Any, any advice you can give me will be accepted! :D
Thanks!
Metal minis are cast from original sculptures made from binary epoxy putty. The originals are referred to in the industry as "greens", because the generic name for the putty is "greenstuff".
Why? Because the two parts are yellow and blue before you mix them together. The mixed putty is green.
You can also get grey, brown, and silver stuff. Each of the various brands and types of putty has it's own slightly unique properties. Many of the pros use various mixtures of one or more types in order to adjust the qualities of the putty such as hardness, drying time, ability to hold detail, etc.
Greenstuff or "kneadalite" as it's also known can be found at most hobby and game stores, as well as online.
Alternately, you could also use Sculpey or Fimo polymer clay, however these require baking in order to cure.
The first thing you'll want to do is make an armature or frame for your figure - essentially a stickman in the basic pose you want the mini to be in. Think of it as the figure's skeleton.
Most folks use steel or brass wire. Something between 20 and 24 gauge wire should be fine. Anything thicker than that will be too bulky and may interfere with surface details. Some folks also use thin paperclips if they don't have anything else.
You can also buy basic armatures and blank figures from the various mini companies.
Start by bending the wire into the basic pose you want the figure to be in. Make sure to leave enough wire extending from the bottom of the feet to mount the figure on a base when you're done sculpting it.
In order to hold it while you're working on it, insert the leg wires into a cork (remember to leave enough room to be able to sculpt the legs and feet) so you don't have to hold the armature itself or lay it down flat. Next, place a very thin layer of greenstuff around the armature and let it cure. This will help strengthen it, and give you a basic figure to work from - the "bones" if you will. Let it cure.
Once you have your armature covered in a very thin layer of greenstuff, start adding a little bit more to flesh out the basic shapes of things like the head chest and hips. Go slowly and stop as often as you need to in order to let your greenstuff cure.
Always work with a very small amount of material, as your working time will be somewhat limited if you're working with a material that self-cures such as greenstuff. It's always best to do a little, let it cure, and then come back. Trying to add too much material at once will make it more difficult to get your details the way you want them.
There are two places you'll want to look at for tutorials, advice, and instructions -
CoolMiniOrNot.com (CMON) has several basic sculpting tutorials...
The Reaper Miniatures Forums HERE are a great place to get good advice on how to start sculpting - a number of the professional mini sculptors hang out there and will be happy to give critiques and advice.
I hope I can get it quick 'cause I'm really excited about this! Thank you once again.
If anyone wants to add something else, I'm willing to read! :D
Expect to suck. And suck bad. :D
Even the pros almost never get anything exactly right the first time.
Nobody starts out good, you need to work at it. Any time you make something, look at it with a critical eye and ask yourself three things.
What's good about it?
What's wrong with it?
How do I change the wrong things to make them right, and how can I make the right things better?
One of the great things about greenstuff is that if you screw up on a part of what you're working on, you can just cut/scrape/break it off and redo it.
Sooner or later, you'll look at something you've made and think, "Hey, I don't suck as bad as I used to..."
Keep practicing, don't get frustrated, and you'll eventually see improvement.
I've been messing around with modifying my metal minis for years, and sculpting bits of scenery and small animals for awhile.
Although my sculpts of people still relatively suck since I don't do nearly as much practicing as I could, I'm pretty good at small critters. And I can honestly say my rocks and trees are about on the same level as some of the pros.
There are several sculpting starter kits available online. The one I picked up (years after I started, lol) came from sculptor Matt Gubser's Prophet Miniatures, although it seems his site is under construction at the moment.
But really, all you need is wire, greenstuff, a hobby knife, and some makeshift tools you can put together from almost anything around the house. A little bit of experimentation and practice will let you figure out what works best for you personally - I still occasionally use an old nut pick I stole from my mother's nutcracker set about fifteen years ago. :D
Oh, one really good sculpting hint - almost every sort of material you might choose to sculpt with will be fairly sticky during it's working time. You'll want to keep your tools lubricated. Use either water, vaseline, saliva or rub them on the bridge of your nose to gather the oil from your skin.
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's weird. But it works, lol.
XD Just like any other hobby or attempt to doing something. When you keep doing it and training over and over again you realize that you have improved and your work becomes a lot better.
Thanks again for the tips, I think I will start shaping some minis with clay first, you know, just to train a little before spending money on the green putty.
It would be cool if you can show me your work, just to catch some inspiration! :D
Like this:
The benefit is that each piece would be unique, along with hand crafted which would give the feel of something that might actually be seen in a D&D world, and if your character dies, you can retire the piece and use it as a 'gravestone' or statue of said character.
I got the idea from a couple of small (about 4-5 cm tall whittled wood tchotchke that my parent had gotten from Newfoundland. I haven't ever gotten the ambition to actually try this, unfortunately. I would bet if you got really good, you could actually make some money on E-bay selling them.
Thanks for your tip, I'll keep it in mind!