Question Time! OKAY, I has a question! I'm thinking about making him a faceplate... do you guys think that's a good or a bad idea? I can't make up my mind, you see.. >_< I'm planning on making different faceplates for him in the future, so I suppose a faceplate system would be kinda neat..
Maybe if you cast him you can make a faceplate version of him with a junk cast. I'm scared it'll crumble. ;.;
Might I suggest something? I found this tutorial when looking for faceup information. I plan on using it for my sculpting of my first doll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppME6zPeXj4 Maybe it'll help you? Trace the eye you want, then apply it to the other eye? I don't see why a faceplate wouldn't work. I suggest finishing this one as you want, and making at least one cast of him so that you have a final product if the face plates don't work. After you have it, if your original sculpt is broken, use the mold you made as a push mold and remake the face part, then you can play around with face plates. I'd hate to see all your work die if the faceplates don't work.
Jphobia: ;__; You think there's a big risk of him crumbling? I kinda need to redo most of the back of his head anyways so a lot of the clay back there has to go.. Blargh, I'll have to think about this! DX If I have to wait until he's cast in resin to do a faceplate system, I'll probably have to wait months.. urgh. Oh well, I will NOT take any risks though, so whatever. Serif Balehawk: Thanks for the link! It's an interesting tip. ^^ Yeah, you're right about that, I should probably wait.
Update - with no photos, sorry! Jphobia: You were totally right! I am so darn happy that I listened to you, HAHA! xDCause as soon as I sat down to start carving out the general shape of the back of his head... the back of his head sorta crumbled. Damn Super Sculpey, I am NEVER using you EVER AGAIN! But no matter, he's allright and already back in shape. c: Working on the back of his head still. But now I've got grey gesso! So yay!
Haha yes, I would've... no I don't know what I would've done if he had crumbled before me. :XD And no, I'm currently out of funds. XP I need to order Mr Surfacer soon though, so I'll try to whip up some money for that...
Okay, first of all... I am an idiot. No, really, I am. Cause I have totally miscalculated the reproduction costs of this boy. I was thinking of using DollShe Craft for the reproduction, but I sort of totally misunderstood their list of costs.... so now I feel like a completely naive retard. >_>; Oh well. I'll make it work, somehow. Also, here are some actual PHOTOS on the boy in question! His facial features are as good as finished, but the back of his head and the neck hole isn't finished at all, as you can see. But they're both taking shape nicely, so.. I'll move onto gesso soon, methinks. ^^
Omgwat So, update time? YEAH! Not that I'm showing you anything special, just an ugly portrait of Ask, haha. I think he's pretty cute, eventhough you can't tell he's got eyes put in and his wig is way too big, hahaha! So, what's been happening since my last update? Not much to be honest. My cat passed away a few weeks ago and after that, I just didn't want to lift a finger for a while, heh. But now, Ask has an almost finished head cap and I only need to make the S-hook hole in his neck a bit wider and he's good to go - gesso will be next!
I am so so sorry to hear about your kitty, it is always hard to lose a pet, I know exactly how you felt, not being able to get in the mood to do anything. But Ask looks great. He looks like a company made head. I'm excited to see him in resin and all made up!! So your plans are to be able to sell him then?
WeirdReality: Thanks for your words. And yes, it's been hard.. lots of sad times and feeling down and stuff, but I'm back on track now. Wow, thank you SO much! That is one GREAT compliment! Thank you! Yes, I am planning to offer him up for sale once I have figured out if I want to cast him myself or hire someone to do it.
Great job, his lips are wonderful. so sorry about your kitty <hug>. Just a thought, that casting a head only would not be so much work, so perhaps you should give it a go yourself?
I'm glad to hear you are doing well. And he is such a nicely sculpted head. I am a sucker for the realistic guys (and gals). lol Personally I agree with glimmer, I say try casting yourself when you are able. At least if you try it out and discover you don't like it you won't wonder about it later.
glimmer: Thank you! And yes, my kitty... urgh, no fun at all. A week back though, mom came home and told me she wanted to go to the nearby city's animal rescue center, which focuses on cats. We ended up going some hours later and came home with a beautiful baby kitten. Not that I don't miss my deceased cat, he was after all my most precious friend, but still, now I have something to look forward to seeing every day again. Also, yes, I'm thinking about trying it out myself at first. I'm just worried about the interchangeableness(sp?) with other companies' dolls and stuff... I guess I'll have to experiment a bit! WeirdReality: Thanks for your kind words. ^^ I like them pretty realistic too, so that's what I went for. And, like I said to glimmer, I'm thinking about casting him myself, but I'm worried about matching other companies' resins and whatnot. D:
Just a quick note to remind everyone that we don't allow any sales or marketing talk on the Joint, therefore the poll in this thread has been removed. Please just stick to asking for feedback and help to improve your work.
