1:4 scale Peter Cushing as Van Helsing sculpt - a WIP

[Too Much Garlic]

Oh... okay. I admire someone who has the guts to start over when a sculpt in progress goes somewhat sour, instead of treading on with the old sculpt that may be beyond improving. Though... the latter, the guy plowing on and getting the likeness in the end is also admirable.

Looking forward to the new iteration. Honestly, an idea I had was to basically sculpt the skull shape first and then bake that and then build on top of that. It's a pretty silly approach, perhaps, but I've been getting pretty good results with it in terms of overall head shape and features before going into the detailing. The fact that I then ultimately such at getting the detailing right is another matter entirely.

 

[ob1al]

That's pretty much what I'm doing Carsten - I'm using super sculpey and my technique is to make a layer, bake a layer then build on that. The V1 sculpt would be salvageable if I hadn't cooked most of it, but the details I need to change are pretty fundamental so carving stuff away and rebuilding would be a pain in the arse. Easier to start anew with lots of lessons learned from the intial sculpt, the process should be a lot quicker now.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Oh... that may be a bad idea. I've definitely not had much success with continually baking super sculpey after having added new layers to already baked Sculpey. It tends to crack, as the new layer stretches and shrinks differently than the already baked piece.

Was advised to put the sculpt in the freezer overnight and then bake it once it's gotten back to room temperature - something about the material bonding better in the cold and staying in shape when ultimately baked. However, I have NOT had the chance to test that out, so I really can't say if it works.

 

[ob1al]

I've kind of got the technique figured out though. I only bake the INNER (ie skull) layer then bake when I think I'm nigh on finished again, perhaps with only a few details to add. Second time around I use a heat gun or hair dryer to bake the piece. It works.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Ah... cool. I'm going to try that next time. Thanks man. :thumbsup

 

[ob1al]

No worries. Thank YOU for your input dude.

This is my first 1:4 human sculpt after years of sculpting 1:1 monsters and other props. It's a huge learning curve for me too. A different beast, to coin a phrase.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

You're welcome. Anything I can do to help someone make their stuff better.

It's gonna be great.

As a side note: I keep wanting to give critiques on the expression but forget that Van Helsing isn't Tarkin. LOL.

 

[ob1al]

Ha- it's amazing how many people have messaged me with Tarkin pics or quotations. No, this is 20 years earlier and a MUCH better role for Peter. Tarkin was just a little footnote in the man's cinematic legacy, Van Helsing was his grand entrance, after making a name for himself with Frankenstein.