OT/General When you first started sculpting.

Well, first of all, always expect the fantastic. )
Making anything is fantastic !!! You can do it !!!

I guess the best advice I can give is to start rough, and big.
What I mean by big does not relate to the size of the doll.
You want to establish the basic forms first, without detail.
Basic forms are made up of spheres, cylinders, cubes, and cones.
Once you have those rough forms sculpted in a big way, then you
can start modeling the details. Don't worry about details until you
have the overall forms done, and they are in the right proportion to each other.

It is a good idea to figure out what size you want your doll to be, before starting sculpting.
Knowing the size of the doll is helpful for making an armature, and figuring out how much
modeling clay you are going to need. It is nice to also know about what age you want your
finished doll to be. Usually, a doll's proportions are based on head lengths (for realistic dolls).
For example, an infant is only about four heads tall, but an adult may be from 7.5 to 8 heads
tall. And for non-realistic dolls, for example heroic, may be 9 heads tall, or greater. You do
not have to make a realistic doll. Dolls can be based on Fantasy, Myth, or what you have
in your imagination, which is theoretically, limitless.

Finally, don't stress out too much....
Have Fun !!!

 

Echoing a little bit of what kwmelvin said. Don't expect to pop out something perfect on your first try. When you start out, go for the overall shape first and then fill in the details later. People who go for details first tend to end up with wonky proportioned dolls with stiff peg limbs (although, if that's what you're going for, great!). Do some drawings first too. They don't specifically need to be well-laid out plans, but rather actual drawings of what you expect the 'character' of the doll to be.

Also, don't go for super expensive materials on your first sculpt. More expensive materials tend to be a little bit more difficult to use as well, and a lot of times more toxic. You're much better off going with something cheap and non-toxic until you start to get the hang of it. Don't necessarily opt for store-bought materials either, there's a lot of home-brew materials you can practice with: paper-mache, cold-porcelain, etc. If you want something to practice sculpting (not joints, but just in general) I'd recommend getting some plastilina (a non-drying clay) and just start doing rough stuff. Little studies can really help your big projects!

I've been experimenting on and off for years, and I'm now just starting find something that works, so don't get discouraged!

 

I recommend getting a big fat block of polymer clay to practice on.
I sculpted tons as a kid, mostly dragons and griffins, but when I picked up sculpting again as an young adult I have NO clue on how to sculpt faces. It takes me a whole day or afternoon to get a face looking somewhere recognisably human, let alone attractive. The key is to look for loads of references of faces and bodies in photographs of models or art that you're enthusiastic about and decide firmly on what you really want. Also, an actual sculpting stick ( flat, sharp end and round blunt end) really makes a difference.

Also its argueable that in order to build a beautiful face, you must follow a formula on how to proportion attractive faces correctly. This has been a big step for me at least.
It's important to step back and look at a sculpt for a good minute or more to figure if the overall shape / bigger picture is looking right. The silhouette is something that people react to and it can make or break a piece.

Come to think of it, i ought to follow my own advice more strictly as I tend to stray from pictures and go a bit wild. :dead

 

I had never sculpted before. I started off via the baby doll thing - secrist has a head mould that you can sculpt over, and a dvd about how to sculpt with polymer clay. My first baby head turned out ok, except my colouring of it made it look like a radiation victim. and then I found bjd's and the artist thread on doa, which inspired me. I really love it, and enjoy the sculpting process a lot, but it took a lot of time to get anything reasonable. I found polymer clay easier to start with than air dry clays, I must say.

 

As far as clay goes, I think the best type of clay for a beginner to practice sculpting with is oil-clay.
It comes in different grades of hardness.
It doesn't dry out.
It can be broken in chunks and warmed in a cardboard box, under a 25W light bulb, for easy modeling.
Finally, one of the best reasons why oil-clay is good for a beginner, learning how to sculpt, is
oil-clay is reusable.
That makes it one of the most economical modeling materials you can buy.
It is somewhat expensive when you first buy it, but being able to use it over and over again makes it very inexpensive in the long run.

Oil-clay comes under a variety of different brand names, and there are recipes available to make it yourself.
Chavant and Van Aken are two good brands.
If you are planning to make silicone rubber molds, get the non-sulphur (sulfur-free) oil-clay.
Sulfur reacts with silicone rubber, inhibiting its set up.
Roma Plastilina contains sulfur.
Oil-clay is also known as Plasticine and Plastiline.

Oil-clay is too soft to support its own weight when sculpting a figure, so you will need to use an armature.
Aluminum wire is recommended for armatures. It is available from Sculpture supply houses and Amazon.Com.

Oil-clay is modeled using your fingers, hands, and the usual sculpture modeling tools, which you can purchase, or make yourself.

Later on, when you start molding your sculpts for casting, having a supply of oil-clay on hand is good for making clay build-ups, for multi-piece molds.

