Smellybugs Maquette Tutorial completed!

Heya folks, Petey here, aka Smellybug.

It has been brought to my attention that the 3d/sculpture section could use a tutorial. Well I'm happy to be at your service. I've been in the movie racket for a number of years and have made a lot of creature maquettes. Along the way I've learned a few tips, tricks and techniques and would be helpful to those just starting out, or even a few bits of info that even advanced artists might find helpful.

I plan to do a supersculpey sculpture in the typical way that I do these things, posting progress and descriptions along the way. You can follow along an make your own or whatever, it's up to you. I probably won't post ever single day, but every few days. Ask questions and I'll try to respond coherently.

Here's the design I will be doing. Keeping it rather simple in terms of number of parts, complexity etc.

[Deth Jester]

YAY!!!

-mikey

[juicy_fruit]

crazy man.. your work is fuckin WICKED i love it and i was wonderin where ya went to skoo.. i was concidering ringling.. but now that ive seen ur work its NUTS
p.s. adding digital effects with digital media.. or concept art or fine art makes it SOO much more crazier then i could ever imagine!

[Skello]

cool looking creature...curious to see how the head looks in 3d :chug:

[Hesse]

......must ...subsribe....now
really nice litlle monster
cant wait to see it sculped thanks for willing to do a tutorial about it

[Miau]

thx man - your work is so wicked! :jump1:

[I.was.ink]

Fantastic!

I'll be waiting...

[battlemonkey]

damn... i'd love to see this tutorial... you have the job of my dreams!
eagerly waiting

Here are the sculpting tools I use when making a sculpt of this general size. I figure the model will be between 10 and 12 inches long.

I've accumilated these tools over the years and they are a mix of store-bought and homemade. Having the same set isn't necessary, it's just about finding out which tools work best for you on a given project. More on how to make your own later. Take a look:



Btw; Don't forget to pick up one of these calipers. Very essential. I use them all the time when I'm working.

This tool isn't exactly necessary, but it saves me a lot of time and sore hands. It's a pasta maker, I use it to mix sculpey colors together. This can take a long time if you're doing a lot with just your hands.



BTW, here's a shot of part of my filthy studio....haha I really need a maid!

[Skello]

CROM!..thats a whole bunch of tools!....which ones do you use most?

(-Sorry i yanked the image...just wanna save space.-pk)

I'll probably use most of them, though a few of them will get the most attention. You'll see. I'll be pretty detailed about what I'm doing once i get going.

[Skello]

Sweeet!

[Smeagol71]

Petey...this is fantastic!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to go through this with us. I'm chomping at the bit to see you get started. This is something I've dabbled with but wanted to get into more seriously for awhile now and this might be my chance!!

By the way, great work Mr.Blue on the Massive Black site!! Those maquettes are works of genius. Do you use an airbrush when painting them? Is there hope for those of us who don't have an airbrush, or is it pretty much necessary when painting maquettes?

Lol...you are chomping at the bit...already talking about painting! I do use an airbrush, but not exclusively. You'll see, I'll probably use everything but the kitchen sink.

[Deth Jester]

This is so fantastic! This is why I love this forum... I am as giddy as a school boy! thanks a ton for doing this Smelly!

peace
-mike

Next I took the photoshop file, cut out the critter and blew the printout up to the size i want to sculpt it on a regular xerox machine. I don't have it here, but it's of course best to have all three orthographic views of what you're doing. But in this case, I'll be leaving a bit of it up to experimentation, and I have a pretty good idea in my mind what the rest of the guy should look like. This image will also be used for building the armature and a reference when I'm actually sculpting.

So now i know how big my base needs to be, and I have more of a sense as to how heavy the final sculpture will be. The base is made just big enough to keep the thing from toppling over, but not so big that I can't get close enough to do my work. I'm using a 3/8 inch threaded rod as the main support and have fastened it down with a nut on top, a wingnut on the bottom and a couple of washers. The main thing is you don't want a flimsy support because it's annoying. At a certain point down the road, I will also take the rod with the sculpture off of the wooden base in order to get at the bottom of it. More on that later.

[Scotty]

This is great! I'm always down for learning new tips and methods for sculpting. I can't wait to see how YOU go about it. You clearly do great work. Thank you for not being selfish with your knowledge. :thumbsup:

[Zaphod]

This is great!

