A lot of folks on different platforms have asked my how I sculpt raised iconography on my models, so I thought I'd put up a tutorial on the subject.
Materials:
Essentials:
- Clay shapers (also known as colour shapers): These are silicon-rubber tipped sculpting tools used by artists in working with clay. They're also great for sculpting in this hobby. I use two types: a chisel shape and a conical shape one. You can get them in different colours, which correspond to firmness: darker means more firm, and lighter means more flexible. One of the best things about these over a conventional metal sculpting tool is that putty has a hard time sticking to them, so you don't need to lubricate them.
- A trusty hobby knife: for sculpting and for trimming away excess putty.
- A bit of water: Keep your knife just slightly moist so the putty doesn't stick to it, but don't use so much that it goes on the model and makes it hard to stick the putty down. You generally won't need to lubricate your clay shapers - putty doesn't stick to silicon rubber easily.
Optional stuff that's just nice to have:
- Milliput: This is a different kind of two-part sculpting putty that's a lot more clay-like in texture and is sandable. You can mix this with greenstuff to get a combination of each's properties.
- Tea tree oil (very esoteric ingredient I know, but its very useful): I use this to dilute my greenstuff and to extend it's curing time.
The concepting process:
1. The first thing you want to do when figuring out sculpting iconography is working out what you want to sculpt. You can get inspiration from all over the place but medieval heraldry is a good place to start. I will use a galleon as my example, because I am nautically-obsessed - here we can see the side profile of what we want to sculpt.
2. Next, you want to simplify your design to be readable on the scale of the model you're working on. The idea is helpfully demonstrated by the chart below: you can get away with more detail if you're working on a larger surface, but your iconography will be hard to decipher if you try to cram too much detail in too little area. It will also be significantly harder to sculpt.
How does out galleon look once simplified?
You can see I've broken it down into its component shapes. The galleon's posterior above actually has two masts, each with a triangular sail, but I have reduced this to one, because two would've been an unnecessary detail in conveying the nature of the object. Likewise, the rigging, crows nests, flags atop the masts, and cannons have to go, since they won't read well at the scale we're working in.
The technical process:
4. Now, you want to think about your iconography in terms of component parts. It's best to isolate different parts of the design according to the techniques you'll need to use to tackle them.
For long and narrow parts like the mast poles shown in the image, you want to roll your greenstuff into a thin tube before applying it to the model. Gently adhere it to your surface with the flat side of your clay shaper. Once adhered to the surface, use your knife to trim away the excess greenstuff. If you're sculpting on a flat surface you can use a chopping motion placing the tip of the blade on the endpoint of the shape then applying force down. Then you just have to gently wick away the excess greenstuff with your knife. For more general shapes you want to instead start with a ball shape which you'll once again need to flatten out with the side of your chisel clay shaper. The size of this ball will be proportional to your shape. Practice is the only way to learn how much putty you'll need and you will probably find you're using too much initially.
If you're finding you need more force to apply the greenstuff to the surface than what the clay shapers allow you to do, you can use the flat of your hobby knife to press it onto the surface, and then smooth the surface with the flat of your chisel clay shaper afterwards.
4. Work out an appropriate order to create your parts (and then create them). Never try to do too many parts at once - have patience and let your initial parts cure first, even if it takes a while. It's better to take time to let the putty cure, than to mess up a part you worked on earlier and having to redo it. If your surface is rough, sand it down if you can then lay down a thin layer of greenstuff and smooth it out with the flat of your chisel clay shaper. Let that cure and work on top of that. If you've used a mix of greenstuff and milliput, for this thin layer, you can even sand that with fine sandpaper for an even smoother starting surface.
5. Understand displacement. Know how when you drop a large and weighty object in the bath the water has to move out of the way? Putty is a bit like that, and the large and weighty object is your sculpting implement. If you want to neaten up a straight edge with the straight edge of your chisel clay shaper, you will notice it may create a raised 'lip' of greenstuff. Part of the learning process of sculpting is working out how to be gentle enough that you can smooth the top surface and also maintain crisp straight sides to shapes (if they're meant to have straight edges) - basically this is a back and forth process of adjustment.
Putting it into practice:
Now let's take our concept and apply the techniques above to make it physical.
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| All good things begin with a blob of greenstuff. |
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| Flatten it with your chisel tool's flat side |
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| Cut in half: ideally do this on on the opposite angle but it doesn't matter for demonstration purposes. |
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| Trim to the initial shape with your hobby knife. To get a bit of a gentle curve on the concave prow, I gently sweep in the putty with the side of my chisel tool. You could also use a conical tool for this. |
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| Cut out some sections - you will need to be careful with that middle bit - use a gradual repeated downward motion then spear it with the blade tip to make it easier to cut out. Clean up your edges as you go by gently pressing with the straight edge of your chisel tool. The design will look extra crisp if you make sure to do this in the inner corners. |
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| The masts are long and thing and so are made from tiny sausages of greenstuff. Again, we want a straight line, so use the straight edge of your chisel tool on either side to adjust it and keep it neat. |
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| That front pointy bit is done the same way as the mast, and the back sail bit is done the same way as the body of the ship. |
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| Two masts are better than one |
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| The sails on the front two masts are done the same way as the body and back sail, but you will neat to be extra careful since they're smaller. I've once again made the design simpler by only doing one sail on the front pole - but again, this only benefits the readability of the design. |
Well, that's basically how you do a tiny galleon. Next I will do a tutorial that's a tad more advanced on curved shapes which builds on many of the ideas here.
