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Has anyone here done this before?

I'm following a nice tutorial on making female Cadians for my new 10 man box, however he uses female heads in his example which I can't get hold of. I've gotten up to attaching the faceless helmet. So far I think she looks really good and is definitely distinguishable from the guys (despite having no arms or a face)

I want to continue in making her look good but need some help on how to sculpt a female face. Every tutorial out there seems to be how to sculpt a male face, not only a male face but an ugly male face which makes it even harder to adapt it. Does anyone know any tutorials directed at a female face specifically for 28mm?


Female IG tutorial is here if anyone wants it http://www.astronomican.com/showthread.php?13846-Creating-Female-Cadians/page2

Would it be easier to go for some blank heads and trim the helmet to go around?

http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=human-female-heads~hfl100&category=accessories~converting

There isn't that much of tutorials out there, but there are some threads that talk about sculpting. You could ask Doomhammer of this thread (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/511239.page) for a tutorial, or work off the pics of his marvelous GS/Milliput work.

http://storage.canalblog.com/33/13/553666/36114854.pdf

There are several others too...though finding links on the tablet is a bit of a pain.

Sculpting a female isnt that different from sculpting a male (or demon, mutant, troll...). You just have different areas that you try to focus on and different features to accentuate. Mostly it comes down to practice.

When I first started sculpting, I set down with a ribbon of putty and did nothing but heads for a week (4 or 5 hours a day). After about the 50th head, I managed to get consistent results that I was happy with. You may want to scuplt it off the figure as well (either the whole head on something like a pin...or just the face on a flat surface). I find that it is easier to do heads and faces that way.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Forgot to mention...in addition to heads like like those from HF, you can cut faces off figures too. Use a razor saw and slice the face off, clean up the surface you want to mate it too, glue, little putty to blend the edges and maybe sculpt something like a lock of hair coming down a bit to blend the two parts together.

I started sculpting heads onto a needle pin and used another head pinned next to is as a reference. ( I'm still not at a level that i'd say my heads are good but i get a decent result. Especially once painted. The few that i painted at least But i'm still not at a level that i can create them in a consistent quality. )





Very important is that you get the basic shape and propotions correct from the start. To help me with that i make a small mark in the center of the head for the eyebrows and divide the area underneath it in 3 areas. The lowest for the chin the middle one for the mouth and the upper one for the nose. I use a tiny bit of GS for the nose.
If you do this you will probably have the face propotions more or less prepared.



The rest is "just" fleshing out the details. This is a big try and error area. Just work your way up there. And trust me. You will need a lot of tries until you can produce a decent looking face.
The linked pdf Sean OBrien posted is a good read (and i should probably look at it again too.)
I'd suggest use a good reference. This is why i mostly have a GW head next to the one i'm sculpting. And just remember if your face has roughly correct propotions a good paintjob can create details that where initially missing in the sculpt. (especially eyes)

That's a great pdf Sean_OBrien. Wish I'd seen that before I tried my hand at sculpting. Saved for future reference.

I started easy (not) by trying to reproduce the Venus de Milo for a base...


That was the fourth head I attempted by mostly carving with a scalpel from a rough head shape of milliput.
I did the head separate from the body and then added the hair after the head was attached.

I'm reasonably pleased with it, but it is larger than you would need for a figure and has given me great respect for anyone who does sculpt heads for figures.

Cool I think I'll try practicing a few off the model then, then Sculpt one directly into the helmet.

Thanks for the great tips and tutorial. Doomhammer, all that must have taken you a while, it looks worth it. I think your heads are great

I have some milliput which was recommended to me. I have no idea of the difference, I guess I will try using it to see what it's like. Dr H do you find milliput easier than GS?

GS is apparently better for finer detail work depending on the mix, and milliput (standard) is good for regular detail. Doomhammer usually uses a mix, isn't that right?

A lot of the choice of putties will depend on what you are doing, though even more than that personal choice.

I like milliput for some hard details, armor and what not. I also use it for a lot of mechanical stuff, as the hardness carves and files better if needed asfter it cures.

GS is a bit stickier, so for conversions it generally is a bit more useful. The nature of it (sort of squishie) also comes in handy with organic shapes. You can push and pull it easier, and I find that doing muscles and other organic features to be better suited to it.

Some polymer clays have good workability too, and a lot of sculpters like them because they dont have a time limit, that comes in handy when doing something like detailed chain mail where after a hundred or so links...you want to take a break to save your sanity.

foxyfennec wrote:
I have some milliput which was recommended to me. I have no idea of the difference, I guess I will try using it to see what it's like. Dr H do you find milliput easier than GS?

Firstoff i started with GS and i would say it it the more forgiving material. But milliput has it's uses once you've learned the differences and how it reacts differently to wet tools.
Always wet your tools, the most important rule. It helps that tools don't stick to the putty to much and stay on the model instead. (A wet cloth or licking your tools but don't flood your model with too much.)

Milliput has a different consistency and is more like clay. It isn't as sticky as GS and as such reacts different while beeing pushed around the model. If you pull GS with your tools you will pull additional GS along with your tool as GS sticks to itself. This means that you leave small ripples and stress lines behind alongside the direction of your tools if you pressed to strongly. Milliput doesn't have this effect as strong as GS but instead you create "toolmarks" along the moved putty. As it doesn't pull additional puty along it'll leave a sharp edge behind where you moved your tool over the putty with to much pressure.
This means that smoothing GS with a small wet tool is easier. Using then same wet tool on milliput needs more care or your tool will leave marks.
Milliput cures very hard while GS still is somewhat flexible and rubbery in it's final state. Because of that milliput can be sanded with no problem even with rougher sandpaper. Sanding GS can only be done very carefully with a very fine sanding paper and only to a limited degree.

...

To cut a long story short (and to avoid much more wild rambling from me ) Milliput and similar putties are better for creating sharper edges. And because of it's cheapness they are a nice base for building up larger models.
GS is better for more organic stuff where you don't want sharp edges. And it is probably easier to work with as it can be smoothed much better without leaving a toolmark along the stroke direction.

There is also the option to mix both putties to create a hybrid. Depending on the mixing ratio you get properties from both. (sandability, stickyness, and so on)


Just experiment what it is the best for you. And after your skill had grown a bit try to change the putty(or mixing ratios) and look what you can now do with this. You have to get a feel for the medium and this can only be done while working. And don't stop trying out other stuff. What might work for me or others might not be the best for you and also the other way round. (Like oven baking clay but that is an entirely different topic and i don't have much experience with it ...)

I haven't actually used GS, only milliput and I'm quite new to that as well.
But those above me here have said all that I have found out about the difference between the two.
To add what I've found with milliput, smoothing milliput while it's soft is reasonably easy (if you're gentle) with water. I'll usually resort to a wet finger after my tool (read scalpel) has done as much as it can, this can give nice smooth results but I often have to sand it after it's set anyway.
I've read that methylated spirit and a paintbrush can be used to smooth milliput as it dissolves the putty better than water, but I've not tried this as water seems to work fine.
Most of the time I'll create the shape I'm after as best I can before it sets and then carve in extra details with a scalpel after it's set.
I'll also make random shapes with left over putty before it sets and then make use of them later, as they are or carve/chop them up as needed. But milliput is very hard once set and can fracture rather than cut if you're using a knife. Saws perfectly well though.

I think the best piece of advice is just play around with it and see what you can do.

Edit: Also, if you find that when you're trying to sculpt onto something and the putty refuses to stick to the surface, a little bit of superglue will help and then you can push and pull to your hearts content.