Youngblood Bio Sculpt

[Fayne]

I decided to start another bio to show one of many ways to sculpt them.
The first thing you'll need for this method is an armature to hold your mask.
This is the shape onto which you'll be adding clay.
You could use a bio if you own one, it has a general shape somewhat similar to your goals,
you'll be changing the look entirely, and it's thick/strong enough to support the added weight.
I feel it's important to mention that using it as an armature means you'll be making a new look
and it's just meant to hold the clay. It does NOT mean changing or adding features to
someone else's sculpt and calling it your own.
That said, here's what I did:

I had a pepakura build on the wall I dind't really like too much but it fit nicely over my head
so I started laying clay on it and smoothing it together.
The goal at this stage was complete 1/4 inch(ish) coverage and only a very basic feel of the shape I want.

I then reworked the dome a bit since the shape of the armature was nothing like what I wanted for the new bio
and I added some flares to get a feel for the right direction.

I lowered the the flares' angle and reworked the proximal corner of the browes.
The eyes weren't quite what I wanted so I changed them to a slightly more almond(ish) shape and smaller size.

I later decided the flares could still use lowring but not in placement.
They're getting built on the inner edged where they attach to the dome so they can have a decline as opposed to the incline you see on my other 2 sculpts.

Next I plan on finishing the flare reworking and giving some more character to the currently 2D looking mouthguard.

 

[Fayne]

The only tools used as of today on any of these have been hands, a credit card, fork, and butter knife.
Actually this one has only been hands and knife since it's not ready for preliminary smoothing (in my opinion) yet.
My 2 cents of advice are:

• Have no fear. Fear of ruining previous work will keep you from bettering things that might need it. Often to smooth or slightly change something, the area must be worked and softened a little.
• Take your time. If you want good work and aren't used to sculpting under pressure, keep a medium pace.
• Take breaks. I've found when I run out of things to do, if I just walk away for a bit I'll find something I overlooked earlier.
• Research. Get plenty of pictures of items with the look(s) you want and study the look at many different angles. You want to be really familar with the goal whether consciously or subconsciously.
• Practice. I started my 2nd one with the intent of practicing and testing different looks before changing the "nicer" one. What I found was that I could do the same look much easier now with few breaks or the need to look often at any pictures or model. Now that 2nd one has taken a life of it's own and will likely make a different model when done.
• Take constructive criticism. (with a grain of salt of course) A friend once pointed out something was entirely wrong at profile but great from the front. We cut the nose off and remounted at an antirely different angle and redid it.
• Look from all angles. I can't stress the importance of rechecking things at each step from many angles including top, bottom, front and both profiles. This is (to some degree) what separates the good sculpts from the not as good ones.
• Don't underestimate yourself. Look at my results as of now (pre-texture, smoothing, etc.) then realize I've sculpted very few things in clay. Practice and a discerning eye will help a lot.

If you like this, my other 2 are here: http://www.thehunter...__fromsearch__1
I appreciate feedback on the direction of any of these.

 

[1elder]

hey thats turning out pretty cool,good job

 

[Fayne]

Thx. There's a lot I'd like to make if resources are available, like time money and materials.

 

[Fayne]

Alright, I've done 2 big changes and when I say big, I mean almost totally rebuilding some areas I wasn't happy with.
The first was the flares. I didnt like the placement so I cut them almost completely off and repositioned them lower down the dome and filled the missing areas afterward.

Notice the change in brow angle.

While I was at it, I decided to build the mouthguard forward a bit so I could thin it down as my armature was wider than the look I wanted.




A couple days went by then I decided to go with a similar look to my other 2 with the pointy cheekbones (apparently becoming my signature)
and a different mouthguard look.

Here I'm making theye sockets deeper and lower.

Next I've smoothed them out a bit and am making the line down the cheek to the teeth.
I'll show the progress step by step from adding the material to smoothing in to changing the shape.

Next I'm making the cheeks pointy and adding a cnd vertical line behind the 1st.
I may or may not keep it.

This goes to prove one of my popints made last week. Don't be afraid of ruining it with your changes.
You can't make it better without changing it and if you make it worse, you'll get practice fixing it.
Remember YOU got it to a point and YOU can ALWAYS bring it back to a similar point if need be.
Just keep a practice sculpt or pictures of your progress for reference.