I can't wait for the next update. I'm in the progress of making a miniature in milliput epoxy. I'm still on the starting blocks so this will be great to look at when I take my first shaky steps.

I'm making my armature today with a support that will be able to rotate on the x and y axis and I got a load of dentist tools (46pcs) from an aquintance (Anyone in the area of Gothenburg, if you want some tools for sculpting give me a mail). So I'm all but ready to go!

I need to work some more on my concepts and then I'm gonna start sculpting.

Oh well, I'm just ranting. I'm just exited to see a tutorial right now since I'm gonna do the same thing! I hope I will be able to pick up a few tips.

Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to see the tutorial as it progresses.

I've taken the xerox and roughly drawn where I think the spine and main skeleton of the model should be. The clay will ultimately be supported by an internal wire skeleton. I didn't mark it exactly where it would be in nature, but deeper into the mass of the body, just to give me room. Nothing is more irritating than hitting a wire as you're sculpting away, so give your self a bit of space. The backbone wire (aluminum wire available at art stores or ceramics stores) here will be attached to the threaded rod and will support the bulk of the weight, therefore make sure it is strong enough for the job. Here I'm using 1/4 inch, which should be strong enough.
I then indicated where the wire will be for the arms and legs. The white dots are there to remind me where the pivot points would be. I'll use them to compare both sides of the model, keeping the arms and legs symetrical. Keep in mind though that the drawing was done in perspective. If you make the arm wires and legs wires as long as the black line I drew, they'd be too short. A front and top view will help with that. I'll add those images soon.

This creature will be fabricated out of Super Sculpey and Sculpey III. I'll use the Sculpey III to tint the largers blocks of regular Super Sculpey.
**special tip When you buy your sculpey, check for "freshness". Open the box and check that the material is soft and you can press your finger into it. Sculpey isn't cheap, so don't buy old dried up stuff that's been sitting on the store shelf for six months. And when you get it home, put in a zip lock bag or tupperware if you're not going to use it immediately. Takes a long time to dry out, but it will.

Here I'm premixing my sculpey to achieve an opaque grey color. In this case, I want the material to photograph for the tuturial, so eliminating the translucency of the original color will do that. In addition, it's helpful to tint the material a color that is fairly close to the base color of the final product. Not only does it help visualize as you are working, but it helps the painting process as well.
The ratio I used here was:

1 box Sculpey
1 block white Sculpey III
1/2 block black Sculpey III

Keeping the ratios simple like this allows me to make more anytime I need it and the colors will match.

Just run it through the press over and over, flattening, folding and shredding and repeating until the color is solid. Same thing if you're doing it by hand. Takes a while, but it's worth it.

[Deth Jester]

this is what Im talking about, a tutorial start to finish... telling how to make everything.. thanks Smelly! hey does it say Sculpey 3 on the packages? Cause I was at the art store and I saw packages that Say Sculpey and they are colored but I didnt see any 3 on the label.

thanks
-mike

checked mine, one said III the other didn't. If it's colored and sculpey, it's ok.

[Deth Jester]

bueno! I am working along wiht you, but Im not gonna post pics.. and I dont have a sphaghetti machine..

-mike

[Smeagol71]

Man oh man...I know I've posted before in this thread saying thank you Petey, but I have to say it again. This thread is fantastic and you haven't even started sculpting yet!!! Thanks so much for the time you're putting in on this thread!!!!

[Scotty]

1 box Sculpey
1 block white Sculpey III
1/2 block black Sculpey III

I've always used the plain Super Sculpey...so this is valuable info for me. I hear that you can see the flaws much better when the clay is grey. Thanks! :chug:

[Tedsuo]

Sweet baby jesus, this is a cool thread.

So here is the armature in it's basic form. I normally leave things like fingers, claws or spikes for later. Right now I want to concentrate on the main limbs and their relationships to the torso. THis is where I use the calipers to compare to the drawing. At this point, the armature is not posed, but I'm still hoping to get a sense of the final product even at this early stage. Personally, I already see a resemblance.


Notice how I'm wrapping the seperate wires for the arms to the main body wire and the bends I'm putting in the leg and arm wires. This will soon be locked in epoxy putty, the bends in the wire will keep the wires from coming loose and turning.

I'm tacking the wires in place with a little Devcon 5min epoxy...

