Sculpting Geometric

One of my favourite sculptor, Philippe Faraut, show how he uses geometric shapes to sculpt a myriad of faces. A must watch indeed!

Oil Clay Hot Box Tutorial for Sculpting

Working with wax and oil clay can be tricky if you don't know the method. The key here is by controlling temperature as in keeping the clay or wax warm. This video from youtube user stopmotion magazine show how to make a simple (and cheap) hot box to warm your clay and waxes. Basically all you need is a box, aluminium foil, some adhesive and of course the heat source which in this case is a 60 watt incandescent bulb.
Checkafter the jump for another simple hot box build by Mr. David Lemon (clayguy1).

SCULPTING THE FEMALE TORSO by PETER RUBINO

A slideshow video from Peter Rubino's book, Sculpting the figure in clay. I'm very interested in the method he's using for making this torso. Reminds me of Burne Hogart's approach on drawing the human anatomy but in sculpture form. Good stuff!

You might want to also check other books these author wrote below

model Build "Kyubei-kun" illustration by aoi yuuki(悠木碧さんのイラストを立体化)

Remeber the Kyubi figure build video from a couple of post back? Well Youtube user Kakuzai2010 is at it again. This time his making Kyubei-kun, based on the illustration by Aoi Yuuki.
You can check his other builds at http://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/3945321

Thanks to Masa from GKJapan.com for the heads up!

Takayuki Takeya Studio Visit | CollectionDX

Takayuki Takeya Studio Visit | CollectionDX

I've been a fan of Takayuki Takeya's work for a long time. This article on collection DX is like a mini tour of his studio. Just look at the pictures. LOOK AT IT!!!
Enough said.

Commission Started-Clayguy1's sculpting videos

Another great videos by Mr. Lemon (clayguy1). This time you get to see and learn how he start sculpting a woman bust. Armature, measurments, scales and such. Be sure to visit and subscribe to his channel (and while your at it, mine too. [/shameless plug]) watch his other videos too for more goodness and wish him well (he just been on an accident recently).

More of his videos after the break. Enjoy!

model Build "Kyubei"（キュゥべえさんを作ってみた）

A very interesting video on making a Kyubi figure (Mahou Shoujo Modoka) from scratch.
The material used by the author is polyester putty, commonly known as auto body filler.
I'm curious on what material the eyes are made of since I can't read Japanese. A great video on the process on making a figure from scratch.

Let's Make an Anime Figure!: The Torso

Finally! A new video is up on my "Let's sculpt an Anime Figure" series.
The topic this time is sculpting the torso. This is a general form of the torso so it can be made to be either male or female, although in this video I was aiming for an athletic female physique. The material used in this video was MwaxZ-E, the softest of the modeling waxes.
So enjoy and stay tuned for more videos from Midztoyz.

working with wax

Many people are not familiar with working with wax as a sculpting material. The only thing to keep in mind while working with wax is temperature management. Wax will soften and melt at high temperature and will stiffen and solidify when cooled. I get asked a lot on how to warm my waxes, especially the harder waxes, and make it pliable. Hopefully this video will answer some of those questions.



My warming station consist of a 15 watt, 220 volt mug warmer and a tin bowl with water in it. Also a rag for wiping excess water. The warm water will make the wax pliable and workable. Depending on the ambient temperature of the room you work in, that could mean from 30-90 seconds work time. I'll post more on my wax warmer set up in the next post (still need to record the voice over for that one).

Nagja the snake lady WIP

Started this sculpt to participate in The Clubhouse sculpting jam.
 I've started several sculpture like this in the past but haven't finished even one. So this is the one that WILL be finished, with paint and all that jazz. Took my inspiration from FFXI lamia. Will probably change the head design. Sculpted in MwaxZ E, the soft type. The torso is about 10 cm. Since it is sculpted in soft wax, I will need to transfer it to a harder wax soon, or perhaps straight to resin for detailing and finishing. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle :)
 More pictures after the break.
Also, stay tuned for more updates from my older projects. Toph included!

New mini compressor! and some rant about material and tools

Sorry, no sculpting related post this time.
Just want to share my new mini compressor kit, pictured above. I got it from perkakasku.com. It cost me around US$80 but in the long run it'll double my work efficiency. Here's why.

Watch the Sasano-Bori Carving Technique Live!

It might not be anime sculpting, but this video is interesting in so many ways. Creation of a sculpture, check. The person doing it have madz skillz, check. Big ass knife, check!




