# Sculpting a Female Hero from scratch



## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi there. I 'm Jim from Art Of Resin, a group of people dedicated in sculpting-painting and casting miniatures and terrains as well. My "job" in our group is sculpting and terrain making. While in terrain making I 'm kinda veteran, sculpting is a new field for me as I 'm working on that for not more than about a year. (So veteran sculptors pls don't shoot me)

Anyways..

What I 'm going to do now, is show the whole wIp of a new project. It is a project I do for me, so it will take quite long to be done, since commissions e.t.c. have a priority. I 'm about to sculpt a female hero, from a famous PC game (not sure if I'm allowed to state the name of the hero as well as of the game itself, so admins/mods pls tell me). Reasons I do this are a)for practice, b)to win some in-game money when I'm done with this project (it's the game's policy to give some rewards to ppl who create some art concerning the game) c)to see if fans of this champion would love to have a miniature of their beloved lady on their desks...

*and how does this work:*
1) I sculpt the lady naked in five pieces. Naked so I can use copies of what I 'm going to sculpt on future projects. Naked also, coz IMO when the mini is naked and then you dress her, the result is more realistic. And at last, naked, coz it's much more difficult to make a nice naked body, than a dressed one, so when you are intending on practicing IMO the most difficult task teaches you more. In five pieces so that the final result can be easily molded-casted. You see our molder-caster is kinda angry when the sculptor isn't taking care of him :grin: .So 5 pieces it is. Head, torso, legs, right arm, left arm. 
2) When all 5 naked pieces done, I 'll have my prototypes molded. This is something I 'm going to do, so that I want have to spend all those hours next time, to reach the same point. (Ok maybe next female miniature, will need some work on her body to change position, but this task is so much easier than goin' once more from total scratch). 
3) I will dress up my miniature to look alike the hero from the game. 
4) I 'll have her molded, so that anyone who needs a copy, can get one. 
5) Katarina, our painter, will paint it, to see the final result. 


Till then, have fun and I hope my wIp will help you all amateur sculptors, create your own lovelly miniatures.


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

so here are the first steps of my wIp:

I decided to start from the legs. The final result will show me how tall/thin e.t.c. my miniature will be. Since I'm in a free scale mode on this project, Idc about my final measurements. If was not in such a mode, I would be obliged to follow my scetch 100%. 
Anyways. Step by step till today's progress:


0) My tools. I use garden wire for the armature. You should check your wire that it is soft, but ain't breaks that easy. I use GS to cover the armature and strengthen it. Then I use the following tools to make the whole other work on this project. You don't have to find the same tools. A dental tool that you feel comfortable with that can replace my red tool. The clay is a bit of Staedler FIMO. I find it the most suitable material to sculpt, but this is personal opinion too. Some guyz find magic sculpt better. Some other FIMO from ebberharb. All you need, is to try them and see what suits you more. Then there is the magic tool for sculpting. Called Clay-Shaper. Has a ruber nose in different sizes and shapes. It's the best tool to smooth your miniatures. You can do without, but if you use it, you will see why you need it. 










1) I took a piece of wood. I made some drillholes of about 0,6mm. There I used some wire (garden wire OP k: ) to create the legs' armature. Armature, IMO, is one of the most important stages on sculpting a mini. If your armature is well done, the rest will go smooth. If it's on the limits, rest of the mini will be tough. If out of the limit, the final result will fail. 
So when I shaped my wire a way that suits the skeleton of the female legs, I covered it with a firm coat of GS. Yep that awful material that sticks on your fingers and tools as well, but your are soooooooo in need of it, to make your armature a bit stable. So first a put some GS in the easy-to-be-curved points of my wire, and then I fully cover it. I doesn't matter if you leave a piece of wire naked. Curing time of the process is about half a day. 












2) Now you have to cover everything with your final material. FIMO, Magic Sculpt or any nice thing like those will suit. While covering the armature, try not to leave any naked spot. More, try to press a bit your material, so that you want leave any hidden bubbles, or else when you cook your final sculpt you will be soooooooooo mad.. I mean it!



















3) Goin for the butt is IMO the safest way when sculpting legs. The butt (I cannot find a word more polite than this dear moderator.. Sorry bro) the the center of the body. More, it's one of the 3 "magic" things on a woman. You know what I mean. When you sculpt/draw a woman butt, tits and nose must be best. While on a male, chest, legs, eyes. 
Then, I give the first maze on that spot just for eye contact.



















I cook the result, so I can press a bit more, while I will be trying to do some details later on. 

4) I try to give some detail on the butt. 



















Then I figure I need some more details on the bottom of the legs, to reach a balance. I know some veteran sculptors wouldn't need that, but I 'm not that practiced. 