Once the epoxy is dry I am then ready to secure the wire to the base rod. I use Propoxy plummers putty for this. There are many kinds of plummers putty, but I like this one because it's particularly strong.

Cut it and mix it by hand. I'd recommend you use rubber gloves

The idea is to pack the mixed material very tightly around the areas to want to bind and lock together. I like to wet it a tiny bit with isopropyl alcohol. This thins it a little and lets you really mush it in there good. Let this harden completely and check that things are nice and secure. You'll be torqueing on this structure soon, so it should be solid.


Bit o'trivia: A number of props from the film A Nightmare before Xmas were sculpted and carved from propoxy. Very handy stuff.

[bRyaN]

Smelly...you are a god amongst men...
you happened to scuplt one of my favorite creations of all time, and i mst say i appreciate you for that( Draco the Dragon)..

Thank you for the wealth of knowledge...

Sweet, dude, glad you liked the Draco. That was a great project. Too bad those kind of jobs don't come along more often. Hopefully I'll be doing a lot of 3d work for the Massive Black projects, maybe even stuff people can buy at the store. We'll see. Thanks!

[bRyaN]

Dude, to say i liked it is an understatment..i freakin adore Draco...when i saw your name and the process work you posted a while about Draco, i almost shat in my pants...i can honestly say Dragonheart is one of the movies that solidified my interest in fantasy (hell i even named a character in my comic after the beast)

I also told my father that i was in contact with the guy who did the sculpture, and he sends his thanks...

I'm glad you put up this tutorial, if there is a US Concept Art work shop, i hope you can bring these process shot andthe finished piece...i would definately dig seeing it in the flesh...

[jester]

Smellybug, you sculptured Draco? :eek: OMG! One of my fav films and I sort of "know" one of the creators?! I am honored!

BTW - thanks a lot for the instructions, I always wondered how to fix the armatures!

Jester

[Skello]

I may be jumping the gun but ....is the support rod going to be eventually sawn off and left inside the sculpture or is it permanent?

Yo Skello: In this case, the support rod will probably be left in. It'll need a support anyway since it will be an airborne character. Plus, if I decide to mold it, that hole will make a good pour sprue. Another trick you can do is grease the support rod before applying the epoxy putty and unscrew it after you bake the sculpey. You then patch the hole and that's it. But this time around I think I'll just leave it in.

Brian and Jester: you guys are too kind. That was a long time ago, I'm glad somebody even remembers that movie. I do have to give a lot of credit to my boss Phil Tippett; it's not like I was working in a vacuum. He pushed me like never before to get that thing looking right. It was great, but it was hell too. A great learning experience.

[Skello]

aha! ok got it..:chug:

Ok, so I have my armature ready to go. I've roughly posed it how I want it (don't be afraid to repose later if need be) and I've wrapped it in 1/16 guage alluminum wire. Why you ask? This is the secret for keeping the clay on the understructure. If I would not put the little wire on there, as I sculpted and manupulated the clay, it would work itself free and fall off the large smooth wires. The small wire gives the clay something to grab on to.
*NOTE: If this was an even larger figure, I would tightly pack alluminum foil in say the torso area to build up the bulk within a half inch or so of where I eventually want to be. Then I'd do the wrapping with the small wire. It's best to avoid baking very thick pieces of sculpey because it tends to crack. (For me, thick is over 3 inches or so.) But I think I'll be ok on this one. So no foil this time.



So I hope to start getting some clay on this thing this weekend. Now the real fun starts!

I should mention the reference I use and the inspirational things I come across from time to time. One book I'd recommend buying is "Modeling the Figure in Clay" by Bruno Luchesi. You can get it on amazon along with his other book "Modeling the head in clay" which is also great. Check out what that guy can do with water clay. I use the Figure book for anatomy ref all the time, even though it's only sculpted clay...great stuff.

Alright lets start the good part...sculpting!

First thing I want to do in this case is make a template to aid me in getting the ball rolling. I draw over the xerox and press down hard with pen, transferring the outline of the main bodymass to the cardboard. You can also spraymount the xerox to the cardboard or foamcore then cut it out. It's up to you.



Cut the shape out with an exacto knife...watch them fingers.
If you're not pasting down the original image and cutting it out, it's a good idea to mark major landmarks like the eye or the arms, ribs.. whatever you will be needing later.