A small update! Currently working with the headcap, not sure if the method I'm using will work all that well, but I guess I'll have to see, haha. As you can see, I've tried mending the headcap onto the head to try to fix the symmetry. I'm hoping it'll work, haha. Afterall, I'm still a noob at this. ;D I should also mention that the headcap's shape isn't finito at all, it'll be way more even and symmetrical once I'm done with it!
Gesso Time! I am SO pleased with the way Ask looks now that I can see his whole face without any ugly blotches and whatnot! Just a sneak peak after the first coat of gesso - no sanding has been done yet, obviously. THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!
OKAY! So, a little frustrated here. D'X How the HECK do you guys manage to sand around the eyes without sanding away too much of the actual eyelids? I made the mistake of not sanding enough before starting with the gesso, and now I'm paying the price. Any and all tips on how to sand around the eyes (and lips!) are very welcome!
I am afraid I dont have much good advice, but sympathise. I did not do enough smoothing in the sculpting stage, and although I had a face I really liked, it was very rough, and when I sanded, I really changed the face, so I am having to rework to get something smooth that I like. So I will be interested in others advice on this also.
I tended to use a sandpaper "bud", which is basically a cotton wool bud, soaked in glue, then dipped in very fine sand. Once it's dry, it makes a pretty good (albeit single-use) sanding gizmo. Of course, unless you live by the sea, or near another cheap source of different grades of sand, it could be difficult.
Hmm maybe you could tear of a small piece of sanding paper and glue it or fold it around a toothpick? That way you might be able to sand very gently and accurately.
glimmer: Yeah, kinda sucks, doesn't it? :T Oh well, at least I've learned not to ignore the sanding stage before gesso, haha! Devilfloss: That is actually pretty smart. XD Althought I don't think I can find sand anywhere... except maybe at.. the animal store in town. Hmm. Thanks for the tip though! Mittebarn: Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out!
So.. what's been happening at my place? ...not much, sadly, as I've been away for the weekend. Still haven't done anything about the troublesome sanding either. Heh! BUT! I have created a public blog for my sculpting, which I will update at the same time as this thread of course, but I still wanted to hand over the link! http://geminick.wordpress.com/ Comments here as well as on there are equally appreciated! I'm hoping to get some work done on Ask later on tonight, but right now I gotta run - I have a Luts Miyu box opening to attend to! ;D
So, the gesso and sanding process is a rather slow one, but I like seeing him getting smoother. I finally bought new sandpaper and managed to sand rather okay around his eyes with it, yay! This is what he looks like right now; And this pathetic thing is a headcap in the making. XD I realized I need to figure out exactly what kind of locking mechanism I want to use. I've put some details in said locking mechanism on the inside of Ask's head, but I haven't done anything to the headcap yet. That's it for today!
Thank you! Well, i'm hoping so, but I have seen some things, like the edge of his lips, getting a wee bit out of shape, but I'm working on that.
Hi this is probably a stupid question but in the first pictures what is the brown part substance and what is the whiter one? is this sculpey or air dry clay? It's looking amazing btw.
Stinker: Well, I started working on this head in Super Sculpey, then decided to change his whole face and started doing so by adding two air drying clays - DAS in a white color and DAS in a terracotta color. And thank you.
I think this head looks great so far. He has a wisdom about him. I love his mouth. I have also found it very helpful to just keep taking photos and looking at them... somehow when I do that, the mistakes become more obvious to me. You can also reverse the pics in Photoshop and new things will stand out.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you like him. Yes, I do that a lot too. I also use a mirror to look at different angles etc.
Bleh, managed to sand the tip of his nose down a bit.. Guess I'll have to get my clay and fix him up. Not that that's such a big thing, but still, I wasn't being careful. -smacks self- I'm getting somewhere with the issues around his eyes, though! Personally, I think they're looking way, way better!
Yay!! He's getting there I love his open expression! Re sanding around eyes: 400, 600 and 1500 grit sandpaper (I use tiny, tiny corners of the paper). It works better before primer though. I use the 400 if I need to do some real editing, otherwise I grind my teeth and try to be patient with the higher grit papers. I found you'll always make a mistake a few times with sanding, but it's relatively easy to fix. Keep going! Can't wait to see the finished product!
