Wrong measurements based on head size could be wrong if the proportion of the head is wrong, and from what I can see that is the case here.
Eyes should be aprox. at the middle of the head - so your head is too long from eyes down - so complete head is too long - so the measurement based on the head size is wrong.
Try to shorten the nose just a bit, and then put the jaw up a bit - as the chin is too big and too low.
Now You have a head that is a bit shorter, and can check the measurements again based on the new head size.
At least my eye is telling me this, I could be wrong

Here You have nice and simple head proportions:
http://www.oniriaminiatures.com/espanol-escalas-y-tamanos/

Cheers Darko, and thanks for the link

I've taken my head measurements directly from the chart because I know that's true to scale so I'm pretty confident the torso is ok (badly sculpted granted, but the main bits are in the right places according to my 1/12 charts). But you are right on the button re head length (I didn't measure and check often enough when I was doing the head...lesson learnt ). It matches up pretty good round the back and the shape over the top and down to the brow line is pretty good too. The problem lies in the face area, as you say. The overall volume is maybe ok, it's just a bit long and thin so it needs squashing upwards and outwards to put the features closer to where they're supposed to be and also to bulk out the jaw and cheek areas.

I'll be keeping it as it is though and moving on to the next one (we have a saying in the UK....no matter how much you polish it, a turd is still a turd). I've also kept my Mk I attempt so that as I, hopefully, improve with each new piece I'll be able to look back at my progress. From time to time I do this with my painted pieces too, lining them up from oldest to newest to see if there has been improvement. It can be a good mojo restorer if you find yourself stuck in a rut.

Thanks again for your guidance my friend

To avoid cracking put the sculpt into a cold oven, turn it on and set to the recommended temperature - time the bake from when the oven comes to heat. When the time is up turn the oven off and leave the sculpt to cool down in the oven - with this technique I've never had cracking, just keep to the baking time suggested by the manufacturer.

-Rich

PS: drop the Sculpey original and try mixing Sculpey firm and Fimo professional together (a far better combination, original Sculpey is flaky and far too soft to take sharp definition when sculpting)

Thanks for the tips Rich

That is the method I use for baking and, like you say, no problems yet. I might give your mix a go just as soon as I've worked my way through this slab of SS original I have

Onwards and upwards.

Seconds out, round 3:



As I mentioned earlier, I'm going along with sculpting the head and torso separately this time and I'll also be baking as I go. I also thought I'd treat him to a new lump of wood

You're doing far better than I ever did with my first (and only, so far) sculpt.
It took me well into the high 20s attempts before I achieved a moderately half-way looking human head.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hi Billy,
I just ran into your thread. Brave and pretty good attempts so far!
Allow me one comment based on your last pictures: the neck should be tilted forward and not straight up. I remember this from a brilliant series of articles in Military Modelling once and many sculpt get this wrong, resulting in that stiff look. From the side, the spine is like an S curve, with the neck tlted forward.
Good luck on this brave journey!

Cheers,
Adrian

Cheers Adrian

The brass tubing is quite confusing at this stage as, you quite correctly mentioned, it goes straight up vertically (well almost but not quite, my eyes aren't calibrated too well ) but the main purpose is just to hold the head in the correct position and allow it to be removed to make working a bit easier (I hope). The neck will be done last and the tubing will be buried inside it but at an angle if you were to take a cross section. I'll work from my reference material to get the neck looking right with a bit of luck.

If you look at my charts you can see that, even though the body forms a lazy S shape from head to bum, there is still a vertical mid line going through the whole mass. This is the reference line I'm using for the tubing supports. It might not be a good way to do things, and hopefully someone will tell me if it isn't, but it seems logical to my weary old brain. If it all goes pear shaped then I can at least call it another lesson learnt

Thanks for your input buddy, it's all appreciated (more than you know)

After a bit of time out I've got back onto sculpting training

Did a bit of work on the head this morning. I'm a bit happier with proportions and generally getting everything where it should be. I'm struggling a bit with the mouth so that has been removed for the pics as I just can't get it to look right (just need to keep trying). Still got quite a bit to do but I'm happier with the general shape at this stage than I have been with previous attempts.



