He who keeps making faces, his face gets stuck like that

Posing the figure. Building up the mass. This time I intend to create the full pose, with arms, before continuing to the details. Possibly make some sort of groundwork preparation for breaking up the figure. This way I can plan better on how and when to do the details. 

Haters gonna hate

I saw these amazing naturalistic faces on Cool Mini Or Not (maybe I should get on there some time) sculpted by a person who is somehow involved (founder maybe?) in enigma miniatures which look really good. I'm resolved to keep practicing making faces until I get better at them. More better. 

That's it for now. You may write in the comments if you wish.

TOP STORY: Tiny fighting man wears hat. Head is huge.

Measuring the new head it's a whopping 6mm from bottom of chin to top of hat. I'm slightly perturbed by this but I am rationalizing it by:

 1. some folks just got a bigger head than others, I should know, my hat size is the waist of a small lady. 

2. He's got exaggerated features which are somewhat more illustrative rather than naturalistic such as HUGE CHIN so it's not so bad his head is big(and his mouth is open). 

I'll try to control the head size better on the next ones. 

The caps bill still needs "filling in" as it's mostly green stuff putty that's been placed to support the wire and enable a surface to be placed on top of it.

The head is slightly over sized mainly because of huge manly chin

Speaking of miniature heads: here are the new "blanks". I think this shape will serve better as a face/head under-structure. We'll see about it tomorrow.

Face/On

Another face. This time it's good enough in my eyes to continue and make the rest of the figure. I've sculpted the face in one go over the skull shape and then added the back of the head, cap bill armature, ears and strengthened the chin some in a second session.

Baked busts.

I love the feel and matte texture of the baked material. I'm experimenting with the first bust to see about maybe casting these. The very large size may enable me to cast acceptable copies without more fancier equipment that I need. I'm super excited to see them painted if it works out.

Face adjustment bureau

Making adjustments to my face. I'd like to get it a bit smoother before I bake it, but it's getting there.

Phase 2 of the face experiment. Seems to have gone over well! It's a bit un-refined in places and slightly over sized but I think this technique has some merit. On the other hand it does require to either plan very well ahead in terms of what you want the face to look like or simply live with however it turns out. No "editing" on  the fly. Maybe more deconstruction will bring better results? Maybe...

Creepy corpse face

An experimental miniature head in Super Sculpey Firm. I learned some interesting lessons just working the shapes over and over but I think it's too unwieldy for me to make any use of in this scale.  I've read about a particular mix of FIMO of all things that miniature sculptors are making use of. I'd like to give it a try some time.

Meanwhile we must soldier onward! Here is my next face experiment. 

I figured the nose and lips are my biggest weak point that I really need to be able to control from all angles. We'll see how it comes out.

A little corpsy creepy there buddy old pal

Face practice

Another practice head today. It's quite an intense process to do these. Mostly because I'm winging it most of the way. I expect once I have a method or at least a good road map they'll be smoother to make. I've tried to apply some of the lessons I've learned and had some success. Ultimately I am very displeased with the result but I think I've got some good ideas on how to work on the next face. Notably I need some structure for the nose to sit on so I'm not at the mercy of pushing materials around. Also a more pronounced teeth area so the lips can protrude more forward, you can see now he looks sort of like a toothless old man.

I'd like to get a result I'm happy with before I proceed in making the rest of the body. It's going to be another ETC trooper in the light/assault configuration.

Trust me, I'm from the future

My modular system is working well. The pistol came out more bulky than I had foreseen but I think it fits nicely. The hole and peg will hold the items well once glued by a hobbyist and they can be conveniently cast separately from the main mass so the "flow back"(I mean where a protrusion goes against the direction of the cast material and needs a tube for air to escape) isn't an issue. Now there's the matter of the hands themselves. I think I'll try chopping them off and fitting a special join. Might destroy the guy, might not. In any event, I'm getting a nebular feeling/plan that my basic mini guy making technique will change soon to fit cast-ability and modularity. Mainly in terms of posing arms and other bits so that I make more progress on the upper body in the initial stages of work.

I've made another tiny face. I'm not pleased at all. I want to practice more and get the faces looking better. I'll try changing up some of my material use. 

Made progress on my self portrait sci fi bust. I've shaved some mass off the top of the head and moved around some masses on the cranium. I added the heavy armor plates and under garment showing through there. I'll render out the ears more and probably bake it then.