Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Re-making of Aragorn (Step 2)

Welcome to the second step in my series on the "Re-Making of Aragorn". In this step, I must design the final pose of the model and build the armature (wire skeleton) onto which I will sculpt the "Super Sculpy". Read on...

I began by searching up images of Aragorn on the net, books, and screencaps from the film to inspire me with a great new pose for my new model. I was looking for something that fit within the timeframe where all of the nine characters were together and felt like a rough ranger (Strider) but would have that hint of regal (Aragorn the King).



















The inked pose on the right (above) was the one that felt the most right to me. Aragorn has a defiant, yet regal stature. He has his sword drawn and ready for combat. Since this is early Aragorn (Strider), I will be looking to make him as scruffy as possible with all of his travel gear.

WARNING: A coat-hanger is seriously harmed in the following steps. If you find yourself wrought with emotion over the harsh treatment of coat hangers, please discontinue reading now.

To start the armature, I search my closet for an ordinary coat hanger. I also needed a piece of plaque wood for the sculpting base, machine screws and a power drill.






I begin by straightening the wire, and then bending it around the screws that I will use to secure the feet to the base. Basically making wire feet with loops in them for the screws to fasten through.





I then take the excess wire and bend it back up to the leg and twist it really tight around the shin area. This serves a dual role of making the wire sturdier and helps me make a "foot" shape to ground the model to the base (see right).





Ultimately, I end up with what amounts to "metal legs". I have carefully bent these using my size and proportion chart to make sure that they are the correct size and have the joints in the right places for my Aragorn in the pose that I have designed.





Next, I drill the holes for the feet in the wood base. I make sure that the holes line up with the loops in the wire feet and draw on the silhouette of the model's feet.






I then attach the wire armature to the wood base and do all of the necessary final bending to get the wire into the proper position for the chosen pose.






There are many different methods to start the next step of a Scuply armature (including aluminum foil and more wire), but my preferred method is to use "QuikSteel" which is a fast hardening metal putty. It kneads like putty, but within 10 minutes it is hard as metal. It can be scraped, sanded, painted etc. This can be found in the Automotive section of a store and is most commonly used as radiator and dent repair.


I use the putty to give my armature some substance to build my Sculpy onto and to strengthen the wire so that it flexes less. If the wire flexes after I harden the Sculpy, it could cause cracking and breakage of the legs. Metal putty is also heat proof (used on radiators) so that it is perfect for use on an armature that will soon be baked to harden the Sculpy.

Notice the detail (on the right) to see that I poke many holes into the metal putty with a toothpick before it hardens. This serves the purpose of giving the Sculpy clay something to hold onto and to help it stick to the armature. Poke them in all directions, the more the merrier, so that the clay can make many fingers with which to adhere to the putty.

That's it for step 2. Onto fleshing out the model and adding some details!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Re-making of Aragorn (Step 1)

Hello again! Well, through a little debate with myself over how dissatisfied I have been with my Aragorn sculpt, I have decided to start him completely over.

What more, I have decided to more closely document the re-sculpting process as I take him from rough clay all the way through the finished piece. Welcome to the first in my series 'The Re-making of Aragorn".

As with all of the other models, I must first sculpt the head and do a better job of capturing Aragorn's likeness. I will be utilizing "Super Sculpy" clay this time around instead of the white "Sculpy" that I used on all of my others. I used "Super Sculpy" on Legolas's hand re-sculpt and I was much more impressed at the amount of detail the un-hardened "Super Sculpy" clay could hold as opposed to the un-hardened "Sculpy". "Super Sculpy" is much firmer and is flesh-toned, which I am finding cool for sculpting the new face.

My tools of choice have always been ordinary round tapered toothpicks and a small tool that I have built myself (dowel and a curved wire). I also use a small assortment of cutting/scraping tools and a plastic smoothing wand with a pointed end.

With these and my own fingers, I am able to sculpt nearly any shape and edge that I wish and am comfortable using these.


This time, I made sure to get photos of the actor's face in a right-front-left turn around and with as little facial hair as I could possibly find. I took these and scaled them down to the exact size of the model's head-to-be and gave myself a version (seen at the top of the image to the right) with guide lines across all of the features.

*I only wish that I had gone to this length on all my others. I believe it would have helped me be more accurate with the likenesses than just eye-balling photos of different scales. Oh well, live and learn. This web-blog is one of progress and all of this sculpting has only made me better and better.

This new Aragorn is going to rock!

Start by molding a face-shape with a neck; making sure to get the proportion and size right according to the size charts. (I have to be incredibly careful to follow my original proportion chart in order to have all of these models be in the correct proportions to each other and to have all of their body parts to the correct scale to the model size).

I like to inscribe the blank face with the guide lines to match the model head of the chart and the turn-around.

I then begin adding the facial features in an additive method, by following the facial anatomy. I carve sockets and lay in the eyeballs, then add the eyelids, cheeks, lips, etc.

This helps me construct the face anatomically and get a more realistic face that feels like it has volume.



After adding all of the features and smoothing them into the face, I have my new Aragorn head! (Albeit without the facial hair), and bald.

Notice that I am not going to be spending any time sculpting details on the ears. I added them just to be anatomically correct and help me ensure that I captured a good likeness this time around. The ears will be covered over with Aragorn's long hair in the final model and will help to make the hair look like it is flowing over real ears.

Wow! I love "Super Sculpy" and will never go back! In just two nights time, I have the best head that I have ever sculpted and probably the best character likeness of all of my models!

Step 1 is complete. Next, I need to design an all-new pose and start the body frame.




























Aaaah! Much better than my original "horse-faced" Aragorn!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Whew! Boromir is FINALLY complete!

After a week of setbacks on the resin curing, I finally got Boromir finished! He stands 11 1/2 inches tall and is complete with the Horn of Gondor slung around his shoulder.

The trouble I was having was with the resin sweating through small areas of the paint. This happens when the resin isn't thoroughly mixed in spots (my fault) and internal areas stay liquid longer and sweat through the porous material. I had to give the resin a little longer to cure, scrape the damaged paint, reseal the model (primer), and touch-up the paint. Easy fix, just time consuming.

Once burned... yada, yada. I'll be more careful when mixing resin in the future. No permanent harm done and the final result comes in as a tie with Gimli as my second favorite model after Gandalf. On to Aragorn!

It will take a little longer before you see a post for Aragorn. He is the last model I was working on and I was not finished sculpting him. I am also considering taking the sculpture all the way back to scratch. I have had some sculpting setbacks on Aragorn and I have never been happy with the likeness. I think I'll try my hand at re-sculpting his face and decide from there.