Jarold's Art Blog

Sculpting the barbarian now for sale!

2011-12-16T20:55:00.003+08:00

Heavy Walker

2011-11-12T23:23:00.002+08:00

This was a speed painting I did during the Doug Chiang Masterclass a few months back, decided to polish it into a portfolio piece.

Water Elemental

2011-11-09T02:32:00.002+08:00

Hulk

2011-10-18T01:38:00.001+08:00

night painting

2011-10-11T01:52:00.000+08:00

Speed paint

2011-10-07T19:06:00.002+08:00

Borg Sentry

2011-09-25T23:10:00.001+08:00

Sketch in Zbrush and final concept in PS, i really like the convenience and speed of this workflow. will explore more!

I & I

2011-08-23T01:05:00.003+08:00

A quick photo and digital cleanup before i head to final paint.

C.O.W

2011-08-03T00:29:00.000+08:00

happy that i have more stuff to show here

PAUL sculpture

2011-08-01T01:28:00.002+08:00

Red River

2011-08-01T01:27:00.002+08:00

the forest

2011-07-24T00:53:00.001+08:00

Ogham Pillars

2011-07-22T18:53:00.002+08:00

The Sword

2011-07-18T01:40:00.002+08:00

Town House

2011-07-15T16:57:00.000+08:00

Steampunk Juggernaut

2011-06-27T00:29:00.002+08:00

from a friendly Art Jam session on facebook :)

Future war Aslan

2011-06-20T23:40:00.000+08:00

Environment Sketch

2011-06-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

Material practice, shiny!

2011-06-18T00:15:00.001+08:00

just a material practice, hence the lack of design value lol.

Creature 01

2011-06-17T16:56:00.002+08:00

finally got something i like after painting over this the third time.

so fugry this one.

D9 Study

2011-06-17T15:18:00.001+08:00

study of an artwork from the Art of District 9, direct copy with printed ref on table.

Griffon

2011-06-17T01:58:00.003+08:00

How we met.

2011-06-13T23:03:00.004+08:00

Mech sketch

2011-06-08T18:51:00.003+08:00

Vehicle Study

2011-06-07T01:32:00.002+08:00

HC Project - Medieval Clown

2011-06-06T23:49:00.002+08:00

My Dominance War 5 Entry

2011-06-06T09:26:00.004+08:00

some wips :)

HC Project - first warm up

2011-06-05T18:19:00.001+08:00

Art Jam, Metal Destroyer

2011-05-02T23:51:00.002+08:00

2 hours paint at Art Jam!

Papa Durian

2011-04-18T00:30:00.001+08:00

lil durian hates the cold, but it's ok since papa durian is with him.

Raven Spawn

2011-03-20T02:28:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, just wrapped this up.

enjoy!

Raven Spawn WIP 02

2011-03-08T01:28:00.000+08:00

small update, night people.

Raven Spawn WIP 01

2011-03-06T23:50:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone,

i am a big fan of Todd Mcfarlane's spawn, i've been collecting his toys since i was a kid. Generally i don't do fan sculpts because they intimidate me too much. haha, the idea of recreating an idolized figure always scares me.

alas, with the lack of spawn figures these days, i thought i'd give spawn a go. i chose Raven Spawn as it is my favorite of designs.

currently the body is about done, i'm blocking in the head. hope to finish this in the end of the month.

for those of you who don'y know what Raven spawn looks like.

Left, Raven Spawn series 21

Right, Raven Spawn series 25

Hot Toys Falconer Custom

2011-03-02T01:28:00.003+08:00

I recently been hooked with Hot Toys, a lethal hook indeed.
I've been eyeing the falconer for some time now, and i'm glad i finally settled on purchasing it.

one of the things i was eager to try out was customizing the head of this figure.
You see, the masked falconer is unmaskable. BUT, the original head sculpt of the Berserker ( a previous version of the same series ) is still intact, just unpainted.

So, with a little elbow grease and heat gun ingenuity, i managed to removed the bio ( predator mask for you non pred geeks ) unharmed.

had, to remove some excess plastic, bla bla, pics below.

Do remember that i just re-sculpted the head and mandibles with green stuff, i am no where as talented as the great Joseph Tsang and his team who made this original piece.

Cheers!

Frost Titan

2011-03-01T19:12:00.002+08:00

My entry for Phantasy Core
results will be out soon, hope i win!

speed

2011-01-31T11:03:00.003+08:00

speed at dg department, they have good tablets :D

MANBAT: colored

2011-01-24T08:27:00.004+08:00

color update for the batman/manbat sketch. will expore fur when the weekend comes again. haven't made a proper base for it yet. cheers!

btw, the bottom image is change a different color mood via the camera setting. the top pic is the closest to original paintjob.

