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 gobert wrote:


In any case the new evil cat is looking good, the claws sound like they’ll be a challenge! Will your toothbrush bristle technique work?

Well I wasn't going to go for it but my creative director liked your suggestion so I went ahead and started snipping the toothbrush.

I'll trim his class when the greenstuff hardens up.

I forgot to chime in earlier about how wonderfully Smirking turned out so here it is now! He turned out wonderfully.

Keep it up!

Thanks AT, I'm hoping to add some more friendly green faces to the lineup soon.

In the meantime....

The Mog has been to the nail bar and had a coat of primer. All ready to paint.

Looking sweet

Thanks mate.

And of course new sculpts are beginning hot on Mog's tail.

This little fella is going to a miniature version of my eldest son. He's shown me the pose and the costume he wants.

And then this guy

Has been requested at the behest of my younger son (who will get his own miniature version in due course). Introducing Maser the Eraser.

Nice work. The claws turned out pretty good!

Very fun and inspiring work, Crowe.

Your sculpting capabilities seemed like a natural skillset right from the start of this thread.

Will Maser the Eraser get some kind of creative paint job or will it just remain as-is? I can't think of much one would be able to do with a model that is intended to literally portray an eraser.

Thanks frag I've been pleasantly surprised myself but I am learning lots with all this practice.

He draws Maser as a two-tone eraser with the blue on the bottom and pink at the top. So that's colour scheme sorted. For basing I might take a bit of squared paper out of one of his old school jotters and maybe even have him doodle in pencil on it and half rub it out.

Progress continues on the boy. I've had to do more more mid-sculpt snipping and bending of wires on this one than any other to date and I can see that the head is still too big! Good bulk of the body complete now though. Just hands feet and head to do now.

Mogs claws came out well, sorry for unduly influencing your process! . I love the idea of Masers base being a notebook with a half rubbed out drawing, your plog continues to amaze! The Boy looks cool, is he tipping his hat?

Oh yes, gobert he tips the hat. The much too large hat as it turns out.



I've shrunk the head down and sculpted the face (Yikes that was hard!) and then I tried the old hat on top but it was like a Stetson. So he'll need a new hat next. And hands and feet of course.

Nicely done. Good cloth folds going on there.

Gotta admit.. the shirt and pants are looking pretty on point.
I've never sculpted an entire body, yet this thread is steadily becoming a source of inspiration.

Nice job, he’ll be looking very dapper with the hat! Hands and feet would be good too!

Thanks for the comments folks. It's very encouraging.
Update for tonight.


A new wireframe for my next mini. This will be a miniature of my younger son. He likes to do his happy dance.

And I like to bulk out my sculpts with tissue paper and PVA.

In other news, my first casts of Sniffy and Cheesy came out like this.

I gave them a quick brown wash to help see some of the detail but as you can see I had some issues with bubbling. Both noses were lost to big fat bubbles as well as Cheesy's pepper mill and a bit of his hat.

So I did a bit of fixing on the mould and had another go.

Much better noses this time and more pepper mill though there's still a big bubble on the bottom of it. Also Sniffy's wrench has bubble issues and their feet are a bit hit and miss. And Cheesy's hat this time around is even worse.

So there you go. Kinda bubbly, not great but pretty easy fixed I suppose. I know people use pressure chamber's to reduce bubbles down but I'm not about to get into all of that. Just yet.

Update


Maser is done, apparently. No arms no mouth. Thats just the way he's drawn so that's it got sculpting on this guy.

My boys are coming on well too.

First one done and progress on the second.

When casting at home the process becomes more of an art. I'd recommend looking for a silicone gum, fast curing mass that is mixed and applied much like a greenstuff - You measure out equal amounts of colored "plasticine", mix them by kneading and then wrap them around one part of sculpture, the one with more intricate or weak detail. After it hardens You spray or smother everything with lubricant such as vaseline and then put into a a box to pour liquid mold onto them. This makes separation of mould halves easier, preventing damage. Plus - You can control how and where mold will separate, not always "at the waterline".

With pressure (or vacuum) casting - it is a beast in and of itself. Judging by Your British flag icon, I'd recommend getting in touch with some local sculptors and casters. Midlam Miniatures, Oathsworn Miniatures, Bad Squiddo Games - they all have experience in making small things (mostly in metal, though) and are quite friendly.

Wow, your boys get toys and miniatures of themselves from dad as well.

CB

Thanks for the advice Wirecat. I could really benefit from that kind of expertise and just making some connections in the industry would be a significant step forward. Not sure I'm quite ready to take the plunge just yet. A bit more practice and development for now until I really feel I have something of a high enough standard to offer.

It's a bit tricky though, I'm in Northern Ireland so all those UK folks and the events and communities tend to be in GB just that bit further away. Certainly I could get in contact by email and phone though.

The sculpt looks great.

Unfortunately I just started with making molds myself, so I might not be able to give the best advice
I've had great success with one part molds and these might work for you too, depending on the sculpt. Otherwise I think you need some kind of mold release for the entire bottom (first poured) half. Silicone sticks to itself like crazy, so much so that you could pour the cast in multiple sessions and you would not see a line for each layer.

