Sculpting the final model

After finalising my design i made a rough drawing of the character at the scale i would be sculpting in and using this as a reference i built my armature using steel rod as the main support and aluminum for the rest, this would mean i had stability but also flexibility when posing the armature.
By using aluminum it gave me freedom to pose the figure how i liked and later on when covered with clay i was still able to fine tune the posture by moving arms and legs.



The posture i have chosen is one that i spent a long time deciding on, the pose is very important for the character and after reading several books on sculpting and composition the main complaint from the authors was the over use of very dramatic and extravagant poses such as one in mid motion or balancing on tiptoes, that the use of such compositions are instantly appealing but the viewer will start to become uncomfortable with it on longer viewing as a pose that projects a feeling of movement but is frozen in time will create some agitation in the viewer. the goal of a sculpture is to have something that someone will be willing to come back to again and again and be able to find something new and feeling of satisfaction and wonder but if the viewer is unable to look at it for long than how will this happen. the composition of the sculpture has to be comfortable to the view.

Contrapposto: The appearance of weight shift in sculpture by the depiction of counter-positioning, in which the body relaxes on one side as the other side takes on the weight of the body and tenses up.

i have used this idea but more subtly with slight weight shift on to the left leg with right shoulder coming forward and up, and the head turning slightly to the right.

I used several books on human and animal anatomy as reference, the hardest part on the design was deciding on the legs, trying to create the right thickness to length ratio because of the extra joint in the legs and choosing how the muscle would look, human and animal leg muscles look different because of the different way the skeleton is set up for movement, i chose to stick with human muscles in the thigh and shin but use animal in the second shin.




The skin texture was created using a very fine sculpting tool made from an acupunture needle bent to shape then spuerglued into a piece of wooden dowl. each line on the body has been individually skulpted, i did try using a texture map but i found the results were not as good when done by hand. There were several layers of skin texture I then used a small piece of a pet grooming brush which i had cut down, which i dragged across the surface to create a finer skin like texture on top, i also used a hard plastic brush and a tooth brush depending on what outcome i wanted to achieve.


I have looked to create a heroic composition showing strength and power


The design of the head is was combining of the two head maquettes that i like the most, the neck folds are a nice touch that came out of one of my maquettes i think it gives an armoured thick skin look but only on the back and shoulders, this would be the area most at prone from attack.

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