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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sculpting the Wee child

Back to our little creation now that anyone following along has had time to make an armature; I hope. Once again, I am sorry for the quality of the images. One camera won't focus all the time and the other stopped working. I am sending them one at a time for repairs as the funds allow.

 When last we met on these pages we completed our armature for the child in our story of the psyche (not sure if it be human or monster psyche).
 As you can tell, the little child is in motion- notice the figure is blurry...motion, get it?
What can I say, one of those days again. Meds time yet?
So, condition a ball of clay and apply it to the torso of the armature. We want as uniform a layer of clay (about 1/4- 3/8 inch thick) as we can get. Be sure to press out any air which may be trapped between the clay and the armature.  Let the clay run onto the upper legs and arms as well so the transition from torso to limbs can be sculpted easier.


 Once the torso has an even layer of clay, lay out the center line of the body from the neck to the crotch being sure to follow any slight twist of the body.
Keep in mind that my wee one is moving (skipping, running, whatever) so the hips will be tilted from side to side as the center of balance is shifted during the raising of the leg. The torso also twists slightly as the lifted leg is brought forward. Skipping and running use two different approaches to hip movement. While running, the hips should remain almost level to conserve energy as the trailing leg is brought forward. The result is that the hip drops slightly on the trailing leg. If you look at my skipping child, you notice the trailing hip is higher. Skipping requires that the person hop forward so the trailing hip is raised so the center of balance is positioned over the planted foot. The waist will then bend to shift the ribcage over the hips to attempt to keep the core of the torso centered so the body will not fall over.
The main body mass markers of collarbone, ribcage, and pelvis are laid in at this time as well. (1 head height from collarbone to bottom of sternum, 1 head height from sternum to bottom of crotch for our child)
 The back gets laid out  as well following the twist or tilt of the waist and hips.
 Side view; just in case you had not figured this out yet.


Basic sculpting is done to the torso. Notice the smaller ribcage, swell of the tummy and rather straight sides from armpit to hip. If you are really observant, you will notice that I have added some clay to the neck and stuck the head on as well.At this time our child is neither male nor female so there is not genitalia.











 Torso from the back.
And the side.
We will do a little on the arms, legs, and fitting the demon support rod into the support tube when next we meet. Okay, your turn. Catch up!
Have a splendid day!
Moi!

4 comments:

  1. It is all so amazing!! I wish I could be able to follow (I´ve tried but...). I will continue to try. Thank you so much for the inspiration, for the tutorial and for been so generous!! thank you

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  2. Looking great already, Mark! One question though, how could anyone keep up with you? :)

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  3. Mark, you have probably answered this before in earlier posts, the lines in the torsos, when you first start a sculpt and put the first layers on before you refine the details, did you first start using lines from anatomy books as guidelines or is it from a anatomy sculpting book?

    ~JL

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  4. Southwood, Come on now, can't go any slower with this one.
    JL, The lines are a simplified set of guides which I developed after years of observation and teaching. Sadly, some things are easier to learn one on one rather than in this quickly written forum. I hope some of the info in here is of use even if it tends to be sketchy at times.

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