Thanks again for tuning in

For the mouth I usually start with the oval chunk of clay (you need to think about round shape of the teeth below the meat), divide the shape with a sharp cut, and then fill the lips with just a tiny amount of clay...hope it helps

Billy,

Enjoying this thread and your sense of humor!

I've never sculpted, but I did get all the Miniature Mentor videos. I think they have 4 or 5 sculpting tutorials. The 2 I watched, the sculptor used a wire frame like you did, but then he put an inch or so frame of GreenStuff to give it strength and help the Sculpty stick. Maybe that helps?

Cheers Larry, thanks for tuning in. I'll need to get back onto this soon. I've been on a painting binge over the last few weeks so my sculpting training has taken a bit of a back seat.

I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread so far, thanks for the tip about using a GS core.....another one for the notebook

I've avoided saying too much because I don't have too much experience with 1/12 clay sculpture, especially the initial steps (and Pokrad's got it well covered!) but I would second Larry's (and Mike's) suggestion of a coating of putty over the armature to stabilise it, and provide more purchase for the clay.

Green stuff is perfectly fine, but is still a little rubbery after curing, and can be flexible if you use a thin coating on a (relatively) long 1/12 armature. A hard curer might be useful if flexibility is your problem, and they don't come much harder than milliput. Although there are a lot of other alternatives - magic sculp, apoxie sculpt, asculpt, a+b, etc. Those alternatives might be a little more user-friendly - if you don't know what milliput is like, the stickiness, water-solubility, and general mess can shock you! But it's good stuff, and for setting an armature I don't think there'd be many problems.

'Course, with hard putties, you still need a certain thickness to avoid brittleness. But with cheaper prices (£3-4 for 125g of milliput vs. £10-12 for 100g of green stuff) you can pile a bit more on, and unless you're smashing the clay on there I wouldn't expect many problems.

Back at the bench again today

I've not been completely idle over the last few weeks though. I've been doing a lot of reading and watching YouTube videos on sculpting and also soaking up advice and tips from other modellers who are far more qualified than I am Based on this "research", I've switched from Sculpey to epoxy putty and, after trying out a few different types I've settled on Aves Apoxie Sculpt (which I picked up from an online taxidermy supplier .... no really) and Kneadatite (green stuff). I'm finding the epoxy putties a LOT easier to work with and I think that this is the way ahead for me

I've also been experimenting some more with armatures and I've eventually realised that glueing wire and tubes into prebaked (or cured) cores just wasn't working for me. So, where possible, I'm now making my armatures from a single piece of wire with cross pieces (shoulders and arms) set firmly in place with a blob of putty. The result is an armature that feels a lot stronger and provides a firmer base to smoosh putty onto (technical term )

So anyway, I've started another couple of new practice pieces today. A 1/12 bust and a 1/16 full figure. I haven't decided on any specific subjects, at the minute they are just generic figures in my head. For the full figure I'm hoping for a relaxed standing pose, dressed simply in maybe jeans and t-shirt. To be honest, I'll be over the moon if they end up looking vaguely humanoid.

I spent today doing the armatures:

Great start,I think you've got it.

Oda.

I added a bit more bulk to the bust

Thanks Aris, I think there's a long way to go yet before I get anywhere close to getting it. I'm enjoying the journey though

You're doing great! If you are using any of the 2 part air-drying putties, wear gloves AND even after you've washed your hands keep them out of your eyes. I've taken to rinsing my eyes as well as carefully washing my hands. Any of the two part putties can cause eye irritation. If you are sanding wear at least a particulate mask, work in an area with good air circulation and, again, keep the dust out of your eyes.

Keep at it!

All the best,
Dan

Amount of sculpting knowledge between the lines just " enormous " . Thank you for starting this thread and people shared his experiences .

Serhan-

Adrian mentioned a series of sculpting lessons on Military Modelling.They were indeed great.If you can get your hands on back issues,try to find them, they are extremely helpful.

Oda.