5) After building some muscles (not enough but..) on the bottom of her leg, I can see that her top muscles are a bit big, and seem kinda male ones. Though I 'm in a Druuna like type of bodies, when sculpting, instead of skinny asian ones, there is a big difference from being druuna like, to being almost male one. So I removed some skin, and tried to reach a more closer result to the final one. 






















this is up to what I 've done this weekend on this miniature. What follows is detailing the full legs piece. I ll start from the front view, that as you can see is in a bad condition, and then I 'll finalise the bottom legs. When I 'm done I'll send this to cooking-molding. 










Anyways. Whenever I got something new on this, you will get some pics. 

Feel free to ask/mention anything. 
Hope you like!


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## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

Joking aside, that's looking really good so far. I can't wait to see the finished product. (The painted product, not the naked product)


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

is it me or do the left and the right thigh look un-even? i know its early days but looking at the from the front they look off, maybe too much focus getting the ass right?


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

bitsandkits said:


> is it me or do the left and the right thigh look un-even? i know its early days but looking at the from the front they look off, maybe too much focus getting the ass right?



It's not u. They are uneven. I got them corrected this morning after I posted my wIp. You see, nothing is finished right now and there are so many things to do, to say that the model (even the legs of it) are done, as I stated on my first post. I had already made the tighs a bit thinner, as they were a bit man-like or at least fat IMO (dem Druuna comix I 've read don't help me get a clear view on female's body :blush: ). TBH, what I got ALMOST done is only the butt of the miniature, although I 'm pretty sure that this will get some corrections by the end too. 

Anyways, thank you bro, for mentioning it, and I will be happy to see more opinions like yours in the future that will probably "show" me things I don't see on my sculpting. Feel free to post me this kind of corrections/opinions in the future pls.


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## Charandris (Nov 27, 2012)

What scale is she? Im guessing 54mm (or there abouts?). Looks fantastic so far though! You mentioned that you'll be making a few versions of her, will they be sci fi or fantasy? Or a mix of both? Great work, will be following this closely!


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

Hi Charandris and ty for your support mate. Her scale is 105mm. Think of something like action figure. I mean the purpose of this model is not to stand on the battlefield, but to make a show off at the gamer's office. 
When I said I will make a few versions of her I meant that I will use copies of the naked body, change the position, and dress her to represent other heros of the same game or more. The first one will be a Steampunk boxing model. It's easy to find her as she is the latest champion of the most famous PC game, and she's got power fists!!! in both hands. (Double powerfist ftw!!!). Next version, will be from the same game, a gal dressed up in full-body leather suit, holding 2 daggers and being happy on assassinating ppl. Then I thought of a Sci-Fi princess. By this I mean that she will be dressed up in a victorian style with some "cyborg body kits" on (a lot like steampunk) but instead of steam, she will be holding a laser weapon or a lightsaber!?!
Anyways. Till then there's a big road ahead, so , lets finish, first of all those damn legs


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## Charandris (Nov 27, 2012)

*.*

Wow, ok  im seriously excited to see more now, you have some great sounding ideas and so far your sculpting skills are sure to promise some cool details at this scale!  For the sci gi princess, have you thought of looking at 'beam katannas?' (excuse spelling)


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

well the "lightsaber" I said I will use, is a "beam katana" from star wars. I 'm not sure if we are talking about the same weapon here, but that's exactly what I had in mind. If you are not talking of the "ting-ting" inside-lighten katanas on that movie, but of something else, give pics ASAP bro!!


(I'm sure my english suck hard big time np, but I 'm rly trying my best here)


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## Charandris (Nov 27, 2012)

Basically the same thing then think, just remember designs being slightly different on a game i had, "No more Heroes" on Wii. Heres some concept sketches from the game  Hope this is helpfull!

http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-06/nmh-beam-katana.html


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

So I got some progress today. Bottom part is almost done. 


BTW the toes will never be done on this part, as I will do them as a separate part of the model so I can change the position. They are just there as a refferance. So, what now? I 'll "cook" my model to make it hard. This way, afterwards I will be able to use sandpaper (almost sure this is the way it is called in english) to smooth all the surfaces as well as make some correction on the curves when needed. Then I will make a fast silicone mold of my model. The product of that mold is what I 'm going to use to make the final nude model. Then I 'll go for the torso and so on.. 
When I will be holding the final models (parts) I will create some "keys" to make it easy in the future to assembly them in (almost) any position I need each time. This when I 'm going to make the final mold, so that I can keep all this work for future models without having to go through this whole procedure again. (I got almost rdy a male model created the same way).
Till then have fun!!







































hope you like as well as waiting for your corrections.


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

ok.. It 's cooked. I added some quick details on her toes, as this way only, I can see the muscles correct. Even if I knew she was gonna be that way, watching her with flat toes, was ugly for me, and the muscles seemed stretched for no reason. Anyways. To be molded now....


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

So the bottom part is now molded. I will update this WiP ASAP with pics of creating the torso, which is the second part of my miniature building procedure. Stay tuned and have fun!


