Physical sculpture

Sculpting A Bust

Once we had our references planned out and finished we printed them so we could look back and refer to them while sculpting. The previous project we produced a physical model but the material we used had a texture like chewing gum and manipulating that with the sculpting tools was ridiculous since it kept sticking. For this project the material we was using had the similar effects except the texture felt a bit more like clay and was easier to manipulate. It was a two way mixture that had to mixed with equal amounts of both of the materials to form the main putty. One material was sticky and felt like chewing gum, while the other was soft and felt like clay. Mixing both gave the benefits of a clay like feel and it set quite fast so it could be filed down and detailed more.

Starting off we used tin foil and made a skull like figure out of it. Shaping and making sure we pushed it hard so the tin foil was tight and compact. This was easier for when putting the putty on, so when we pushed hard that we didn't lose the shape of the head. The first attempt of making the tin foil skull, I pushed it and lost the shape itself and didn't really look like a skull. I wasn't pleased with this so I made another one and this came out slightly better. Grabbing another strip of tin foil I compact it tight, pushing my fingers down hard to create groves for the eyes. It was still slightly off but I thought I could fix it later on in the sculpting process. With the material itself, it was easier to work with tiny bits at a time. Pulling small pieces from my main supply, I layered it on to form the base layer. This was easier to then build and put more clay on top since sticking the first layer onto the tin foil showed a bit of difficulty.

After laying the material on bit by bit, I started off with the nose since this is one of the main features and gave me something to work from. Grabbing a piece of putty, I used two small balls roughly around the same size and a small rolled up piece. Once I created these, I placed the rolled up piece on the face to form the bridge of the nose and the two balls to form the nostrils. I then used one of the more finely sculpting tools with a sharp point to go into more detail. Pushing down on the tool I merged the rolled up putty with the two balls. This began the basic shape of the nose. Not forgetting the nostrils, I pushed into the putty with the pointy end of the sculpting tool to create holes. I had to keep in mind the amount of putty I had for the nostrils as I couldn’t make the hole too big because I would crack and rip the material.

After I finished going around the nose with the pointy end to shape and define the nose more, I started to do the upper lip. Grabbing another piece of putty, I rolled it up and pushed it onto the already existing upper lip to bulge and define the lip. Since my reference had a part of the upper lip missing. I just shaped the material so that it left a space for me to input teeth. Always using a sculpting tool, I pushed and blended the lip into the rest of the face so that it looked natural.

Once the lip was done I then moved onto the teeth. I thought this would be a problem since they were so tiny and I wasn’t sure how to go about it, although my first attempt went pretty well. Since the teeth were so tiny I couldn’t really roll up the putty using my fingers, so using a sculpting tool I began to roll small ball shapes for the teeth. Creating four balls, I wasn’t able to pick them up without ruining the shape and form. So using the pointy end of the sculpting tool, I pushed it slightly into the bottom of the teeth, since they have a natural groove in them anyway; this actually helped with the look of the teeth. Pushing them on to the upper lip, I used the sculpting tool to merge the material on the back of the teeth to the roof of the mouth so that the front of the teeth stayed clean and didn’t merge together in the process. I knew that I could define and sharpen the details later once the putty had dried. 

At this point I left the material to harden for the next time so I could add material to it a lot easier. The next step in my physical model was to create the appearance that the jaw had been ripped off. To portray this I rolled up pieces of the material and pushed it onto the model, molding and blending the one end into the side of the face and lip. This took me a few tries as the putty would get too thin and just fall off. I ended up using the sculpting tool for most of this, to push the putty on without ripping it. Once I had the right shape and form, I decided to let the model dry so that I wouldn’t mess up the pieces I already formed.

Once the model dried, I decided to go round the model and define some more of the details around the nose. Using the fine small file, I went around the side of the nostrils and the inside to clean up the edges and make them sharper. I also at this point started to file in the cheek a bit more to define the cheekbone. Although I knew later on I would most likely add more putty onto the cheekbone to make them larger.

I left the tongue till one of the last things before adding the neck. For the tongue it was quite simple. Using a piece of the putty, I rolled it up to form the basic shape then I pushed lightly on the end so that it formed a flat shape. Turning my model upside down I stuck the tongue on and pushed the one end of the material onto the mouth. Much like the way I attached the teeth to the model. I knew that I had to add the basic detail to the tongue before it dried as the fear of pushing too hard when filing and snapping the tongue off. I used the sculpting tool to draw the tongue line down the middle and add small holes for the taste buds. 

The next part of the model was to do the neck, give it a base so that it wasn’t a floating head. This was something I actually found difficult since I had to use tin foil again. Using a tiny bit of tin foil, I wrapped it around the metal stand and pushed it hard against the head. Hoping it would stay while I applied the material. Of course this was just hope since as I pushed pieces of the material on; it kept ripping and pulling away from the head. I had to do this multiple times as it would crack and not have enough support to even form a shape. I realised that once I got enough material around the upper part of the neck and the head, it started to harden. I thought that this would mess everything up but this gave it enough support to stick and stay attached without ripping. I used the sculpting tool to define the neck a bit as it was setting so I had something to work with and I didn’t have to file much away once it fully dried.

The next part to add to my model after I let it harden was finally getting round to the eyes. Starting this off I rolled up tiny pieces of the material and placed it in the eye socket. Then adding pieces for the eye lids I began to shape it and define where the folds are so it didn't look like one piece. I used the sculpting tool to get into the harder places to reach. Using the flat edge of the tool, I smoothed the upper eyelid and blended them into the rest of the face. I also kept adding pieces towards the lower lid as it wasn’t defined enough and didn’t really look like a lower lid. Before moving on again the model had dried, this gave me the chance to use the tip of the file to go into the eye and define the folds more, cleaning them up and defining them.

Also at this point I added eye brows and the left ear. For the eyebrows I just rolled up a very fine piece of putty as I didn’t want to add much, but have a surface I could add detail into without really filing into my sculpture. Placing it down I used the sharp edge of the sculpting tool to add detail like hair to the eyebrows.

After the eyebrows I did the ears.  Trying to get one side to look like the other side is such a pain for me and I always have a difficult time doing so. The first side went really well and I had the basic shape pretty much straight away. I think this was one of the features I spent most on. Grabbing a piece of putty, I made a shape that resemblance the ear. I had to again use the sculpting tool to merge it onto the head. Pushing the material at the back of the ear and at the front, I had to make sure I had enough to work with. Once the material was on the side of the head and in the right place, I went in with the sharp tool and done all the ear folds and hole.
Dreading to do the other ear, I possible spent more time on the right ear than most of the model. It took me several tries and when I finally did it, I ended up forgetting I done the ear and squished it. So again going back I finally done it and I just left it to dry so I didn't ruin it again. At this point it was pretty much done; I just went over my model with the filing tools and added more detail to the eyes. I also went over my model with the bigger filing tool to smooth any rough edges.

I spent quite a bit of time on my physical model compared to my Photoshop work.