While we're on the subject of carving, check the video after the jump for something even more interesting!

homemade sculpting tool

This is the tool seen in the anime face making video. It's made from a used wooden chopstick that I shape and sanded to make it smooth. After sanding I coat the thing with some laquer to keep it shiny, smooth and easy to clean. Sometimes the best tools are the ones you craft yourself, because who's better to know what you need and want but yourself?

Here's a couple of detail shot of the tool.



Happy sculpting everyone!

Making /Co/lette part 1

This post is long overdue. It was supposed to be up Tuesday, but better late than never.

These are WIPs pics of a side project I'm working on. She's Colette, a character created by the denizen of 4chan's /Co/ board.
I'll try to document the process of making this figure from sculpting, molding, casting, painting and finishing.
So let's do this!

Head batches!

These were the test heads I made for last week's 'Let's Sculpt an Anime-ish face' video.
They're good as a warm up exercise and serve as a quick sketch to get the my mood going. See the last piece there? Yep, she's on the way, sadly not as an action figure though. Probably a small 6" figurines.



More tomorrow! Stay tuned!

comic tools

comic tools

This week 'Let's make an anime figure' post is a bit late. In the mean time, scoot on over to Matt Bernier's Comic tools blog. What is a blog about comic got to do with sculpting anime figurines? A lot actually.

The key for making a good and believable figure, drawing or sculpture, is an understanding of anatomy. Sure you can learn all the names of the bones and muscles but sometimes you just need a quick reference point. Matt's tutorial on drawing the human figure is great for this. Go to his tutorial and read up on the skeletal system. You can adapt this when you're making your armature. After that go on and read about the muscles. It helped me quite a lot, especially the leg and back muscles. As a starting point, just clik on the link above. It'll bring you his post about constructing the torso part of the skeletal system and then read on from there. Really really good stuff.

So in short, go there and learn some basic anatomy, and I'll post the first part of 'Let's make an anime figure' soon.

Sculpting open eyes in clay. Sculpting tutorial.

Having trouble sculpting eyes? I do. Then watch this video by JoannnaModzdzen about sculpting the eyes. She does great masks too.

let's sculpt an anime-ish face!

Finally! The first video of Midz's workbench is live!
This will hopefully be a series of video tutorial on making an anime figure.
I will try and upload a new video every week. So stay tuned!

This is my method on sculpting an anime-ish face for my figures. The material used in this video is my own wax blend, MwaxZ type E. The tool is made using a discarded wooden chopstick from a noodle takeout. Perhaps it would be better if I made a picture gallery accompanying this video with some desctiption text. Maybe next time.
The smooth easy listening music is "Uonin's Piece" by Manu Cornet. I really like this song very much.



Enjoy!

ポケットの中のアトリエ Pocketable atelier 女性の顔 1 Woman's face

A very nice video series by Youtube user Nakanokay. it's Poketable Atelier!
Check the channel for more of this little treasures. There's even Woody and Thomas too!

Simon 'Spiderzero' lee sculpting demo

Not long ago I was called up by a friend to join a live streamcast. He just said that it will be awesome. And it was. Below is the video from that live stream.

Simon Lee is a sculptor and designer with a real knack in creature designs. You can find more of his work through his site at www.bigbluetree.com. In the video he guides us in his sculpting process, from making an armature, fleshing the musculature, dynamic posing, and much more. There are a brief Q&A section at the beginning and near the end. It's quite long though, so you might want to skip ahead (but I recommend not to).
Be sure to visit his youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/SimonLeeSpiderzero
Enjoy!



*Here's the link f you have trouble seeing the embedded video  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11591107

In other news,The warm up project is almost ready. I know I said it will be ready in 48 hours but something come up. My HDD is dying and giving me very VERY bad access time/ transfer rate (384.7 kb/s on ultra dma 5! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF~). So I spend most of the day reinstalling and setting up my Ubuntu box on a new drive. Still need to sort some stuff for the post, hopefully it'll be up by tomorrow evening.

See you tomorrow!

Midztoyz in changing....

It's a new year and with it come new resolutions!
As you might notice, I've change the layout of the page a bit. Hopefully for the better. For me, the colors are more pleasant for those midnight browser. 
This year will be the return of the "Let's make an Anime figure" tutorial series. And this time it will be done to completion. The first project of the year will be a little warm up. The first post will be due in 48 hours.
This project will at least get updated twice weekly, hopefully thrice weekly.
We will also be doing a comeback on the action-figure part that has been so long overdue like the Fire nation girls *cough* ..toph.. *cough*. Oh and I finally able to take international orders for the waxes I'm making. YAY!

So check back in 2 days to see the first step of this transformation.
It the mean time, browse the old archive, see some videos, buy some stuff (or at least click the links) and enjoy!

This year is going to be awesome!