Now as you can see, there's no question if you're getting it right. Start adding clay. Be sure to really work it into the wires in the beginning so that you have a solid base.

Be sure to really work it into the wires in the beginning so that you have a solid base.

The beginning stage is called the blocking stage. Just like blocking any performance, we are not concerned about the fine detail yet, we are just getting the basic dimemsions down. I normally start with the larger masses first. In this case the torso area. Everything hinges on getting this first part right, so I take my time and sorta creep up to the shape I think is correct, taking into account anatomy and the pose, always measuring with my calipers and comparing to the reference.


It helps to throw some temporary features on there to kinda help your eye "see" where you're going.

As you can see, the surface is a little different now. Sometimes all the little hunks of clay that I quicky lay down can look a little distracting. I want to be sure that I'm generally happy with the way the torso is looking, so I tool down the surface a little with some very crude and rough tools. I call this "equalizing the surface." I give it a quick once over in order improve the look of it a bit.

These are some tools I use very often, especially in these early stages. Notice that they all have grooves or cerations. The wooden one came that way. The one on the right is a rake tool I made from a small jewelers saw blade. The one on the left is store bought, I ground the notches in there with a dremel tool.

They all have a different effect. Generally I work from course to fine. Kinda makes sense, don't it? You just gotta experiment.

Lets start adding the limbs.

Again, my approach to something like this is to try to build it like a reverse dissection. The wire is the bone and the clay is built up like sinue and muscle. Even though this is a fictional character, I want it to feel real and absolutely possible. I find that when I add clay like I'm placing muscle and fat, trying to show where one muscle passes under another, or where a muscle and bone connect, the trick seems to have a positive effect. Even if it's not technically accurate, even if a lot of it will eventually be coverd with skin and texture, having that wierd surgical frame of mind pays off. Form and function is key. (And it's gotta look like the reference)

Once I've roughed one side I can move to the other. Use the calipers to keep opposing limbs and features relatively on track.

Think about how muscle mass and flesh change shape, shift and stretch and tighten as you lay down the clay. Surround yourself with reference that can help you. Keep good reference in view. It's a little embarrassing, but you sometimes have to go and buy a bodybuilder magazine to see extreme examples of muscles and bodies in different poses and conditions. Try books on dance or sports. There are a few decent artist reference books out there, but depending on your project, a good book on boxing might be the right choice. Regardless, having proper ref in front of you is incredibly necessary. ON this project, I use a combination of human and animal reference.

As for the pose here. I am torn between doing something very challenging and dynamic on the one hand, and on the other hand being very faithful to the original image. I'm mostly leaning towards the latter here. For what this will be used for, keeping descriptive, yet fun to look at is what I'm after.

[jester]

Posts like this are the reason why I just love CA.
Thank you ever so much, you just gave the answers to a hundred questions I had on sculpting and I realize how much I did wrong or in a more complicated way than necessary.

Jester

[I.was.ink]

I dont sculpt, and the last time I tried it was like 8 years ago. You make it seem so easy and fun. I'll have to try this someday soon.

Very inspiring!:thumbsup:

-iwasink

[Scotty]

I've never tried that "cardboard thing" before. What a good idea! I have a bunch of creatures I've drawn over the years that I was thinking of finally bringing to life in clay for my portfoilio. This thread is great...thanks! :chug:

[Deth Jester]

crap, I went away for like 2 days and now there is a shitload more!

Im so excited I feel like a little kid on christmas!

peace
-mike

[Ninja_ASSN]

damn... awsome tutorial! Im starting on doing my own creature, using this thread for learning... show more
respect!

[el coro]

awesome petey. very interesting to see your process. i cant tell you how many times i've looked at the one i have and wondered, how the hell did he do that? i'm savoring every minute of this dude. makes me wanna sculpt...-c36

[Erik]

bought me some sculpey now -- i'd like to try that stuff out now you show us the process. Great thread!