 

Well, I did some sculpting in clay as a kid/teen (my parents were teachers and had access to an oven). I really did enjoy it, but then other hobbies jumped in...literally.

As I had again some spare time, I started to sculpt again...somehow. I discovered the magic and curses of Apoxie Sculpt. I enjoyed customizing model horses, thus starting with minor changes to horse heads, etc..

Having acquired some experience there, I turned to extreme customizing requiring more modelling. This was on the one hand because an already existing plastic body needs less clay. On the other hand I acquired a certain "feel" how a horse's body works.

Then I took the final plunge. I started my first OSC model horse (=original sculpture). It is still no masterpiece, as right now he is levading around in a pretty rough state.

What I want to say: if you have never done sculpting before, start with something simple, small. Try out different materials, read the forum to see the advantages and disadvantages of each material. Soft material such as plastiline is perhaps not too bad to get a feeling for shaping stuff.

Parallel to this, there are some good threads on the forum regarding general human shape, aka anatomy. Before I started my first complete doll, I tried to learn about it as much as possible. It proved helpful, although there are still lots of mistake in my boy.

Then there is YouTube. There are also some pretty helpful films how to sculpt a BJD. These are mostly done by experts, but they give good advice.

 

HAHA!! OT, but you MUST post pix if you have them!

 

I am currently working on my first complete doll. Before that, I had made an MSD sized girl head (which I was stupid enough to THROW AWAY, dear goddess, shoot me NOW!) and I also tried my hand on making a really, really small doll (I think he's around 26 cm, with MSD-ish proportions, so he's not a YoSD/Tiny).
Before I made any of those projects however, I had only touched clay once or twice in school... So I know what you mean, questions like "Can I do this?" running around in your head. I say; Yuppers! Of course you can do it! Sculpting is a really fun, relaxing and entertaining thing to do, you must definitely try it out.

Good luck with everything, i hope I'll get to see some pictures of your doll here on the Joint soon!

 

I did some sculpting when I was a kid but it never been too serious. Then I decided to start woodcarving at the age of ~15, the reason was simple and sad: there was no sculpting medium available for me that could be strong enough for occasional use. My 1st tools were made by my father who worked at the engineering factory at that time.
So, my first movable dolls were carved out of lime during 2001.
In 2008 I tried to sculpt out of Paperclay and DAS, 3 dolls were made - 2 static ones, and the 3rd one was BJD. I decided that the material is not to my taste: too fragile, and it has noticeable fibers despite of insane polishing/sanding.
In 2009 I ordered 4 lbs of Apoxie, and it was a love at the 1st try. I created a custom SD head and a tiny anthro doll.

As you may see my sculpting experience is not huge. Though my advises would be:
1. Set a goal for yourself. E.g. you want to sculpt something, and you start to think how it can be done. Depending on a goal your approaches, material choice, techniques etc. may vary.
2. Do your research. Study anatomy. Learn from photos and books. If you want to sculpt a human doll use your own body as a reference (remembering about gender distinctions, of course). Read feedbacks on different materials/mediums.
3. Using an oil-based clay is a great advice, it helps to feel the form. It's much easier later to repeat the same process in more sturdy medium. But I usually omit this stage)) Apoxie Sculpt allows as much editing as you like.
4. It's very useful to study how different BJDs are made and functioning if there is a possibility. Photos help but studying them in person helps a way more imho.

 

I had never done any sculpting at all, or worked with clay (except for a lumpy pot in pottery class in school). However, I'd done a lot of figure drawing, so at least I had a grasp of what things should look like. The learning curve has been to get the clay to look the way I know it's supposed to look. Other than that, I did a lot of research on BJD making and the various clays. I'm using LaDoll and Premiere because they're easy to work with and don't require a big initial outlay for gear and materials.

I'd suggest starting with good quality materials, because you'll just frustrate yourself if you try to use something inferior. This is no place to scrimp and save IMO. Also, expand your study materials to things other than doll making. I got some of my best tips for sculpting faces from a book on making cartoon figurines.

 

I'm in your same position right now, Clouded. I've never really sculpted anything before, and here I am trying to make a BJD. lol We must be crazy.
But to start with, I looked up a LOT (A FRIGGIN LOT) of tutorials, information, supplies, ect. I tried to find as many different methods as I possibly could, and started with the one that I felt I understood the best. After that it's just been trial and error, and telling myself that this is a project that's definitely NOT going to get done overnight, or even in a week. This is long-term, and I have a lot to learn. XD;
So I try to think of my first doll as a class project. I'm sculpting her to gain knowledge, technique, and skill. She's not going to be perfect, but all of her flaws, (and my mistakes) will go towards making a better second doll, and making me a better sculptor.
Hang in there, Clouded! We can be novices together~!