Sculpting Miniatures - Sculpting Hands Part 2

In part 2 of this sculpting hands series, I cover how to create a typical fist shape.

[@tlilmiztli]

Thank you so much for this tutorials. I am yet to make my first sculpture in real world, outside of digital sculpting, and this is amazing value! Greetings from Mexico!

[@johnkelley9877]

Wow! That is really good sculpting. I like this tutorial because it goes into so much detail that is needed to create a realistic hand. Thanks for posting this.

[@toequantumspace]

You inspired me!! I read a book anatomy for sculptors and I found out that women are superior beings to us, men. I will try to sculpt my figures according to your wonderful tutorials. Concerning putty vs. fimo vs. some tools - one guy comes to Michelangelo, and asks wtf you use, man? Oh, I use Carrara marble, and you know, the tools from that dirty blacksmith in the outskirts of the city. Oh, damn, now I know why I had so little success with my sculptures!

[@tansygaelis9789]

Thank you for this video! I can quit banging my head against my crafts table!

[@TomMasonSculptor]

So glad it helped you Alicia. You found the video before I even clicked publish! It was a good reminder for me to do so though. Thanks for watching!

[@Indigorun]

I appreciate all the great tutorials. I had one question. When you mix the FIMO and the Procreate together do you still have to bake it to cure teh FIMo or does the mixing of the two cure the FIMO

[@TomMasonSculptor]

James Valdez I have made several miniatures using this mix and they have always molded fine. The sculpts were never baked as per the instructions on FIMO packaging. The curing of the putty seems to be enough to set up the material. With that said, I do use a putty oven to speed up the curing process so it is technically being backed but not at the same temperature or length.

[@TheGamerZapocalypse]

I remember Gene Van Horne showed me an armature he had made that was similar to the Reaper advanced one, but he had the portion where the hands would be actually flattened out and had cut individual fingers and a thumb for each one...it was incredible. He used guitar wire for most of the armature, which is a great idea because the strings have tiny rings all along each string which would help the putty stick. I don't remember if he said they were one offs he had to make each time or they were castings. I think they were actual castings. It should be possible to cast something like that in white metal if you have enough of a small channel coming off the ends of each finger and thumb i would think. Tom, what sequence do you usually sculpt the head, hands and feet in? I always do the hands after the face so I have the head to use as a solid size comparison.

[@TomMasonSculptor]

+GamerZapocalypse when I sculpted in putty I always started at the feet and essentially worked my way up. Mainly this was to create a solid foundation for sculpting the rest of the mini. As I developed, I would work around the figure more, but the feet were still pretty early. Now that I sculpt with poly clay I tend to work the whole figure much more before dialing in. With all that said, my sequence is feet, head, hands. I always get the head shape fully bulked in as soon as possible though. It really helps me see if the rest of the proportions are working. Hands are usually last because I don't like to put on weapons until the very end.

[@TheGamerZapocalypse]

That's cool. Feet first, head then hands sounds best. I just picked up some classic FIMO Classic Black and White, but will have to order the FIMO Quick Mix from online. I want to try your 80% FIMO Classic White/20% FIMO Classic Black/20% FIMO Quick Mix. I would prefer sculpting the way you mention, working the whole figure up before dialing in. FIMO will allow the time to do this...can't wait. I heard back from Fortress Miniatures and they said they first do metal master castings before doing any resin castings of a piece. Is that how it works when you have your poly clay sculpts cast by them? Is the mold for the metal masters low temp like the mold for the resin would be? I thought metal castings would mean high temp molds, or is this a low temp metal? Sorry to be bugging you about this.

[@TomMasonSculptor]

+GamerZapocalypse I think there was a misunderstanding about the resin masters. I never do resin masters. I was just saying that's a good way to do it if you absolutely want the original back and don't have a mold maker that can handle poly clay. I always have my poly clay sculpts vulcanized to get the masters (low temp as you mention). That's it :)

[@TheGamerZapocalypse]

My bad. Thanks for clarifying.

[@maverickcorlas]

do u have any tutorials for sculpting guns or other weapons?

[@TomMasonSculptor]

+maverickcorlas I've done one tutorial on sculpting bladed weapons. A gun tutorial is in the future, but probably not anytime soon. Thanks!

[@AcornFox]

Is there a starter kit you'd recommend or would you suggest just picking up this stuff individually? You seem to have been doing this a while so I totally get that you're maybe not up on all the beginner stuff out there. I'm just trying to get an idea of how much I actually need to spend to get started with decent tools.

[@TomMasonSculptor]

I actually sell a starter set of tools (need to list it on my site) as well as my single favorite tool, the Wax 5. For a one stop shop, I would suggest going to www.bombshellminins.com. Patrick Keith keeps a great selection of tools and carries ProCreate and Beesputty for sculpting.

[@AcornFox]

@@TomMasonSculptor Oh that's awesome! I'm trying to find your site, and I can't. It's not in your about section.

[@TomMasonSculptor]

What?!? That’s terrible news. Thanks for letting me know so I can get it updated. For the time being, you can find it at www.thetommason.com Thanks!

[@AcornFox]

@@TomMasonSculptor You're welcome. It's also possible I'm just dumb and didn't see it lol Either way, if you're not doing it in more recent videos, you might consider putting the link in the description box. Haven't gotten through them all yet, so I'm not sure.

[@TomMasonSculptor]

CONFIRMED! You are NOT an idiot. The ABOUT section is sorely lacking in links, but everything is updated now. Thanks again for letting me know. Also, if you're interested in one of my sculpting kits, just send an email and I'll send you info on what all is in it.