Batman Sketch

2011-01-17T00:48:00.003+08:00

supp yo, long time no update here. a sketch pice that just cam out at random. this piece has been lying around for a while now, usually i pick it up every now and then during class.

look forward to it colored!

speed : fierce_lizard_bird_with_boots

2011-01-09T03:30:00.003+08:00

my idea is that horse shoes are kinda like boots, 1 hour, should lasso more next time.

speed paint

2011-01-07T20:33:00.003+08:00

1 hour speedy after work.

random topic : rusty stone house

random generator (awesome one btw)

http://www.ldaustinart.com/paul/speedpaint.php

Wonderful Market Sketch

2010-11-15T00:49:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, was a blast sculpting at the Market,
thanx to all that stopped to say Hi and taken interest in this art :D

here's a pic of the sculpt demo

me tha Winnah!!

2010-10-04T16:59:00.003+08:00

hi people, i won the competition!
yays and stuff, got some prize money(still waiting for the check) and a big goodie bag :D

walao, need to change my face.

Ho Sim, Me, and Chin Horng, the winnahs.

swagger!

cheers!

Anatomy Sculpture

2010-10-04T01:23:00.002+08:00

I've been working on this piece for quite some time now, it's a comical anatomy model which will be casted in the future. The idea is that it will be a nice reference for any character artist out there.

do comment if you notice anything off with the anatomy,

mountains more to fix, but its coming along,

cheers!

,

Class Sculpture/ Hell hound

2010-10-04T01:18:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone,
here's a sculpt that i worked on as part of a demo for the Sculpture Workshop,
the concept design isn't mine, but from a cool concept i grabbed from last years Dominance War.
Check out Vinicius's site for more awesome works from him :)

Sculpey regular and some lazy painted pics at the bottom.

cheers!

Sculpture Workshop Class of October 2010

2010-10-01T11:25:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone!

and congratulations for signing up or the sculpture workshop

Your first class starts in 7th October.
followed by three other classes every Thursday

14th Oct
21st Oct
28th Oct

Before you go off and start sculpting, you will need a good reference of your model.
go to cg sites and forums and look for appropriate orthographic reference.
I googled up "model sheet" and these are what i found.

I want you guys to look for a reference that has a good front side and back views,
aswell as a clear drawing, not some unknown sketch.

Also be modest! don't take a design so complicated no one would even try to sculpt.
find art that you like but also feel that you can pull off.

Here are some sculpture web links that i go to, to get inspired. Hope it does the same for you :)

Conceptart.org
Shiflett Brothers
Statue Forum
Joseph Tsang
Steve Wang

REMEMBER TO EMAIL ME THE DESIGNS BEFORE CLASS!!

after i have approved of the design, you can go ahead and print them out.

MAKE SURE THE SIZE OF THE PRINT IS THE SAME SIZE AS THE SCULPTURE!!

So just a friendly reminder once again,

1) Look for reference
2) email me the reference
3) Print the reference to the size of the sculpture you want to sculpt
4) Prepare money to purchase tools and clay from me
5) don't forget to come to class

If you have anymore concerns, pop me an email or give me a pm at facebook.

jaroldsng@gmail.com

Garreth the Silver Edge of Ga'Hoole

2010-09-27T18:39:00.003+08:00

Finally can wrap this up, hoo'ray!

some back story....

After the triumphant battle
where the Guardians once again
defeated the malevolent Metal Beak,

Peace did not last long,
as a new terror, in the form of
massive and unnumbered serpentine
wave appeared.

The Great Snakes, or the Chorndrea,
lurked within the deep dark cool
caves, striking silently at first, before
openly waging war on the Owls of Ga’Hoole.

Garreth is the first of the Silver Clads,
An elite group of Guardian owls
retrofitted with silver forged weaponary.
He is the Silver Edge, mystical silver
talons replace his birth claws, making
his strikes severely effective.

Garreth chases a lone Chorndrea into a pit,
unbeknownst to him, an entire army awaits!
Can he escape to warn the other Guardians?

Legend of the Guardians, The Owls of Ga'Hoowwyeahhhh

2010-09-27T02:23:00.004+08:00

Hey everyone, here an update of my LOTG submission, i feel it's about 95% done, with just 2 more days to the deadline, i'm gonna submit very very soon!

Finished owl model with partial uv and texture ( armor is using procedural textured shaders )

Early test render of shaders

model the enemies, some bad ass pythons, this here is already rigged as well as shaded.

Owl rigged, and set up the composition, i wanted a look of the owl sweeping down to get a python, and greeted by a whole army of hissing pythons. all pissed off.

early lighting test, my poor pc. all those feathers!

Below is a 95 % shiok render comp, showed some of the passes i used as well, but seriously, there was much work in photoshop for color balance, hue saturation, detail touch up, etc.

probably tweak abit more, cheers everyone and good luck to all that are joining!

and just watched the movie this afternoon, is HOOTINGG AWESOMEE
HOOT HOOT HOOT! i wanna so mate with that evil owlsss

3D owl

2010-09-05T13:35:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone,

taking a break of sculpey clay, and working on some digital clay :)

about 4 hours work, getting this mesh out, feathers are just proxies.

