Clay model :: Trying something new

indian_boy

hey there guys!
i decided on starting on a new side project, alongside another more major project.
by that i basically mean that this project is less important than the other one i'll post up when there's more to show.

now this particular project is my first time on clay, and i really want to push myself, cuz i've always wanted to be good at sculpting. My dad has most of the modelling tools cuz of his own interest, and a lot of his work actually pushed me to try it out for myself.
Naturally, i want to share it with polycount, cuz of the amazing crits and comments, and motivation i get from these forums.

the concept behind this model is a simple gunslinger.
armed with handguns akimbo, wearing just a pair of jeans, cigarette in his mouth and all 'die bitch!' types.
i don't think i'll be doing something crazy-complex with this one. i'll save that for future attempts =D

now i rarely if ever start a thread without any work. so here we are:


this is the wire base for the guy. 18 guage wire
i'll be adding clay on top of this.

posting it for crits on pose and proportions.

cheers
let's see how this experiment on my artistic abilities goes =D

Rhinokey

i love the way you made the clay look like copper wire.

Joseph Silverman

Proportions look wrong. crotch too low, arms too long -- spine can't actually bend quite like that.

If you're going to start with a base like this, make sure it's right.

Popeye9

A little time spent getting the proportions and anatomy right on your armature will save you from a ton of headaches. I learned this the hard way after modeling for 4 hours I had to throw away a piece because of a crappy armature setup. I wasnt mad about the time but that I had payed for a model and wasted money cause of a bad armature.

Neo_God

aside from the proportions, you need to take a smaller gauge of wire and wrap it around the armature, leaving like the way you have it will have your clay slipping off of it.

Something like this:
http://www.scarletstarstudios.com/art/2005_pix/12.08.05_02.wire1.jpg
(this one also shows using epoxy putty to add some extra solid volume, which is also used for stop motion animation)

or you could start off by twisting the wire around itself like this:
http://graydenlaing.net/Grayden/Puppet/IMG_2259.JPG

either way you want to give the wire some teeth to hold onto the clay with.