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| Revision Log | |
| 20 October 2000 | moved to Profiles |
| 30 April 2000 | page first published |
2,634 hits since 20 Oct 2000
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?
Today I began to apply some of the final layers of putty. The first area I worked on was the Hydra's belly. This defines the front line of the torso and gives me a reference point to work from.
Now it is time to start taking a little more care. I press the putty in place, then - using my fingers and a spatula-like tool - I gently even it out over the belly. Then, using a tool with a rounded blade, I press into the putty to define the muscles, finally drawing the point of the tool across the surface to give the muscles that corded, flexing texture.
Then it was time to make a big change by bringing the tail up to its final thickness. This would have the effect of making the tail appear shorter, which I had allowed for when making the wire armature.
(This is worth remembering if you ever try sculpting for yourself. When you start with the wire frame, be careful not to make arms, legs or tails too short. They always look long and skinny in the wire stage and seem to shorten as you bulk them up.)
It was important to get the curve of the tail right and to taper it slowly from the main body. However, to work on one part of the tail I had to move another part out of the way. This involved cutting through the putty and bending the end of the tail upwards. This is not a problem, and in fact there are many times, when making a model, that you need to take a step back in order to proceed. When this part of the tail is done, I will bend the end back into place and simply continue.
