Sculpting Tutorials

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thanks very much. this has helped a lot.

hey mods........ can you hook us up with a sticky here?

Hi guys, Ive been browsing the forums for a month or 2 now and finally decided to join in the conversations. After seeing the awesome works people have been doing I decided to try it out and see if I liked it. I thought this would be a good thread to ask questions incase others had the same questions (those tutorials were great by the way).

Mind you I have zero experiance in art so some of my questions might be basic. I went to the art store and bought some 6 dollar modeling clay and a sculpting tool. The clay would go on nicely to the figure, but when it would harden there would be cracks and the clay was pretty brittle/easily broken. I ended up ordering some green stuff after (still has to arrive), Im just wondering is there anything to do to keep the clay from cracking while drying or is this based on the type of clay/putty you are using, or even the ammount you use (too little?). Also, even when using the high quality stuff like Kneadatite, do they easily break off? For instance with the cheap stuff I am using I would just put a little pressure on the dried clay while moving an army or turning the torso and the clay would sometimes either crack or break entirely.

thanks

Originally Posted by NeoDragonKnight

Hi guys, Ive been browsing the forums for a month or 2 now and finally decided to join in the conversations. After seeing the awesome works people have been doing I decided to try it out and see if I liked it. I thought this would be a good thread to ask questions incase others had the same questions (those tutorials were great by the way).

Mind you I have zero experiance in art so some of my questions might be basic. I went to the art store and bought some 6 dollar modeling clay and a sculpting tool. The clay would go on nicely to the figure, but when it would harden there would be cracks and the clay was pretty brittle/easily broken. I ended up ordering some green stuff after (still has to arrive), Im just wondering is there anything to do to keep the clay from cracking while drying or is this based on the type of clay/putty you are using, or even the ammount you use (too little?). Also, even when using the high quality stuff like Kneadatite, do they easily break off? For instance with the cheap stuff I am using I would just put a little pressure on the dried clay while moving an army or turning the torso and the clay would sometimes either crack or break entirely.

thanks

Kneadatite is not a clay, its an epoxy putty and its very strong. It will not crack like clay. You can also sand it and drill it and it will not break. Good stuff. I ordered some recently and waiting for it to get here. Where did you order yours NeoDragonKnight?

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I bought mine on ebay, I tried other online stores but the shipping costs are extremely high to Canada, or they dont ship to Canada at all. So I guess my error was buying clay and not putty (though using the cheap clay was still really good practice for my first time), looking forward to trying green stuff out. My project right now is trying to make an v1 alley viper squad, I have a serpentor, beach head, and firefly to work with. I used the cheap stuff on the serpentor, mold a helm directly onto his ugly face (it deserves to be encased in clay), which turned out ok, but the mold onto his body is what failed, ie cracking (but like I said it was good practice). I plan to modify firefly only slighly such as body armor, using serpentors helm has a base for a removable alley viper helm to put on firefly (firefly already has urban camo and a ski-mask so it made him a logical choice to me to convert). I tried the clay on the helm but it just doesnt stick to the plastic. Anyways, lesson learned here for my other fellow beginners, dont use clay, unless you just want to practice first before using the expensive stuff.

thats good advice daremo, thanks!

edit: just wanted to show my test figure with the clay. Sorry for the poor photos, only digital camera I have is on my phone

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...stomalley1.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...stomalley2.jpg

Any advice for someone feeling overwhelmed by the amount of sculpting their bash requires? I'm just not comfortable with the sculpting process. I'm starting to feel like I've bitten off, more than I can chew.

On a side note, those in the Columbus Ohio area, can get Green Stuff, and quite a few other sculpting and molding compounds, at the Sawmill Road Hobbyland. They have the blister packs, and the three foot rolls.

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