Sculpting First Mask - First Pull Done.

[BigGunns1]

Nice sculpt.... I like the horns... cant wait to see you sculpt the wrinkles and details.

 

[troggs]

Thanks BigGunns, I wanted something different, I'll be casting the teeth in resin next, then I'll hopefully be able to get on with the details.

 

[FullFrayDog]

I'm enjoying your work, troggs! I did a foam predator and am now preparing for my first head sculpt, so threads like this are a priceless sources of information.

If you don't mind-- before you mold and cast-- could you give some rough measurements to help a newb get a better understanding of prepping for latex shrinkage?

 

[troggs]

Thanks, glad you like it, I can't measure it for you at the moment though, it's wrapped in cling film and relegated to the back of the junk room,I just haven't got time to carry on with it as I'm trying to finish my costume up at the moment.
From the advice I've been given, latex shrinkage is not an exact science, but maybe allowing for 10% would be a good guide?
I've got a p1 mask I'll be using for my costume, so I could measure that later for you if you like, then maybe you could add on to those for the shrinkage?

 

[troggs]

I've finally got the time to start on this again, but I'm not too sure about the size I need to sculpt to.
I've measured my P1 mask, that's about 21 inches from chin to top of crown and 13 inches at the widest part of the crown, so I take it this is near to the screen used size, so as I'm only 5'8'' it's a bit big for me.

I've just measured my sculpt, it's about 11.5 inches at the widest part of the crown, not counting the horns. The length from chin to the top, of the crown is about 20 inches.

Taking into account latex shrinkage, would the present size of sculpt give a wearable mask, or do I need to go bigger still?

Any help would be appreciated, I don't want to go any further until I'm sure, thanks guys.

 

[troggs]

When I had a good long look at this I found it it was pretty badly lopsided so I took the horns off and spent a couple of hours working on the symmetry.

I decided I wasn't too happy with my initial try at horns, so I though I would try something based loosely on the wolf style instead, then I added some ridges on the crown as well.

Still loads to do as you can see, but I think I'm happy on the basic design now, things could well change again though.

 

[seahunterr]

Looking good!

 

[troggs]

Thanks Seahunter, glad you like it.

I've spent quite a few hours over the past 2 days working on the symmetry and getting the whole sculpt cleaned up.

I'm fairly happy with it at the moment, but I think I still need to do some work on lining the eyes up, they look a bit off to me, and I still need to work on the mouth.

 

[troggs]

Not a big update, I've started working on the mouth area, the teeth are just temporary to give me something to work around, I still need to make the top 2 teeth yet.

Next is inside the mouth and cheeks.

I've been enjoying doing this so far, I have learnt though to just walk away and come back later if it isn't going right, which has happened a lot so far.

 

[Usurper]

edit : lair messed up i didnt see the above as the last post .

looking very gnarly.


good luck.

 

[Giles]

Looks good.  My only suggestion is to maybe blend some of the eye area a bit with the surrounding.  It looks awesome on the "face-on" photo although the side angles makes it look like a pred wearing Magneto's helmet around the eyes.  It probably looks totally different in the flesh mind you, so feel free to ignore me.  Just my two pennies worth.

 

[Untamed]

Looking good! I'm at the same stage as you and its a blast! is it me or does the forehead look almost indented? may change the look of the mouth and location of the mandibles once you figure out the eyes and forehead. I had the mouth looking good on my sculpt then i switched back to shaping the forehead and shape of the head made me want to change the location of the upper mandibles. Don't listen to me though, as long as you're happy with it, i am in no way a guide in this lol. Nice job!

 

[troggs]

edit : lair messed up i didnt see the above as the last post .

looking very gnarly.


good luck.

Thanks, pretty happy with it so far

Looks good.  My only suggestion is to maybe blend some of the eye area a bit with the surrounding.  It looks awesome on the "face-on" photo although the side angles makes it look like a pred wearing Magneto's helmet around the eyes.  It probably looks totally different in the flesh mind you, so feel free to ignore me.  Just my two pennies worth.

Thanks Giles, you're right, the pics do make it look like Magneto's helmet, but I think the flash made it look worse, once the texturing is done I think it'll soften it, if not, maybe I'll have the first mutant pred?

Looking good! I'm at the same stage as you and its a blast! is it me or does the forehead look almost indented? may change the look of the mouth and location of the mandibles once you figure out the eyes and forehead. I had the mouth looking good on my sculpt then i switched back to shaping the forehead and shape of the head made me want to change the location of the upper mandibles. Don't listen to me though, as long as you're happy with it, i am in no way a guide in this lol. Nice job!

Thanks, not too sure exactly where you mean is indented, any advice is welcome though.

 

[Giles]

Magnepred, it would be one scary ass creature. lol

 

[troggs]

Now that I'm more or less happy with the basic shape I thought I would have a go at some of the finer details, so I've started adding texture around the eyes and done most of the inside of the mouth.

I also had to reshape the back of the eye sockets, I never realised I'd sculpted them flat, so the eyelid area looked totally wrong.

I still need to make some proper top fangs to finish off the locating holes for them, once they're done I'll finish shaping the nose? properly.

Any advice/suggestions gratefully received, thanks.

 

[troggs]

Had some time to do a bit more work on this,got some more texture work done and started on the dread holes as well.

Still a fair way to go, but I'm pretty happy with the way it's going so far, I've already got the metal plates in hand for the mould line, I'm sure I'll have some questions about the moulding process later.

 

[Giles]

It looks fantastic, detail is looking good.  You have certainly softened everything up.  What are your plans with the teeth/Tusks?

 

[troggs]

It looks fantastic, detail is looking good.  You have certainly softened everything up.  What are your plans with the teeth/Tusks?

Thanks Giles, I'm not too sure about the tusks yet, I'm thinking of nothing too big, maybe fairly short like Wolf's. I'm going for 4 small teeth like P1.

Here's a question that's come to mind: Thinking ahead to the latex casting, as the latex will shrink, will I have to make the teeth after I make a latex pull to allow for this?

Thanks for any help guys.

 

[troggs]

The texture work is almost done now, then just the final smoothing left to do.

I've been looking into the moulding process, I'd like to run the steps and some questions by you to see if I've got it right.

1. Hammer metal shims into the sculpt 3/4 inch below the desired seam line.

2. Apply 3/4 inch slabs of WED clay onto the shims and flush with the sculpt.

3. Make locating keys on the clay

4. Apply a release agent.

I'm not sure which agent is best, any thoughts guys?

5. Apply baby powder lightly with a chip brush

I think this was Meangene's tip, the baby powder helps to stop the plaster sliding off so much.

6. Apply the plaster making sure to catch all the details.

I think I read somewhere on here that Basic Alpha plaster is the one to use, and if so, How much?

7. Apply a couple more layers of plaster, then start adding burlap for reinforcement. Allow to cure.

8. Remove clay, shims and repair damage.

9. Make pry points out of clay.

10. Apply vaseline to plaster, apply release agent and baby powder to sculpt.

11. Repeat process to apply plaster.

I realise this is a bit of a long winded post, but I'm a bit nervous about moulding this, I've only ever moulded with silicone before, so any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

 

[troggs]

Nearly got this ready for moulding now, just finishing off the mandibles, but another question has come up - I've seen a vid on youtube where they're using fibreglass instead of burlap for reinforcement, apparently you can have a lighter mould this way, any thoughts on this guys?