KW
Sculpting
After creating the fibreglass casts of my model it was time to begin sculpting, to do this I pulled on all the techniques taught to me by my lecturers and videos I have previously watched concerning the techniques for sculpting. These helped me greatly during the process allowing me to create the sculpt that is seen below. I have take photographs of the sculpt throughout the process in order to see the progression and get a better understanding of the thought process. It took me quite a while to finish sculpting as I am a relatively slow sculpter simply as I am a perfectionist, I wanted the sculpt to look as good as I could possibly make it before moulding. I asked my lecturers for constructive critism as to the direction in which I should pull the sculpt in order to make it the most effective that I could in the time.
I had some tutorials with Wayne concerning the sculting process. I showed him the work that I had completed and he gave my som tips to improve upon, such as using rough textured sandpaper to create the surface of the rock. I had spent time trying to create the surface texture with sculpting tools, however the sandpaper made a much more effective result. He also suggested adding a couple of smaller cracks in the rocks overall in order to create a more indepth and dynamic sculpt. Another element he helped with was he asymmetrical ears, I had initially planned on creating pointed ears, which did not work in terms of a rock creature so he helped me with the idea to create a rock that protrudes from the sculpt in a more robust style.
Overall the whole sculpting process took me 5 days, including both the head and the face. I know that I am a very slow sculpter, however I accounted for this time in my plan. I wanted to make sure that the sculpt was exactly how I had designed it before moulding so that the makeup would look as successful as possible. If the sculpt was bad there was little I could do to rectify the makeup, therefore I felt this an essential part of the process to take my time over. Below I have included an image of the sculpting tools and materials that I have used for the process in order to create this outcome shown on this page.
As I had not sculpted anything for the neck area of the character I spoke to Wayne who came up with a suggestion to mould some rocks for easy moulding and application to create a seamless transition from the face to the body, I can also include these sculpts on the hands to ensure the character looks complete as a whole. I found these rocks in the university and chose them due to their shaping and thickness. I then created a wooden base around the rocks I used a hot glue gun to ensure that there were no holes from which the silicone could seep out. I glued the stones using superglue to ensure that they did not move around when I was pouring silicone into the mould. Once I had fabricated the mould for the rocks and ensured that it was properly sealed I poured the pro-gel 10 into the mould to create a silicone flatpiece that I could use to repetatively produce rock flatpieces.
I took much inspiration from this video in terms of being able to create textures on the sculpt. I adapted the techniques slghtly to create the effect as seen in the sculpts below. On a second attempt at the makeup I would try to add more texture to the surface. I found this tutorial very helpful at producing a successful sculpt. It was worth watching to see how the professionals create the sculpted effects and to note the level of detail that they go into in order to produce an effective result.
Stuart Bray (2014) Sculpting Skin Textures [Online] Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAc2hDCHlQ Date Accessed: 4/04/2015
