Learning to Sculpt by Finishing a Sculpt

first 15mm miniature

When you’re sculpting a miniature, do you ever feel like crying?  And not because of sheer joy when you witness your sculpting skills but because your sculpt isn’t quite turning out the way you envisioned?  With my first 15mm miniature, I felt like that.  But a voice inside of me said that I should finish him, and I’m glad that I did.

Even when I find so many things that I don’t like about him, there are things that I like– things that I wouldn’t have found if I had stopped sculpting.  I like his right arm and the simple folds that were created.  I also like his helmet, even when the edge near his left cheek isn’t so clean.

Another reason that I’m glad I finished him is because I learned a lot through the process.  One of the big things was seeing what happens when you sculpt without armatures in the arms.  I’m not sure why I did this but I only used an armature for the body and head.

Having no wires to support the arms can work if the arms are close to the body.   You just have to slowly build up the arms and cure it in your oven before adding more putty.  In this manner, you’re essentially creating a base to work off from, like having an armature.

So these are the things I’ll take with me– some good folds, a helmet that I like, and a lesson about working without armatures– things that I can use to help me with my next miniature.