Tutorial How to sculpt lizardmen: All your base...

Skyping sounds interesting, I'd definitely need to get a good mobile webcam though (if anyone has any info on ones that might be suitable just post them here), I would be up for that if people are interested.

Twitch was a recommendation from a friend, especially as I could upload in on youtube too, so if anyone missed the live event they could get the youtube version.

Speaking of youtube, I do own a mini DV 720p Sony camera, I'm hoping that will be ideal.

Feedback is good thank you all!

 

1. I agree with @Crowsfoot step by step. From armature to small details. Videos and pics always help but having a written printout I can refer to instead of pausing would be great.
2. Biggest concern for me would be scale and detail. Failure is not an option, but how many attempts before I will be satisfied? So time is the problem there.
3. I think you and the people on this forum are brilliant and we're spoiled for support. I think more importantly feedback and constructive criticism is helpful. "I see what you were going for, but if you had done it this way it might have worked better." " his head is too big and he skipped leg day" That type. The type of feedback and step by step that people give for painting would be helpful for sculpting.
4. The contest is an amazing idea. I think categories for the next one (please let there be a next one, or a regular event!) like, full sculpt, partial sculpt and modification. Difference between partial and mod would be something like, I had this leftover trog head and tail and sculpted a body for it, where as mod would be I gave my slann horns and spikes to make him look more like a horned toad. Then maybe instead of first second third, just number one for each category.

 

Twitch stream and youtube videos! Yes, absolutely do that!

 

Well in that case, building on those ideas (because it would be FAR quicker and easier than trying to cobble together a PDF), how hard/easy is it to use things like twitch?

Same goes with filming sculpting for twitch and youtube, do I need to invest in a really good webcam for twitch?

 

I think you will have to film a test shot. I think for twitch since you'll be doing it live should be easier. YouTube may be different depending on how you want to approach it. Do you edit the footage and speed it up and do a voice over explanation? In which case a good microphone is also needed. Or do you import directly as is? There is a lot of planning that has to go into these shows. Are you freestyling, or do you have a script? Might be easier to do a test run with a cheap clay so you know what you're going to say as you're working. This will also let you check for framing and lighting. This happy little fellow here builds terrain and such for D&D and does the sped up voice over thing:
http://m.youtube.com/user/theDMsCraft

 

There is also a new streaming youtube thing.

 

Interesting....
I have set up a twitch account, same username as my youtube one, so happy to put them on here. I just need to figure things out and hunt down some missing cables for camera.

Out of interest though, does it make more sense to use youtube AND twitch? Not expecting to make a ton of money through views, but a lot of people I know have often said using both is the smart way to do it.

EDIT: Here's my youtube account, twitch is under the same name (did not fancy being rikard123597362dislikesboiledcabbage2093747? )
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOOb61Sf93grLnpDZGZ8VA

EDIT TWO: Here's my Twitch account.
http://www.twitch.tv/johnnynicepainter/profile

 

Using both should get you a broader audience. You may get lost in youtube, but someone watching your twitch will likely seek out more videos from you. And people might seek out your twitch stream if they like your youtube videos. A little self promotion goes a long way!

 

at least record it and rebroadcast it on youtube later.

 

Exactly what I was planning to do.
Will have a dabble around first before I do anything for real.

 

@Rikard , thanks for all this Slann-like contemplation of where our community goes from here!

• What's helpful? I love seeing details of how things are done. Even without a start-to-finish tutorial, just seeing a picture of a work in progress, with some explanation of what's going on in the picture and what you're working on is helpful. I hadn't thought a whole lot about the muscle structure of the models, but seeing the way you actually create separate muscles to go under the "skin" of the model really has me thinking.
• Concerns about sculpting? There's just a long way to go. I can envision scratch builds and heavy conversions, no problem, but I've only just started doing any sculpting, so I know it'll be a while before I can build the things I have in mind.
• Support? Love the links in your sig, and this really is an incredibly supportive community here. The High Elves have an index of painting logs organized somewhat thematically; maybe we could have an index of logs of people who show a lot of sculpting work?
• Sculpting Contest: had a blast. I'd had a conversion in my head for a while, and this pushed me to do the small-scale sculpting necessary to put the pieces together. Looking forward to many more, and to hearing more about the sculpts that were showcased.

 

I'd like to eventually make a custom sculpt of skinks on giant exotic birds instead of terradons and ripperdactyls. It would fit in with the theme of my idea for a Temple of Birds army.