Student List for Sculpture class of September 2010

2010-08-30T10:09:00.004+08:00

CLASS OF SEPTEMBER 2010

Hey everyone, thanx for registering, it makes it so much easier for me to keep track.
as i said before, i only have 11 packs of sculpey available for class room use. I am trying to source for more, so if there are still anymore of you who are interested to join, do email me. and we will try to work this out.

Look forward to seeing you guys this Thursday :)

1) Nicholas Quek 0708097DG78-1

2) Wong Yong Taik

3) Samuel Wong

4) Hue Jia Yung

5) Name: Benjamin Cheong
Class: DG078-1
Index: 0708084

6) Name: Shane Shukri
Index no. : 0901146
Class : DG0901-1

7) name : Wong hui chinClass : Dg781Index : 0708062

8) Yutoshi Hirai from DG78-1

9) Name: Lee Yoke Hee
Class : DG0905-2
Index: 0901114

10)Name: Wong May San
Index: 0805118
Class: DG088-1

11)Jared
0708099, dg078-1

To all Students!

2010-08-29T21:27:00.005+08:00

Hey everyone News Flash!,

i've just checked my supply of Super Sculpey and i realize that i
only have 11 packs of Sculpey available.

i'm calling up Craft Haven tomorrow to check if they have any more. last i remembered i sapu-ed their entire stock.

if not, you guys will have to try and source your self, i will update this blog often, as well as my facebook. i will post it up here if i manage to scour any more packs of sculpey.

So far i have 8 students that have registered, so that's a remaining 3 packs of Sculpey available.

Nicholas Quek 0708097DG78-1
Wong Yong Taik
Samuel Wong
Hue Jia Yung
Name: Benjamin Cheong
Class: DG078-1
Index: 0708084
Name : Shane Shukri bin Iskandar
Index no. : 0901146
Class : DG0901-1
name : Wong hui chinClass : Dg781Index : 0708062
Yutoshi Hirai from DG78-1

So those who are interested please email me. that way i know how many that are planning to attend.

Sculpture Class Brief (class of September 2010)

2010-08-27T20:27:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone!

and congratulations for signing up or the first intake of sculpture students!

Your first class starts in 2nd September.
followed by three other classes every Thursday

9th Sept
16th Sept
23rd Sept

Before you go off and start sculpting, you will need a good reference of your model.
go to cg sites and forums and look for appropriate orthographic reference.
I googled up "model sheet" and these are what i found.

I want you guys to look for a reference that has a good front side and back views,
aswell as a clear drawing, not some unknown sketch.

Also be modest! don't take a design so complicated no one would even try to sculpt.
find art that you like but also feel that you can pull off.

Here are some sculpture web links that i go to, to get inspired. Hope it does the same for you :)

Conceptart.org
Shiflett Brothers
Statue Forum
Joseph Tsang
Steve Wang

Here are a number of examples, feel free to present to me all ranges of design, from cute, grotesque, creature, human, mech.

REMEMBER TO EMAIL ME THE DESIGNS BEFORE CLASS!!

after i have approved of the design, you can go ahead and print them out.

MAKE SURE THE SIZE OF THE PRINT IS THE SAME SIZE AS THE SCULPTURE!!

So just a friendly reminder once again,

1) Look for reference
2) email me the reference
3) Print the reference to the size of the sculpture you want to sculpt
4) Prepare money to purchase tools and clay from me
5) don't forget to come to class

If you have anymore concerns, pop me an email or give me a pm at facebook.

jaroldsng@gmail.com

Sculpting Class @ The One Academy

2010-08-25T13:56:00.004+08:00

Hellow fellow readers, especially Digital Animation students at The One Academy,
i'm opening up a short course on sculpting every month, and a new intake starts this september.

Unfortunately this course is only exclusive to Digital Animation students at the One,

however, if there is a response to have classes outside the institution, i will definitely work on that.

There will be a preview tomorrow (i know short notice right) at room F4 at the One.
so whoever is around town and is interested to get a glimpse before participating can attend the introduction class.

it will be a short intro, bout an hour or two.
from 10am till noon, then we can have lunch? :)

cheers everyone!

Koating my Kancil pt 3

2010-08-02T01:36:00.004+08:00

Hi Everyone, been taking some orders for the kancil, those of you who ordered, i really appreciate it!

as a thank you, here are some shop pics, pics taken by my lovely gf with her new awesome Lumix.

paints that i used, Citadel and Tamiya Acrylics.

One customer wanted the default color scheme.

It's weird to see two of the same color scheme, haha. gay brothers or something.

