Heli-Blog Sculpting tips for beginners.(Or, why you should never give up until you have got there)
Whilst mooching through my cupboards looking for some of my painting materials I came across some sculptures that I had created a while back. One was a special commission for my brother, it was a one seventh scale head and shoulders of Henri Mignet, the creator of the “Flying Flea”. He had asked me to create one from builders foam for an electric radio control model that he was building. Although he looks a little worse for wear you can still clearly see the details. I also found the first candle wax casting that I made from the first mould. The other is a quarter scale sculpture of Ken Wallis the creator and builder of “Little Nellie” the World famous Autogyro from the James Bond film “You only Live Twice” that starred Sean Connery. Each sculpture took me about forty five to sixty hours to complete, including making the moulds. Here are some pictures that I just took, later I shall describe how I achieved these results.
Here is Henri Mignet. He is about full size here.
And here is Ken Wallis. Again he is about full size. To create the these sculptures I started by casting a block of plaster of Paris and carving back to finish. As an alternative you could always start by using chicken wire, or wood, or even cardboard, to create a basic shape that you cover with plaster of Paris.
The most important thing to remember is this. Do not try to create any detail at the beginning. Only create the outline of the head. So, starting at the beginning, pick some really good photographs of the person you wish to sculpt. Try to get a set of images that show the person in full face directly from the front, and also directly from the side. If you can then get some three quarter views, from both front sides, and rear side views. When I made Henri I had to make do with some old photographs from the 1920’s that mostly showed him from three quarter views, luckily there were enough to recreate him very satisfactorily. The above three quarter images were taken from the front side (left and right).
Imagine it to be just like the Facebook outline image when some body has not added an image to their profile page.
Just so long as you follow this simple step then you will achieve a passable representation very quickly. Do not skip onto the detail, this is just like building a house, if you don’t get the footings right then it will never look right. Very soon you will find that by just following the outline that a lot of the detail becomes automatic. It will just appear there as if by magic.
A very important point to note when you paint your sculpture, is that we all have natural shadow areas, to recreate this we often have to paint the naturally shaded areas (under the chin and just under the eyebrows) in a fractionally darker shade to highlight the exposed areas like the cheekbones. Or some times, to paint the cheekbones in a slightly lighter shade if the model is very small.
Point to note: the shine on Henri Mignet is a protective lacquer that I tried out before casting the mould, unfortunately it had not dried fully before I cast the mould, hence the damage to his bonce and shoulders et’c. In fact both models are the original plaster of Paris sculptures, apart of course from the Wax test casting. again the paints I used for both were Water based Acrylics. So whatever you attempt, do ensure that every stage has dried thoroughly before proceeding to the next stage of your endeavours.
Once you are happy with the results then coat the plaster with a 75% water thinned layer of PVA glue to seal the plaster, do not use it neat as you will loose some of the skin like texture that you get naturally from the plaster of Paris.
Just compare the difference in skin tone between the images of Ken and Henri above.
Got to get back to looking after Annie, I hope you have all had a great Christmas Day. I’ll give some tips on making the casting moulds later.
Painting the main framework silver. I am using water based acrylics for a more natural feel to the finish
Apply the masking fluid (this is Latex) to the windscreens. Be careful, if you get it wrong just rub it off and start again
Make sure that you wait for the masking fluid to dry fully or it will lift off quicker than this helicopter does!
Paint up the selected areas in the colours of your choice
Carefully clean off the masking fluid to reveal the lines of the paintwork
I have painted the tail fin in the channel colour to avoid accidents when flying with others
Yes! That is an egg cup it is sitting on
Fuel tanks painted a darker silver to stand out from the frame.
I apologise for the quality of this photo, I took it in a different room which has strip lighting, sorry. One day I might remember to use a back drop that covers the whole area.
Just needs a Satin Finish clear coat to finish it off. Guess who forgot to buy some more.
All the best to everyone for Christmas and the New Year.
