Classic Predator Hand Sculpts - Pulling Has Begun

Darth Pinhead

Active Member
As those of you who have suffered through my daily Facebook Updates know, I started sculpting a couple months ago. I'm going with the Classic Predator hands, but here's the rub. My sculpt is based on concepts found in the screen-used, the Steve Wang Maquette, and a couple spins put in for my own amusement (A LOT of texture). So, since I think I have the kinks out of the way, in terms of the techniques I want to use, I figured it was time to start a thread. Well, that, and one hand is finished. Here it is. Note that the nails are actually Photoshopped in. More on that in a bit:

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Ok, a little background. For some odd reason, in MY MIND, sculpting a Pred head would be waaaay too big of an undertaking for a first sculpt. So, hey, start off with something small and easy, like a FREAKIN' HAND!?! Yeah, couldn't go with belt buckle. Nope. Too easy. So, yeah, of course a couple weeks in I start hearing, "Dude, you know the human body is really hard to sculpt and you picked the hardest part of all?!" Uh, thanks, man. You could have told me that like THREE WEEKS AGO!

So, at any rate, I trudged forward and I'm really happy with the final sculpt. So, hey, start a thread.

Now the point of the sculpt is to mold and cast latex gloves. However, I REALLY wanted resin nails. Mainly, so I can click them on tables and windows and crap so I can scare people. OK, that and I just don't think latex does nails justice. So, in the pics, you're only going to see one nail that I spent freakin' HOURS sanding away with emory boards and nails files and such. It's the master and will be duplicated for all ten claws, nails, whatever the hell we're calling them.

Ok, so here's the deal. I'm NOT going to post a whole bunch of pics in this thread, per se. Rather, I am going to provide links to my Photobucket album that show off:

The reference pictures that were used to sculpt the hands.

The Tools Used - Nothing in here yet, just a placeholder. Pics to come.

What I went through to create my armatures - Lots of photos. Not many descriptions, but I may update at some point.

A classic journey thread of my left hand sculpt - About 50 pics in here, thus far. Most, if not all, have descriptions describing what I'm showing/doing, etc. More pics to come.

A classic journey thread of my right hand sculpt

As updates are made and pictures are posted, I will simple post that an update to the links has been made. Please comment. Critiques are welcome, but know that my mind is relatively made up on the direction of the final look, since one hand is finished,

Thanks for looking.
 
It's been great seeing you continually push yourself further and further by redoing areas that you weren't happy with. This has been fun to watch. Now lets see the other hand :D
 
you have done a great job with the details. sculpt came out really nice.

been fun watch ing the progress. hey , would you take a pic with your hand overlaid in front of it for me.
 
Agreed b-rad,......all the time and effort make me not even wanna make my own hands,....i'll just get some off you,....

def learned alot along the way of you re-working all the little things,.....very inspirational to break down to even the most minute details,..
kinda makes me wanna start over hahahah ,....

bad-ass brother,.....now for the other hand,.....i'll check back in 9 months
 
Now the point of the sculpt is to mold and cast latex gloves. However, I REALLY wanted resin nails. Mainly, so I can click them on tables and windows and crap so I can scare people. OK, that and I just don't think latex does nails justice. So, in the pics, you're only going to see one nail that I spent freakin' HOURS sanding away with emory boards and nails files and such. It's the master and will be duplicated for all ten claws, nails, whatever the hell we're calling them.
I'm with you man especially if you plan on putting in buttons for your guantlet and trying to push them is rather difficult if you have latex nails and they bend or buckle when trying to push anything digital. I will definitely be keeping my eye on this thread I love how you did the nails :D. May I ask how did you measure the sut off point for the nails?
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Brilliant work, love the texture and attention to detail, I initially thought the same as you, leave a head sculpt and go for something easier like the hands, but for some reason I went with the head, like you I've found it's just a case of redoing bits till I'm happy - looking forward to seeing the other hand :D
 
Brad didn't actually sculpt those fingernails. He went to the Pretty Beauty Nail Salon and had a cute little Vietnamese girl give the hand a manicure. True story. :D
 
Thanks for the positive feedback, folks! Hope to start on the right hand tonight.

jason, I was seriously considering it. The salon my wife goes to does amazing work...
 
Lookin pretty darn good my friend. And I like that you've documented as much as you have along the way. Definitely gonna help a lot of people out.

You've got some great textures going on, so Kudos to you on that my man. The leather texture of the gloves and the skin on the back of the hand look great.

Keep it up big guy.
 
Thanks, fellas! Yes, Tokyo, I like to document not only for others, but I'm too lazy to try and remember certain things. I actually have quite a few more pics to upload and write comments, so keep your eyes peeled.

Just started the process for the right hand. From my experience with the left hand, I know of problem areas for me with the armature and that it needs some revisions. No problem. I started with a Dremel, but it was taking way too long for my liking. Went to the shed and pulled out the 4 1/2" angle grinder and went to town on the armature. Sprayed it with clear coat and am waiting for it to dry so that I can begin blocking...
 
Finally got cracking on the right hand today. Started by modifying the armature with a grinder, eliminating all (Or so I thought) known issues. After spending three hours blocking out, it has become apparent that I need to grind off more of the armature. I'm just not being left with enough clay to really make my skin details work. No biggee; I caught it much sooner this time than on the left hand. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the blocking at this point. Pictures have been added to A classic journey thread of my right hand sculpt.

Again, I appreciate all your comments!
 
Excellent Brad! Lots of progress already! Can't wait to see both of these bad boys sculpted next to each other. Going to be awesome man Good work, keep at it!
 
Well, after a bit of a hiccup with the armature and some much needing modification to it, I am back on track. Spent yesterday hammering out primary forms and beginning the secondary forms. Wrapped up the secondaries, adequately enough, this morning. Moving on to the first few passes at the skin texture for the remainder of the day, then I'll transition over to the glove. At this point, I'm quite happy with how quickly this one is coming together. I guess all the "practice" on the left hand paid off, :)

Pictures have been added to A classic journey thread of my right hand sculpt.

Again, I appreciate all your comments!
 
im loving it already man! Your progress on the right hand is 5 times faster than the left! I wouldn't be surprised if any future sculpts go even faster now that you have a good feel with how to work the clay. I truly can't wait to see these bad boys casted up!
 
I agree with Branden - you're going to ace this twice as fast and chew bubble gum at the same time! I love watching works in progress like this, and one thing about your WIP's Brad, is that you take detailed photos all throughout the process and share them with us - failures and all. I love that...keep it up bro...
 
Yes! He shares fantastic photos of every little step. Anyone who is new (like myself) who would want to get an idea of how to do it... can simply look at the photos brad shares with us. It's a nice detailed timeline.
 
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