Tip: Using Pre-made Objects while Sculpting

Eyes, teeth, horns... often times, a sculpture requires features which repeat and need to appear nearly identical, or which need to be an exact shape and size each time. Instead of trying to sculpt each part individually, it can sometimes be easier to pre-make an object (like the spikes in the lizard photo) or use an existing object (the glass cabochons being used as eye placeholders).

The lizard character has several spikes along the back of his jaws, and two more beneath his chin. I crafted a single spike from clay and made a mold of it, then filled it with various levels of resin to create a pair of spikes in each of the sizes I would need. I've also seen people pre-make horns and other features using polymer clay which, once baked, is a very nice hard material.

Similarly, the eyes on the lizardman sculpture are 20mm glass cabochons. Rather than trying to sculpt a very precise dome shape in clay - a very tricky, tedious task - I simply added in placeholders of the exact shape and size his eyes will eventually be.

Not only does this trick save time, but it also means these features cannot be deformed by an accidental nudge or nicked with a sculpting tool, allowing you to work around them comfortably. You can also decide whether you want to cast the add-on pieces as part of your final mold, or remove them and cast them separately.

	Here's the same technique used on the eyes for the Sad Grim Reaper mask commission, crafting a single dome in clay with a pit in the center, and then molding and casting it so that both eyes would be precisely the same size and shape.
	For my Spider Mask, I needed a set of six extra eyes, which needed to match on either side and be perfectly smooth and round, so I used a variety of small domes I had handy to create the effect.
	Similarly, Cullen's helm required some hardware on either side that needed to match perfectly, so I sculpted one of each piece and molded and cast them ahead of time.
	My Krampus (or horned demon) mask's horns were much too large and unwieldy to be included as part of the main mold, so I crafted them ahead of time and used them to determine the size and shape of the hole they'd be fitted back into once the full mask was assembled. It also meant I could cast multiple different types of horns (long horns or short horns) to give the mask a different look, or to be worn separately from the mask!

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Categories: Costuming, Tutorials, Materials, and Tools, Tutorials, Tips, and Tricks
Tags: creature features, eyes, horns, oil-based clay, pre-made objects, sculpting, sculpture, teeth, tip
Live Date: 5/15/2014 | Last Modified: 9/29/2022