[juicy_fruit]

lets play find the tools in smellybugs workshop.. lol naw im just kidding.. smellybug man.. damn.. thats like all i can say... im 14 and i have some experience around drawing and its a gift unlike some people who have to learn.. but to learn soo much early in life is just amazing when u get to college and amaze ur art teachers and know ur gonna make it through... man uve touched all of us with this.. thank you

-juicy

[samhain]

What more can I say than anybody else...just thank you!
pure inspiration! :chug:

"Draco" was really awsome, he saved the movie
I just read, that you worked on Jurassic Park, i think you did animatics, right?
And what was your job on starship troopers?

thanks for spending your time with this tutorial,
You make me want to sculp!
:thumbsup:

Thanks Sam, yeah, on Jurassic I worked on the stopmo animatics. Just moldmaking and fabricating, helping to turn the stan winston sculpts into stopmo puppetts. I was there the day spielberg called my boss phil to basically anounce the end of stopmotion. Originally, the dinos where going to be computer 'enhanced' go motion. Anyway...long story that's probably told better on the dvd. On Troopers I sculpted a number of the bug maquettes, most of the warrior and all of the brainbug. These were based off of Craig Hayes designs. I then moved on to being an animator once the art duties where done. BTW, everybody go out and buy Starship Troopers II or watch the pay perview next month. I was animation sup' on that. That way Phil can get more and bigger projects funded. (sorry for the advertisement.)
www.starshiptroopers2.net

Coro; thanks brudda
Juicy: wha?
ninja: doit
dethJ: I'll be putting more up in the next few days
jester: that picture of you always cracks me up. thanks for the enthusiasm. now get to work.

Thanks to all for keeping up with this forum. It's great ego boost.

[DanPerezStudios]

Thanks for the great tutorial, Smellybug--hope to see some more from you.

The animatics can be seen on the making-of sections of the Jurassic Park DVDs. They're pretty cool in their own right.

I'm definitely looking forward to Starship Troopers 2...

[fukifino]

This is really awesome stuff! Can't wait for more updates.

I have a quick question for Dan or Smellybug. (BTW Dan, your tutorials on your site rock...they definately pointed an absolute beginner in the right direction).

If you bake a part of your model to make sure you don't lose detail before adding other stuff to it, what's the best way to get new clay to stick to your baked model? I know I've seen something about this before, but I just can't find it. :/

I usually prep the already baked parts with a rub down of turpenoid. If the area is smooth, I'll also score it a bit with an xacto knife to give the new stuff a little something to hold on to. Just a little cross hatching is enough.

[fukifino]

Thanks Smellybug, I'll have to try that! Although I fear my model might be a little too small...I might have to add the details with milliput. :o

[tyboogie]

smelly.... im jonesin' for an update.....

tyty

Ok, finally an update! "Woot!" as Manley would say.
Lets start with the webbing between the arms. Here I've cut out some fine wire mesh. You can use anything, alluminum or stainless steel is good. Cut it with tin snips and just push it into the sculpey...about half an inch here. At least deep enough to stay put.


Then I press the clay in there..keeping it thin for now.



here I'm laying in "stretchies" or tension folds. You guessed it...use real fabric for ref. Or your grandmas butterwings.



stretchies roughed in just using fingers.



going over the surface with my knotched loop tool. Notice I'm still using large tools. It ain't time for the little ones yet. Just trying to find the natural looking folds that give the area a sense of pulling and tension.



The other side is much more relaxed. It's tricky to decide how to show this. You just have to experiment. Look at different materials and see what seems right, think about what the creatures skin and flesh are made of. Is the skin tough or silky and thin? Here I feel that there should be a number of permanent folds that just buckle, since this character spends a lot of time in the stretched position, running and leaping about. I think the skin should be thick and tough. (btw, this isn't done!)

So for the dorsal spikes, i need a thicker, more rigid mesh to support the clay. Again, I'm using the drawing to figure out how this is cut.



here's side view after planting the rest of the spike meshes and throwing clay over them. Starting to look like the original picture, huh?



Hand armature almost done. Still need to wrap in thin wire for grip.



blocking it in without tools, just rolling balls of clay and pressing it in there. Trying to keep in mind the anatomy at all times, functionality sells the shapes y'know. Gee whiz, now that I look at it, the arms looking a little feeble and thin! I'll fix that tomorrow.



The nose needs good support. Measure with calipers. Notice that here and on the fingers I added propoxy tips. This is an optional way to make sharp tips of.. things. When the model is baked, you can sand the tip very sharp and they'll be durable this way. Worth a try.



Roughing in some wrinkles with the large-ish loop tool.



Use reference. This is just the rough the begining, but I won't finish without looking at the real thing.



Enjoy...more soon!