 

[Fayne]

Hmmmm. Maybe I should flatten the 2nd line down a lot especially at the top and curve the cheek points down, soften the point and fill-in the undercut just a bit.
Oh another tip while I'm thinking about it. Use both hands in the same way at the same time whenever possible to keep it from losing too much symmetry.
I rub the clay a little to warm the area for a few seconds then push from 1/64 to 1/4 inch thick areas at a time. I move less per pass when I'm just resmoothing it. After it's in position and warm, I push from different angles, sometimes blocking the other side with another finger or hand so things go into position then I lightly smooth it out and let it sit to harden at room temperature and get some strength before I rework anything near the area.

 

[Fayne]

So I let it sit for a bit then had some ideas for making it more feminine. raised the cheeks and smoothed them out more. filled the eyes in so when I sculpt them, they'll be closer to the surface. Curved the chin a bit more so it wouldn't look chiseled.

 

[Fayne]

Alright, time for another update for those watching;

Last time I filled the eye sockets so they'd be closer to the surface like female humans' eyes.
Now I've cut the eyes out in a slightly almond-like shape.
I first drew/scratched some eye shapes onto the clay's surface with a needle tool.
Second, I pushed a loop tool into the middle of that space and twisted like a screwdriver to get a starting hole.
Next, with the same tool, I scraped out clay until I was close the drawn edges.
Last for that step was using the loop to scrape the shape along the edges for the desired shape.
I did them fairly deep and the mold will reflect this.
The purpose for the deep eyes is so the later casts will already have fully cut eyes and only need some cleanup as opposed to drilling refining then cleanup.

The brow/trim pieces just looked too big.
I was a bit hesitant to change them after this much work but like I mentioned before "don't be afraid of change".
I cut them down knowing I could redo them if need be and was much happier with the look.
The narrower face is much more eye pleasing but it needed something.
The rear of the flares was looking short so why not add a bit.

A little flare repositioning, some touch-up here and there and thinning / slightly/elongating and reshaping the bottom of the chin went a long way.

Next comes a much needed overall smoothing out and some touchup
Afterward, if I'm happy with the shape, I'll move on to texturing plus any carvings or battle damage I might decide on.
The "possibly" last step of the sculpting phase will be letting it sit, ignored a bit then deciding if I'm still happy with it overall.

 

[the eldest]

That's a sweet tutorial you have going here. Can't wait to see this finished and painted.
Very nice work.

 

[wulwhite]

Nice,i like it!

 

[Fayne]

Thanks for the comments.
It's time for an update as well.
I've made the mold and mothermold though no pics were taken durring the process as I could't wait for an assistant and don't like the idea of getting resin on my camera.

Before the pics, here's what's happened since the last update, in order.

I got a small set of styluses from Reuel's art supply for around $3.
They're also used for embossing.
I smoothed most of the sculpture but decided I liked the slightly variable thickness and roughlly tooled look of the flares.
I roughly smoothed the dome but kept some of the tooled look. The logic here was she's been on many hunts and the helmet is weathered.
I opted for no cracks or battle damage on her, but is it because she hunts smaller prey or she's just that good of a hunter and has experienced few losses and no defeats. I made a point, when compared to my other bios (not finished), that she have a smaller less protruding brow, less mass, thinner overall shape, smaller cheeks with less boning, less sunken eyes, and small mouthguard without the trapezoidal shape and large bottom area that makes others look so masculine.
Although her eyes are set closer to the surface, I made a point of digging the sockets very deep for an easy guide when cutting them out and less margin for error.
Once I was happy with the overall shape, Which I changed many many many times, I tapped and poked the surface with the styluses somewhat randomly for hours. It seemed like forever and I felt like my wrists were going to fall off by the time she was done. Also note that every so often I'd texture an area only to lighly smooth it and retexture to add depth and variety to the piece. You'll notice the lack of lasers. I thought she'd be cool with the visual confirmation portion of her tracking system intigrated with the cannon. This doesn't (necessarily) mean I'll make such a cannon but it helped to keep her shape very thin and feminine which was part of the purpose of this one. Now onto the pics of the rough pull I did this morning.

 

[Fayne]

Alright, Update time. Here's some of the finished work.

 

[Fayne]

So many guys have liked this that it's been renamed youngblood. I could have done it more feminine anyway and likely will do a new huntress later. My son helped paint these 2 casts.

 

[LunaticNic]

Good work on that bio!!!

 

[Fayne]

Thanks brother