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

See my above posts, no talent, only practice, so get cracking!

 

You sell yourself short... your work is a result of PRACTICE AND TALENT! I can practice at Tennis for instance, and I will get better, but I'll never play like Novak Djokovic (even if I put more hours into the sport than he has). But you are right, that is no reason not to at least try.

 

I am disappointed that the new software didn't tell me of the updates on this.
Comet looks KEWL

 

You should hit the "Watch Thread" option above and enable email notifications.

 

Ah, but that's the beauty of it, I'm not selling myself short, my first attempts were terrible and I've seen other people with just as much poor first efforts, explode in terms of skill with each piece they do. It's something I've seen so often, that it left me in no doubt that it is more about adopting the approach of the humble bull in the china shop.

Just go nuts...

Always ask yourself and always think "How can I achieve this type of look?" OR "How can I make this look better?"

This is something I plan on covering at a later date tutorial wise, I call it the Chicken 65 approach (something that will make more sense when I explain it).

@NexS1, thanks mate, glad you like it!

 

I look forward to reading this "Chicken 65 approach". For the time being... I'm in the planning phase for a potential green stuff project... for better or for worse.

 

Hi Rikard. I was wondering if you can give me some tips on how to sculpt glyphs on a flat surface. I'm making a palanquin-like sort of structure. I'm going to create a framework using wood and over top of that I plan to place a thin layer of green stuff. I've been experimenting around with it and I'm ok with straight lines, but I'm having difficulty producing seamless curved lines (like the ones you have in the picture above).

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated... techniques, tools, tricks, etc. I have a bunch of dental tools, silicon clay shapers and a hobby knife at my disposal. I've been trying to use these, but my curved lines always seem "choppy".

Thanks in advance!

 

I can, I may well have to post some piccies to help though, as getting curved lines is difficult.


Ultimately, biggest mistake you can make is to drag a tool through the green stuff as it warps and pulls the green stuff rather than make a line.
- It's best using a blunt curved scalpel (I think it's either a number 11 or 15 blade).

 

Dragging the tool is exactly what I was doing... no surprise then that I was finding no success. So instead of dragging, what should I do?... "Poke/prod" at it? Roll the curved scalpel?

I'm happy that you at least consider curved lines difficult... so I'm not a total failure!! (well I guess I'm still a failure, but at least I failed at something difficult! lol)

 

Number 15 on the far right is the one I tend to use.
I'm not sure if there's a true curved blade as such, but the way I've found to do it is to roughly mark along the arch you want (push the blade down, into the green stuff, pull it out, then repeat).

You make the full line this way, then go round it a second time, before rubbing along the opposing edges with a flat clay shaper to smooth out the sides.

 

Thanks Rikard!! I shall have to find a curved blade like that. Closest thing I have are my dental tools, but they do not have nearly as fine of an edge.

 

No worries, it may take a little time though, as I'm trying to combine the curved edges bit to a full length tutorial I'm planning (this will be like the razordon tut, so a COMPLETE start to finish project).

I'll also take this opportunity to cover something I've said on the AOW forums, (without going in to detail obviously), had some pretty crushing/crippling news this week which has thrown absolutely everything into turmoil, so much so I've had to back out of a project I was doing for Felix (which feels terrible as it's not the first time I've been forced to do this).

I'm still doing my level best to look at every possible outcome and plan for every single eventuality, but I am planning for the worst case scenario at the moment, which could see a permanent hit to me doing any commission/manufacturing sculpt again and a severe slow down to any work I'm able to do (more so than my usual working speed/updating).


I'm really hoping it won't go that far, but it would be naive of me not to.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope things turn around for you.

 

Hang in there man.

 

Ah, crap. Sound pretty serious, I'm sorry to here that. Hopefully it won't be the worst case scenario!!

 

Whats your preferred ratio of blue and yellow?

 

I rely hope evrything sorts out tho the best for you 

//love from Essmir a internet stranger

 

Sorry to hear that, Rikard! I've been loving this thread, and have started sculpting with some air-drying modelling clay before stepping it up to working with Green Stuff. Your experience and advice has been really helpful and inspiring - so I hope things work out for the best for you, whatever your situation may be!

 

Thank you and to all of your for your very kind words and help.

Small update to go with all of this, first the good, I've passed all the remaining exams for electrics (things like periodic inspecting and testing), I've only got my 5th year left now, which still has some nasty parts in it, but it's still a weight off me getting some of these bits crossed off.

The bad however is I'm still out of work and still hunting (I got made redundant/laid off at the start of May, right when these exams began).

Thinking about leaving the island where I live to be honest (employment laws here are prehistoric at best, not even the racism at work act exists here), if I can continue the apprenticeship elsewhere, especially as I'd love to work with scientific companies and institutions (even more so if it involves additional/extra qualifications and training).

 

Look what I found!

Here's an old run down I did for a Slann.
I should quickly mention here that this was done years ago and I made a few mistakes, things I'll explain as it's important for anyone who is thinking of doing some sculpting.

Mistake 1: Armature
This was the bigger mistake, even if you're sculpting a slann, it's always worth keeping the armature minimalistic, never bulk it out too much, it's easier having something thin and applying thicker layers of green stuff over the top, it means you can push, pull and shape the material more easily AND you have more variety for shapes and textures too, because the workable green-stuff is thicker.

• Think of it like the different between ripples in a glass of water and ripples on the sea, one is much more textured and greater in height than the other.

Mistake 2: scale
An obvious one, but you'll be surprised how easily this happens, keep an eye on the scale so it actually fits and/or ranks up.