Disclaimer
I'm a novice at model making; what I know about it, I've picked up from watching other people do it, and from chatting with people. I should really get a book on it or something just to learn it properly from the basic level. In saying that though, I don't think I do too badly.
In these model-making posts, I do a semi-tutorial, explain my thinking and how I do it, so if you're interested, hopefully, you'll be able to pick up enough ideas to get started, I'd also advise looking it up on YouTube, or even Google, there are tons of people out there who can help. More than anything, just practice. Buy some supplies - which are inexpensive - and get started, there's nothing better than practicing.
These creatures/ aliens I make are from the science fiction stories I write, and while I know what these creatures look like, I use model making as a way to give myself a 3D example of them, which then helps when writing descriptions.
First thing's first, and that's the armiture. For this, I knew it would be a bust, so I didn't need to get too technical with it. I worked out the base, and then the neck. I decided to form it while it was still attached to the spool.
The Spools, I got a five-pack of these wire spools off Amazon for about 10 Euros, and they come in different sizes - this one here being the largest.
Typically, I use the large, or the middle size for the armature, depending on the scale.
Once I was happy with the scale I cut and twisted the excess wire.
Usually, when making busts I like to do the head separately, just so I can work on details without needing to hold the entire body. But, today I decided to do something different and that was to make it all one piece, and I also hooked the end of the spine.
I wrapped a bunch of tinfoil in the general humanoid shape until I was happy with it.
Here it is from another angle, and you can see the round of the head. By this point the neck of the creature was long, but I thought of making it something similar to the Kaminoans (The Cloner Aliens From Star Wars)
Between the last photo and this one a lot has changed. What I failed to document was the tedious part of covering the tinfoil base in clay.
I know this part as the "Oh, I should do this." Section.
No, I'm not talking about creating ideas for the model. I've noticed that during the covering stage, my mind wanders and I ask myself if I really want to do model-making today.
Here's A Rough Idea of My Inner Thoughts During This Time Frame.
- Start: 10-15 Minutes - "Hmm, you know, I should probably do this, that, or the other. Maybe I should put this stuff away and do something else."
- Middle: 15-25 Minutes - "I'm Half way there now, I may as well finish it off and then come back to it tomorrow."
- End: 25-35 Minutes - "Actually, I'm starting to get an idea for it now. I'll finish covering it and work some details out."
This is pretty much how it goes every time I work on a model.
I usually go into these projects blind and around the time of covering it in clay, I find an idea I want to work out.
Because there are no real details in the face or structure, I decide to add some clay to build up the face, so I could get a better idea of how it should look.
As I said, the long neck gave it the look of a Kaminoan, so, to get away from that look, I wanted to add much broader features, which In a way is almost out of place with the slight neck and pinhead.
Here's a Kaminoan, by the way, just incase you're wondering
Here is a profile of the head, with the Jawline and facial structure blended in place it is starting to take shape.
I started to dislike the idea around now and was kind of annoyed by the out-of-proportion shoulders and the fact they were so flat.
I started to think of some ideas to mitigate this, and one of them was to model this as a head on a spike and I could turn the base into terrain. But, that wouldn't work, because the neck was too thick.
I picked it up, and decided to push up the tinfoil beneath the base and it worked to create the rounded shoulders, which filled me with confidence in the creature once more.
With a little more work, the face was looking much better, and I pushed some eye holes into his face.
Here's a side profile of how it looks now.
I positioned his head back, to allow easy access to his neck and lower chin, as I wanted to spend some time on his neck and voice box.
I had a much better idea of how he was going to look now. It started to resemble a turtle in a way, which got me thinking about some lore and general ideas about his species.
After some detailing on his throat, I really started to like it, and it gave me that push to carry on with a clear idea of where I was going with it.
I have these tools with a ball on the end of them, and there are many different sizes, I went over it with a mid-sized one, and then went over that with a smaller one for more added texture. It worked well because this creature is reptile-like.
I like the lumps and bumps on the skull, combined with the four eyes, nose, and neck. I think it all comes together to make something otherworldly, but also not.
By now, it was getting late, and while I wanted to continue, I thought I'd be better off leaving it until the next day, just to let some thoughts and general concepts mull over.
Motivation To Keep Going
Often times while working out these models, I go through many stages of hating it, and a lot of the time, I feel like giving up. Personally, I think that's normal, and the best thing to do is take a small break and come back to it.
Also, I rarely focus on one area for too long, it's good to move on to a different section so you don't get tired of it. More than that, it's good to work on a few areas gradually, because if you have a model with an amazing nose, and everything else is blank, you'd be more tempted to give up on it. But, seeing those details come in slowly over the whole piece, you're left with a good overall impression of what the end result will be.