I hope this helps at least a little bit, but as always, practice makes perfect. It's all a learning curve

Thanks Pneumo, my silicone moulding experiments continue with varying success but they're not all related to Svulpting for the kids so I havnt been recording those. Mostly recasting useful things like wheels and simple miniatures just to experiment with casting. Not to sell recasts of course but to see what works and get better at it for such a time as my own sculpts are ready for casting. I'm planning on a run of grots first.

Anyway, update on boy number 2

All sculpted and ready for paint. Not so convinced with that face but it'll have to do. Need practice at human faces, badly.

Its a solid, readible face, maybe a little exaggerated looking, but not outside the realm of say, characture exaggeration. I imagine trying to work from a kid's face where the proportions are a bit off compared to adults didn't help. Looks good!

Yeah, it's an expressive face, and that's good for miniatures! Proportions are tricky at this size i imagine, and i think you're doing well with them.

Thanks folks. I remain to be convinced on that one face though. I'll give it some paint and see if it's redeemable. If not I may snip it off and re-do it. He looks like a crazy old man, not my super cutie six-year-old. Anyway...

Here's another couple of minis to add to our box of completed creations tonight.

Nobber the Robber out of jail and up to no good.


And Maser the Eraser ready to rub out your doodles. What a rascal!

Nober and Maser are looking good all painted up and ready for gaming! I think the face on your youngests representative looks good, but I can kinda see the old man vibe. Paint might bring it back to cutie 6-year old, or maybe it could be reused as a wizard alter ego? Seems a shame to let a perfectly good head go to waste

Nice one Crowe!

 theCrowe wrote:
It's a bit tricky though, I'm in Northern Ireland so all those UK folks and the events and communities tend to be in GB just that bit further away. Certainly I could get in contact by email and phone though.

I hear ya.

Faces are tricky if you're just starting to figure them out. If you're looking to improve, first place I'd point to is Proko on youtube - an art instruction channel with a ridiculous amount of professional and expert knowledge. His first few videos (and a few others later on) involve the construction of the head. This one goes into child proportions a bit, at 16:20.

https://youtu.be/JC2ZppKHCqU

'Loomis' is Andrew Loomis, illustrator and art teacher from the early 20thC, and his method is from his book 'Figure Drawing For All It's Worth'. Often highly recommended to beginners. This site has pdfs from when his books were OOP. Looks like it's still functional, though I'd prompt you to buy the book if you find it useful. NSFW links.

https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
https://titanbooks.com/5205-figure-drawing-for-all-its-worth/

Thanks vermis. Nice to find a local lad on Dakka. I'm in the Costa Del Carrick (for my sins). I had a digital flick through the Loomis figure drawing title and while I've never made a real attempt at drawing properly proportioned people (just grot cartoons!) I can clearly see the application to sculpting. I'll definitely look into those proportions a bit more closely when doing human figure in the future. Though I think sometimes my paperclip wire dictates the shapes I end up with at this scale. I need slightly thinner armature wire I think.
The drawing faces video was very interesting. Though at 28mm scale I'd need a magnifying light and much finer tools to really make a serious attempt at it. But hey, maybe I've practiced at this level for long enough and I need to invest in improvement. I do all my hobbying on the fly though, on my lunch breaks in work or squeezed in when I can between wrangling the kids. I havnt had a permanent hobby desk set up for years let alone a lamp to paint by!

Anyway, enough of my sad sad stories. More completed minis!

One Evil Mog. I'll maybe make his little more more pinky pink.


And one happy child.

Thanks gobert. He's next up in the painting que so I hope you're right. If I have to redo the head I'm sure I'll use that noggin for something sometime.

And that's both boys painted. Don't think I really nailed it with the faces but the lads are pleased so I'm just going to leave it be.
As far as moulding and casting goes I've had mixed results but I'm not giving up yet. Snipped Mallow to bits and drowned him in a silicone bath. So hopefully we'll be able to cast a whole bag of marshmallows soon. I'll paint some pink, I'll paint some white. If I smell burning I'll know the boys are trying to toast them over a camp fire... It'll be great craic.

I'm also going to do some big group shots. Might even get the real camera out for those, so that'll be fun.

No wonder your lads are pleased, they look great in miniature! And yes please, crack out the real camera for some glamour and group shots!

theCrowe wrote:
Thanks vermis. Nice to find a local lad on Dakka. I'm in the Costa Del Carrick (for my sins).

Tyrone among the bushes.

Though at 28mm scale I'd need a magnifying light and much finer tools to really make a serious attempt at it. But hey, maybe I've practiced at this level for long enough and I need to invest in improvement. I do all my hobbying on the fly though, on my lunch breaks in work or squeezed in when I can between wrangling the kids. I havnt had a permanent hobby desk set up for years let alone a lamp to paint by!

Fair enough. I can't help much with time but I think the outlay can be pretty minimal. For me the most essential equipment is a £9 Ikea desk lamp and a metal tool that I do 95% of my sculpting with. In my case lighting trumps magnification, though I can't see through others' eyes and magnifying lights are tempting!

theCrowe wrote:the lads are pleased

That's the important bit. They do look good, painted up.