I'd also make a skink priest on an WFB-ized cassowary.

 

Been going through this thread and I gotta say that I really loved some of your sculpts, such an original design and a living feel to it! Some of the first inside look on such a small scale sculpting ever I've seen actually, and after a couple of years at a classic art school with ~30-40% time allocated to sculpting I gotta say that it gave me shills thinking about how your work process gotta be like! Incredibly awesome work dude, love it!

 

Thought I'd just make things clear (but should have done it a very long time ago), that I've been so quiet because I've been looking after a very sick little puppy (since the start of january pretty much). She's doing much better now, but is VERY demanding, especially if you do anything that requires attention (like sculpting....), as such I've had no time to do anything pretty much, beyond a bit of writing. :/


I have about a week of this left (depending on vet's opinion) before I can send her to the boarding kennels.

 

Your sculpts are really nice. If you ever want to sell them, or sell copies, give me a shout. We (as a company) are currently making models for The 9th Age, and a few others. We have our own foundry, and a really good team for support.

you can read more here http://www.the-ninth-age.com/index....my-would-you-choose/&postID=246326#post246326

 

Thank you, it would be awesome, but I don't want to commit to anything as my life (especially work) has been so mental for a considerable length of time recently.

 

We are working with hobbies also, some of them prepare a models and we make them, some they sell us and include them in our offer (this is something new we have just started offering). So no rush. If your ready let me know, I'm Kanadian on The 9th Age forum.
From what I have seen you didn't prepare the models for casting when sculpting, I'll get our sculptor to get you ideas/ways to do this. If this in not done, the models are hard to cast and assemble or the models must be cut in to pieces, which also isn't a good thing.

 

Awesome sculpts, it would seem that you are blessed by the old ones know less.

 

At times I've thought of introducing my own races to the Warhammer worlds you could try something like this as a stand alone race that people can adopt in the Warhammer world - So if you make them for your own fantasy world and then just get people to suggest they make good Warhammer models. I'm very much an ideas man I need to channel ideas somewhere where they are useful So if this suggestion isn't helpful I can always offer more.

Edit:

P.s I purchased one of your models from Ebay without even knowing it was yours - the quality of your work speaks volumes. (Edit2 - I should clarify I hadn't heard of you before the model and didn't even know you were on the forum was pleased to be linked to you after recommending the model I bought on here to others who already knew of it -I'd love to be buying more but I'm poor at the moment they sit in a file on my pc marked "Lizardmen I want to Buy" 4/5 of them are designed by you it seems)

 

Smallish update, trouble with numerous exams looming so close means I'm struggling to do much of anything and tutorials take ages to prepare.

Although not so much a tutorial, this is something worth bearing in mind as I've found it makes life much easier for sculpting over larger areas, hiding joins (fresh putty over hardened putty), more work time and even a reduction in stickiness.

Many of the above causing numerous headaches with that sculpting the Stegadon (mixing loads of putty and adding textures over such a large area is VERY tricky, green stuff is not really suited or meant for large scale).

This is a direct post from my DA account, but it works with BOTH pro-create and greenstuff (the later becoming a firm favourite), you can see below what I mean as this is a very early WIP stage for my primary hive ship in preparation for when BFG returns, you can see my thumb in the top right so that gives you a good indication of the amount of surface area I've already had to cover.

The trouble with puttys.

As I've said before, there is no perfect putty, different putties, consistencies for different situations, pro-create for example is good, BUT for my tastes, it's lacking a smidge, not as sticky as I'd like it to be, not as workable either for more organic shapes and textures. However I read this a few months ago from another mini sculptor, who in turn picked it up off Werner Klocke.

Fimo...

What you have here is some mixed up pro-create with a little bit of fimo soft, you mix the two together and BOOM! It's more pliable, workable, takes longer to dry and a tad stickier which is exactly what I need on occasion. This even works with green stuff too, in fact it means that even on a model where parts have completely dried, I can increase the amount of fimo (but it's important to not go beyond a 20% fimo to 80% green stuff/pro-create).

The benefit of this means I can smoothly hide gaps which before was a nightmare with green stuff (look at the more complete leg below, some of the green parts have a more yellowy quality, which has come from this mix).


This is also really handy when you're working on larger pieces, something that can make using green stuff difficult as getting the masses done correctly quickly becomes a pain.
As a final "I should be back soon" here's the banshee Wych I'm STILL doing, take note, SORT YOUR ARMATURES OUT FIRST, SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP MAKING CHANGES.