Ok,

This may be more than many of you want to see, but I would like to make full use of Gary's step by step tutorial for sculpting the Confederate Medic. (see Sculpting 101 thread) Since I am an EMS medic, it is doubly interesting for me.

I decided to start with the head because, A) if the head and face don't look right there isn't much sense in going on. and B) I want to use the head as my guide to proportions later in the sculpt if I get that far.

I want the figure to be 120mm scale.

Please, anyone, feel free to make suggestions on what I could have done better, etc.

Possibly boring to most and interesting to other beginners here; we shall see.

I started with the scale 120mm = 1.67". For a 9" human head, 9” from top to chin and 9” from nose to occipital back of head and approximately 7 – 8” from temple to temple (not including ears). My head will be (hopefully) 15mm X 15mm X 12mm.

The following are the first several steps that I took from a ball of clay on a toothpick to starting to apply clay to the face.


My sculpy start.

2nd layer of clay to better define head

deliniation of face

cut eye socket and chin and re-deliniated face

attached and carved nose

The nose of the last picture should stick out from the face the same distance as is the bottom of the nose to the upper lip. Just over 1mm for this face.

Next is the improved head with forehead carved back, sides of skull trimmed for balance, clay added to occipital for shape and clay added to nose, chin and cheeks.

My measurements are 15mm x 12mm x 12mm right now.

Thanks for looking.

YES! Kevin, it's great to see somone take the plunge. You might want to take a bit off the length of the nose. At some stage you may also want to add a bit more to the sides of the jaw. It might even benefit you to just try and copy the face in the drawing. If not for anything else to get the proportions where they need to be. While you may think your work is slow in improving, you'll build up confidence, and won't be as stressed doing it. With that will come the improvements. Good luck buddy, you're on your way.~Gary

Take it away Kevin....good to see you giving sculpting a try...I checked out your heads in another thread and I think they are very promising..and your work is good and smooth too...keep your references close and you'll get some great results...and keep us posted on your progress...and none of this stuff is boring..

All the best....

I guess it would be the height of the nose from the brow, just to right above the upper lip.~Gary

"Take it away Kevin....and none of this stuff is boring.. "

(someone please tell me how to use the quote function for these reply posts) :lol:


Good morning Roy,

Thank you very much for the encouragement! I almost chickened out. I went to bed last night thinking I may have bit off more than I can chew! Stopped sculpting about 2 AM.

I used part of my day downloading your progress on sculpting the ACW Pioneer. I am just absorbing techniques for later use. Liked your technique for the Kepi!

Right now I am debating a brief dive back into zzzzzzz land or start looking at the jawline.

Have a great day!

Kevin D.

PS - I've attached my "cast of characters so far" not including the poor nethanderal that was my first attempt.

I'll be curious to see if there is any improvement using these new techniques.
KD

No worries Kevin...take a look at this really clumsy explanation of mine.... :lol:

Hope you can follow it..

All the best...Roy.

Roy,
Kewl.... thanks! I'll try it soon.

Gary, Roy, et al...

Next pics...

I've extended the jawline and trimmed the nose. I think the jawline will still need more adjustment to decrease the angle and it will become more evident of need as I build up the mouth and chin (my next step per Gary's tutorial).

I trimmed the brow a bit more before adding clay to define the orbits.

Do you think the eyes are going to be equidistant, looking at the orbits in the last pic? I suspect the left orbit is too closed at the outside or the right is too open.

I've found an interesting way to try to keep balance as I apply clay to the face.

I make a small ball of clay and judge its size against the immediate need. If it is too big, I cut it in half again and again until I have the amount of clay neede. Whatever the last cut is, those two halves are roughly equal and I apply one to each side of the area to be worked on.

pics attached, enjoy the day.

Kevin D.

left side

full face

STAY THE COURSE! You're doing well so far. I'm glad you're finding the sbs of use. It's not the BIBLE for doing heads though. You may come up with an easier way to approch certain parts of it. I probably never do a head EXACTLY the same way twice. I'm always tweaking the methods I used before in some way or fashion. You are on the right track, just have fun.~Gary

Thanks Gary,

That, I can do. My work can be pretty stressful and I find getting lost in the clay (or any other activity that absorbs me into total concentration) to be a great way to tune out the world and relax!

Glad to see your thread continuing, it gives me something more to read at the station when not running calls.

I'm sure you are right about various techniques. One of the things I liked about your head tutorial (and eye instructions that I found elsewhere) is your treatment of the soft tissues that help the face transition from facial plane to plane. For example, the small fatty tissue between upper eyelid and brow. I was looking at my sculpts in comparison and saw that nice difference.

Best,

Kevin D.

Kevin, No problem. Lately I add all the soft tissuess after blocking in the head. This step can be tweaked abit as there are not hard or fast rulss on the amount of tissues covering this are. This all leads to variety of faces that are out there.~Gary

It is looking cool Kevin, keep up the good work... Gary, you should start a new thread for all of newbies to post our results of following your SBS.... I am sure Kevin and I are not the only ones following along by doing.

Tor