Thanks for your words, karlyl! I'm actually not sure what grit I'm using atm (it only said "fine, superfine and extra fine" on them XD), but they work, so whatever. And last night I actually sat down and peeled off some paint around the eyes and deeped the eye crease a bit, since I was quite unhappy with those, so now he's looking way better! I'll be working some more on him today, I hope, and then new photos will be up, hopefully! Also, don't forget to visit the blog sometime! I'm sad to announce that I won't afford ordering the silicone + resin + extra stuff this month like I had hoped... I hate not having a job! But oh well, what can I do when Sweden's in the biggest financial crisis ever? Blah. I'm hoping to order everything next month though, and in the meantime, I'm thinking about starting a second head, quite possibly a girl.
Time for a new update! Last time I updated, I had removed some of his jawline.. but I figured he looked too feminine, so I ended up putting some of his jawline back, haha. But it gave me an idea... hehehe... Plans, plans, oh how I love 'em. Anyway, onto the crappy photos! Here you can also see the headcap-in-the-making! What I find hard at the moment is to not accidentally sand down the edge of the headcap or the outer edge of his head... I'll have to fix that with some more clay once I'm done sanding down any imperfections on his face. Also, in the front photo, he looks a bit strange to me.. I think it's just the light though, cause he looks fine IRL. His ears are a bit uneven, but I honestly don't think I can make them any better at the moment... urgh. Comments are welcome!
He's looking great in a uniform colour, though I think he looks a bit less joyful than he used to. I suppose that leaves it more open to customization but I liked that about him before
Jphobia: Thank you! But yes, you're absolutely right. It might also be what's making him look weird in my eyes - he's lost his smile along the way. Urgh. I'll see if I can somehow fix that, cause, yes, I do miss that about him too.
I think that one reason why you think he looks strange to you is that his eye got much smaller than the first pictures you showed us... His features are a bit smoother also... Even though you think he's strange, don't get wrong: hes actually veeery handsome!
Totally agreed! It's good you're logging all your progress too so you have the pictures of him smiling to refer to.
You guys are totally right; he's changing with the sanding and painting. Man, I do NOT like that to be honest. >_<; BLERGH, I'll have to look into this, see if I can widen his eyes without totally ruining him.. and also make him smile, cause I really miss his smile. :/ But thanks a lot for your input, guys, I really appreciate it!
OKAY! So, I sat down and widened his eyes (aka removed some of the paint) and I also gave Ask his smile back! I'm totally satisfied now, the changes made him look a lot less "weird" in my eyes! What do you guys think? Is he looking better? I'm going to deepen the corners of his mouth and smoothen it out a bit, but other than that, I think he's looking good!
liu484: Thank you very much! I'm glad I managed to restore/improve him without too much difficulty! Hysterical: Thank you! Haha, yes, he does look a bit like a jokester, I agree! Thank you for your comments!
Jphobia: Thank you, I'm really glad you think so! crowtree: Hehe, thank you! Sadly though, I think I'm going to have to remove his ears and redo them. Or, well, at least one of them, cause they're uneven and sort of look like.. not shit, but something close to it, haha..
Soo... Ask finally has ONE new ear at least... I am SO frustrated with this guy right now, haha. I keep sanding and sanding........... yeah. It's frustrating mainly cause it's sort of.. boring. But whatever, since I was a fool and started with the gesso too early, I need to fix all the sanding with the gesso already ontop, so.. yaaaay.... NOT.
So, second ear in the making - FINALLY! I recently started a "start your own company"-course, so my days have been drastically changed, haha. I sadly haven't had time for sculpting, and when I did have the time, I was way too tired to actually get any work done. Anyway, on to the photos! Here's the new ear-in-progress. The first ear is more or less done, just gotta fix some small issues, then sand and paint it. Here you can see them from the front. The new ear obviously needs quite a bit of work, but I think I'll be happy with them once I'm done fiddling. Except for his ears and some smaller issues on the inside of his head, Ask is almost ready for casting! Wow, feels really, really cool.
Ears look fun to make but I've not gone further than making two ear shaped smears. They're looking great, though one needs to be a tad deeper
Jphobia: Haha, yes, they ARE fun to make, but they're kind of a pain in the butt too. XD And yeah, I'm going to fix them both up some more, so no worries about that. ^^
More photos, as promised! Ask now has two finished ears all sanded and painted - they're in need of quite a bit more of both though, obviously. I'm pretty pleased with his ears now and I'm really glad I decided to redo them.
Ears are my least favourite part of sculpting heads, but yours (Ask's) look a nice shape and even! Here's nearly there - well done!! )
