let you guys know when I put his auction up.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Very nice! Like others I would love to see more of your work. I am very impressed with the level of detail you have on such a small piece.
I like carving wood figures and abstract sculptures, For some reason I have never had much luck working with clays, they always seem to be too sticky & soft, or too hard. Could you recommend a resource for learning to use artist clays? Where do you buy the clays you use? There are some very obvious advantages to sculpting in clay over wood. Of course wood has some natural beauty that is hard to duplicate.
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I'll be a total fangirl once again and say www.elksbugle.com is Libbie's paint jobs on other sculputures.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by SC Carver: Very nice! Like others I would love to see more of your work. I am very impressed with the level of detail you have on such a small piece.
I like carving wood figures and abstract sculptures, For some reason I have never had much luck working with clays, they always seem to be too sticky & soft, or too hard. Could you recommend a resource for learning to use artist clays? Where do you buy the clays you use? There are some very obvious advantages to sculpting in clay over wood. Of course wood has some natural beauty that is hard to duplicate.
Ha ha to Dan_raven, and thanks to you for the kind words! And thanks to breyerchic04 for plugging my web site. It's my hobby art site, where I paint model horses for other collectors (and myself!). I also sculpt model horses, but no pics of those sculpts up yet - they're all unfinished, and look really rough because I ran out of orange oil so I can't smooth them out and make 'em all pretty.
This particular clay is polymer clay, which, as noted before, isn't technically clay, but malleable plastic that you have to bake to harden. To my surprise, it's not sticky at all. It took me several minutes of aimless messing around to figure out how to make it work after all my time working with oil clay and Victory wax. It's similar to the Sculpey clays you can buy in craft stores, but it has a touch more oil and a bit more of some other key chemicals that make it smooth more easily. It's considered "artist quality" polymer, where Sculpey and Fimo are "craft quality."
This particular brand is called ProSculpt, but there are others out there. Cernit is another popular brand. I got it from www.clayalley.com, which had the best prices that I was able to find.
As for other clays, I use Chavant Le Beau Touche brand oil clay, usually the "hard" variety, for my sculptures that I intend to cast in resin. It is very sticky, but once you surrender to the stickiness, it becomes a blessing. For metal castings (and some resin castings) I use Victory wax, which looks like chocolate, but doesn't taste like it. Victory wax is about ten times stickier than oil clay, and hard as the dickens. It's better for sculptors who can do reduction sculpting (taking material away to create a piece, as opposed to adding material as with oil clay).
I think the key to working with sticky media is having a good variety of tools. Every tool you find, get it - you will always have a use for it. A great place to find tools is on eBay, in the taxidermy supply section, listed under "dental tools." Some of them actually are dental tools! The best thing to do with sculpting tools, I've found, is to use them in ways you don't think they were intended to be used (ON YOUR SCULPTURES! Stop thinking dirty thoughts!). The more innovative you get with them, the more useful they become and the easier sculpting gets.
I learned most of my sculpting skills directly from my mentor and friend, a very gifted sculptor in Boise, Idaho named Lynn Fraley. You can marvel at her crazy talent here: http://lafnbear.com . Lynn occasionally gives sculpting seminars, in which she teaches you how to sculpt horses. If you want to learn to sculpt or improve your current sculpting skills, I highly recommend it, even if you don't like horses. The techniques she teaches (anatomy recognition, applying it to sculpting, working in oil clay, making armatures, etc.) apply to all subjects, not just horses. And she's a great teacher.
I've also learned a lot by getting together with a group of local friends who also sculpt, either professionally or for fun. We have monthly "Sculpt-A-Ramas" during which we experiment with new materials and try all kinds of crazy new things.
So, I guess I'm mostly self-taught, but I can't give enough credit to Lynn Fraley. Seriously, take one of her seminars if you can. I'm also attending a dog-sculpting workshop in Colorado with Jon Zahourek next summer. The learning never stops, really. I just take as many workshops and seminars as I possibly can afford, and practice and experiment with my materials a lot. I think that's the best way to do it - just do it, and study your subjects an awful lot.
I hope that helps! Sorry that was so long. Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Lyn is scary good. I still am kicking myself for not signing up at Great Lakes for the Smytten raffle (at the time I thought $75 was too much for that size of porcelain).
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Thanks for the information. It is very useful. You mentor is extremely talented, not that you aren't, but unfortunately I doubt I will be able to make it to Seattle any time soon. I definitely look into the artist quality Sculpty and give it a try.
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Wow Libbie, I missed this earlier. That is some really good work. I'm impressed. Do you ever sell any of your stuff? (I collect fantasy art, mostly sculpture, and mostly dragons, but I've been known to branch out for the right pieces.)
MORE PHOTOS! MORE PHOTOS! Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:Originally posted by breyerchic04: Lyn is scary good. I still am kicking myself for not signing up at Great Lakes for the Smytten raffle (at the time I thought $75 was too much for that size of porcelain).
Oops.
Lynn is also totally sweet. You're not on Blab, so you don't know, but...this September I hosted one of her seminars in Seattle, and she GAVE me the first casting of "Gammon" as a thank-you gift. A $465 thank-you gift?! I was blown away. She's so helpful and encouraging.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Thanks for the information. It is very useful. You mentor is extremely talented, not that you aren't, but unfortunately I doubt I will be able to make it to Seattle any time soon. I definitely look into the artist quality Sculpty and give it a try.
thanks again
SC
She actually holds her "Wire to Whinny" seminar anywhere it's hosted. She's held it all over the country! She has a mailing list, which you may want to get on, where she'll announce when she's holding another seminar. It doesn't happen frequently - once a year if you're lucky! But it does roam around the country. It's probably the best deal out there, at about $200 for tuition, compared to the dog anatomy class I'm doing next year, which is $1200.
There are other seminars besides hers, though. In fact, if you check with a local community college, you may be able to find a sculptor who hosts clay classes! Keep looking - they can be hard to find, but they are out there.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by KarlEd: Wow Libbie, I missed this earlier. That is some really good work. I'm impressed. Do you ever sell any of your stuff? (I collect fantasy art, mostly sculpture, and mostly dragons, but I've been known to branch out for the right pieces.)
MORE PHOTOS! MORE PHOTOS!
Well, I sell my model horses. Sleeve here is only my second try at sculpting people, so I don't sell any of those...yet! But I plan to. I'll probably end up putting him up on eBay when he's done - I have no room for anything breakable in my apartment; my cats will destroy him. I'll probably just post in this thread when he goes up for sale, unless that's against forum rules. Anybody know?
No more photos yet, because there's nothing neat to see - he's got hands, shoulders, and a chest, as well as some twiggy little legs that won't show under his robes. I'll try to get that all on him today and get him baked so I can get more photos. Then he needs to be all finished up - I have to scrape the fibers out of his skin, give some color to his various parts, and put a little hair on his head. Then he should be all done. It should be a couple more days!
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A lot of them, I've done as one-of-a-kind pieces just for friends or family, and stupidly didn't take any pics of. But I'm working on a Welsh pony, a Quarter Horse, and a Peruvian Paso for the model horse hobby, which SHOULD be done (hopefully) this spring and summer. I need to get better about photographing my work. Being a photographer, you'd think I'd do that already, but I don't. Go figure.
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I had to clean it for what seemed like hours to get all the old oil clay and wax off of it so it wouldn't discolor Sleeve's skin. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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