"A few questions to some of you professional sculptors" Topic

Mainly asking about 15mm historical figures.

When starting a new project, how many masters were you expected to produce in a day, on average?

When sculpting horses, do you do it in stages, as in needing some drying time during the sculpt? I guess the same could be asked about any figs.

Do you do most of you work from a drawing or picture?

Thanks for you time,
Dean

0,03

I used "dollies" which are poses of bodies without arms or heads. Running, standing, walking, kneeling, etc. From a dolly you could easily do multiple figures per day. I did as many as 20 per day. If you are using an armature, then the process is much slower due to letting the green stuff, or grey stuff, or whatever you are using, dry sufficiently to not damage your work. When sculpting the dollies I usually did 3 to 5 per day. However I was a part-time sculptor so much of my work was done in the evenings or on weekends. I was also NOT under any time constraints for delivery of products.
Horses are the same as figures. Drying time is necessary.
I did most of my work based on paintings, drawings, or existing 28mm figures replicating them in 15mm scale.

Thanks for the reply Perris0707.

Cheers
Dean

Also, what tools do you use or make for the very detailed work like the faces of both humans and the horses?

Cheers
Dean

Well, I guess I just figure it out on my own.

I use a selection of dull and sharp Xacto blades. I also have some shaped wire 'tools' (such as a double-wire 'poker' || that I use to put in nostrils.) It all comes down to practice, practice, practice. If you are not sure how you are going to sculpt something, before mixing your putty (and possibly wasting it), experiment on a piece of modeling clay (You can mush it up and start over. ;-)
I've made my own set of armatures/dollies & cast them in metal. That way they are a 'standard' size, and are easy to bend into poses, then it's just a matter of adding the detail. Making up armatures from scratch each time was a chore & quickly killed enthusiasm for projects (I have a box of unfinished ones.)
Hope that helps…

Zephyr1, thanks very much. The modeling clay is a good idea and I was pondering the idea of making some dollies as well.

Cheers
Dean

If you can sculpt a really good 'dollie' (especially the hands), it will save you a TON of work. My first ones were horrible, but I've improved them since (the latest ones now have ears ;-) I did 3 different sizes for both 15mm & 28mm, just need to make molds for them…

Thanks again, I just finish a year long painting commission and looking foreword to do some sculpting for a while. Looking to some figs that are compatible with the old Old Glory Napoleonic's that IMHO are 16mm.

Cheers
Dean

How do you make buttons?

Welll, since you ask, here's one way to do it… ;-)
I have a piece of wire solder that I drilled out the end (but not very deep.) Put a tiny dot of sculpty stuff where you need it to go, press down on it with the hollow wire to form the button (or rivet), then clean up around it.