This,
The Hogarth Tarzan, was my second or third sculpt, completed
after the Doc Savage/Python piece. All my early sculptures incorporated
a much more labor intensive approach than the one I use now.
I no longer sculpt every muscle first, I generally block in
the entire form and accent only the muscles essential for a
given pose. However, I believe this is a very useful approach
when starting out to get a feel for the underlying mechanics
of the human body. The effort is never wasted and will pay dividends
far down the line.
These pictures are not the sharpest (for some reason I hand
held the the camera so they are a touch blurry), but they are
still useful |
Click
here for Joe's Notes on sculpting
Click on images for a larger view
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STEP
1
In
this shot the armature has been anchored to the base
and posed. The basic skeleton has been blocked in using
regular sculpy.
Everything was then cooked in the oven to harden the
material before taking the next step.
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STEP
2
In
this shot I am mapping in various muscle groups over
the skeleton using super sculpy. I find regular sculpy
too soft to work important details with.
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STEP
3
Farther
along, in this shot the muscles are almost all mapped
in and the sculpture has been cooked again. A layer
of 'skin' (a thin, rolled out layer of clay) is being
applied on the torso and thighs to tie the muscles together
and give a natural look.
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STEP
4
Almost
finished. The skin has been applied all over. Water
and rocks of the base are sculpted in regular sculpy.
Various real rocks were used to texture stamp the rocks.
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while there are steps I took here that are not truly necessary,
when I first started sculpting they were extremely useful in
getting myself acquainted with various nuances of the human
body in three dimensions. I might add that all of the above
also augmented my draftsmanship greatly. There is nothing like
truly knowing in your mind's eye exactly what you are drawing
looks like in three dimensions. It makes rendering anything
exponentially easier, particularly when needing to either substantially
change inaccurate reference or work completely from imagination.
There is nothing like the ability to turn something around in
your mind's eye as you draw. I can't think of any better practice
for developing this skill than sculpting.
Best,
Joe
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