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## .Bragg. (Mar 7, 2012)

Welcome to Heresy'! Just to let you know you're right, it is called sand paper 

Great opening posts! I'm impressed, have some rep+!


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

ty for the info and the rep+ as well bro. Hope you 'll enjoy the full model when it's done...


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

Not much to see here. But since I said I will do my WiP like a tutor so that someone who wants to sculpt a miniature can take it as a guide, I have to show these pics too. So:
This is the Torso's armature. I got a piece of wood that seems to give me a suitable grab. I drilled some holes 0,6mm. I passed some wire in through those holes. On the bottom part (where I grab the wood) I fixed the wire so that it won't move when I will be working on the torso. On the upper side of the wood, where the sculpt will be, I shaped the wire as if it was the center line of the torso. I used Gs, to make the wiring hard, as well as to have somewhere to stick my clay on, as a base, while I will be building the torso. I wait till GS sets, and then I 'm ready to sculpt.



















Note: I know many sculptors, try to follow the upper arms too, with their wire. More is that, many of them try to give some volume where the breast will be, so that they have a base while sculpting. But I preffered to do it simple as you see, so that I will be free to give any shape/position to the torso, without having the armature as a limit. 

Have Fun!


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

hue hue. My pressure pot is ready at last. (Ok some better painting will help but..). So I don't have to go to my partner every time I need to mold or cast something for me. I was so jealous of him :blush: having all those tools to make perfect resin castings, that I went on my workshop (primary job) and just made one of those tools my self. So bubbles are just a bad memory !!!
(Not much to do with this miniature sculpting -although I will use this tool to make the first molds before I send them to my partner for the final ones - but I was so happy that I wanted to share)
Anyone who is in need of such a tool, I can now, certainly, provide him one. 




















have fun!


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

btw, here's the legs' quick mold:


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## .Bragg. (Mar 7, 2012)

Nice updates 

I was wondering if you'd be so kind to educate myself on your little machine there? I've always wanted to cast my own sculpts. Any information would be great!


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

First of all thank you mate!
Ofc I can inform you about the machine, I just hope my poor english will be enough to do so. Tbh, it's not a machine. It's a just a pot that is 100% airtight up to 8 BARS. You cannot see, as I never shot the internal part, which I will tommorow morning, but inside, there is just a thin metal plate, parallel to the ground, to put your mold on. The face of the pot, is a cap that seals with an O-Ring. More there is a Pressure Meter (the clock-like organ) as well as a duo-way valve. 
So, the simple way the machine works, is that you put something inside, you close the cap, and then you open the valve to fill in pressed air up to the pressure you want to. 

-So what do we need all these in casting resin and creating silicone molds?? 
The worst enemy in silicone mold making and resin casting is air. The airbubbles are a huge problem (whoever bought some miniatures from all those known firms that sell them resin made, know those gaps on those miniatures made from airbubbles, that must be filled with GS or something). To avoid this one must use high pressure and to make the perfect result vacuum too. (my partner who makes our mold uses vacuum too). 
-Using the pressure pot, the process is simple:
1)When you cast silicone to make a mold, you put it while the silicone is still wet, in the p.pot seal the cap, and gain pressure up to 4,5BAR. You leave the pot with pressure fixed up to the silicone is set. This way, air bubbles will run out of silicone as she will get more pressed/solid in the process.
2)When you cast resin in a silicone mold the process is almost the same. You throw your resin in the mold with a Feeding Syringe, from gate (A) of the mold. You insert your mold with the resin inside in the P.Pot. You seal the cap of the pot, and gain pressure up to 4,5BAR. You leave the pot with pressure fixed up to resin is set. This way air bubbles from mixing the two parts of the resin, as well as those which where inside the mold, will exit from mold's gate (B). More is that the resin will be more solid, as well as it will run to the thin parts of the mold and the tips of swords/horns e.t.c. which are the parts difficult to fill using gravity technique on casting. 
IMPORTANT is that you insert your mold in the pot, seal it and gain pressure ASAP as time matters too much. This way a pot that has its cap sealed really quick as the one I made is the most suitable for this job, as it seals in about 3-10secs (depending on the user). The quickest the Pot seals the fastest setting resin you can use to cast your models. (Resin that sets in 1,5 hour takes 5-6 mins to start setting, so 1 min mixing and 2 mins casting, makes it already half the time. If the pot seals in 10 secs, you got about 2-3 minute so the pressure removes the bubbles. If the pot takes about a min to seal (pots with many screws do so), you have much less). Resin that sets in half an hour takes so much less to start setting, so you get my point.. 


Anyways. I hope I helped. If you need more info on molding/casting e.t.c. feel free to ask. I always loved discussing about those things.. (Mech-Geek alert :blush: )


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## artofresin (Jan 15, 2013)

here some inside pics of the Pressure Pot.


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