Here's a special blue one for another customer. He wanted a custom color scheme. Hope he likes it!

A gold/Bronze version for the principal of my college as a thank you gift thing.

Here's a line up- left to right,

Gold - TOA gift
Blue - custom paint
Default 1 - My personal piece
Default 2 - Customer ordered
Grey 1 - Customer ordered
Grey 2 - Customer ordered
Raw - Customer ordered
White - the original sculpey sculpt!

i've given away three sculptures already previously. would be cool to see a massive line up of all of them. but i will be sending them off this week to their new homes :) maybe a new sculpt in the future. haha.

Cheers!

Inception Workshop Pics

2010-08-02T01:14:00.003+08:00

How was everyone's weekend?
I've been busy in shop casting totems and kancils :)

Picture of it in action at my friends birthday/farewell party :)

Here's how it all started, brass rod with circular plastic sheet attached.

added an extension with bent metal wire.

glued in place.

padded with wire to give some clamping area for the epoxy.

padded with epoxy for the initial form block in, and after hours of sanding with my dremel and sand paper, we get a spin top!

sorry for lack(more like zero) of pictures at the sanding phase, it was just too hands on to stop for pics.

and thank you all the friends who are supporting this endeavor by purchasing the totems!

happy dreaming :D

Kancil Photos

2010-07-26T22:45:00.004+08:00

Can finally wrap this project up :) i really had a good time and a great learning curve on casting. I hope you guys enjoyed the pics.

look forward to more from me and cheers!

Koating my Kancil pt 2

2010-07-25T23:56:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone :)

Just finish painting 3 resin copies, one in the original brown, radioactive purple, and one faux bronze-gold.

This is the main color scheme for my kancil, will take better pics when i get hold of a dslr.

made this radioactive one for my gf :D

This gold one will go to a frame store, kinda like a marketing thing.

will take better pics! stay tuned :)

Koating my Kancil pt 1

2010-07-25T04:32:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone, have been dremeling and sanding, pining, priming all Saturday. Fooh! and i and seriously exhausted. Managed to complete 6 good casts, including repairing one that i shattered :P

so here are some pics of my AWESOME KANCIL ARMY!!

from left to right-

Noir edition to go to my workplace, Grey primed for paint up, clear coated raw resin for two special lecturers of mine, and the original sculpt primed and dusted white.

Sunday is airbrushing day :D

Kasting up my Kancil Pt4 Final

2010-07-22T22:40:00.017+08:00

Hi guys, it's been a long week :)

Here's the final installment of the casting progress of my Kancil sculpture. After this will be painting and finishing!

enjoy the pics! it's image heavy!

----------------

so now we're moving on to casting in resin. Now before you do this make sure your silicon mold is cleaned and prepared. You will also need a few resing casting materials.

Resin (mine is Multifilla Opaque Polyester Resin) + catalyst
mixing bowl
mixing stick
thick rubber bands
some cotton buds
baby powder
old brush
boards or foam cut to size to your silicone mold

Before we start casting, here's an idea of hour resin pouring works. I'm sorry i don't have progress pictures of this stage, but handling a knife plus trying to take a pictures was just too much :P

you will have to cut into your mold small gutters that make up your pour snout and your air vents.

Pour snouts for my sculpture is at the feet leading towards the head. i will be pouring the resin into the snouts, and air vents work as indicators to show that the resin level has risen, meaning the mold is being filled up with resin. and secondly, as a escape route for air so that we can avoid casting bubbles.

So let's start casting!

open up you molds and dust with some baby powder. you can use silicone release agent aswell, but baby powder is a cheaper alternative. adding release agents like this increases the lifespan of your molds.

use an old brush to dust the surface and brush off any excessive powder.

one all the molds are powdered, close your clam shell mold and bind it with thick rubber bands.

make sure the rubber bands are tight enough to hold the two pieces together, but also not too tight until it warps out of shape. A warp mold will lead to alot of leaking and warping in the output.

bigger molds require a exoskeleton to retain its shape, im using some pieces of cut foam board.

bind everything nice and firm.

for the mother mold, i'm using a wooden base for more strength. this mold weighs a ton!

All three molds are ready.

now we'll start mixing us some resin.

I've pre-measured the amount needed to fill my mold up. you can do this by first filling it up with sand or water, and then pour it into your mixing bowl. the amount of water/sand in there is the amount of resin you need.

multifilla resin is then mixed with calcium powder, this power strengthen the resin as well as making it more opaque. i'm not using too much of it as it thickens the resin, my mold has alot of small crevices to get into, so a less viscous resin is needed.

mix the calcium powder until the color is even, then add a few drops of catalyst into the resin. ideally the ratio is 1:10 catalyst to resin. but i go for a bit more like 3:10 to speed it up.

A warning for anyone wanting to try this, resin is extremely toxic! so please put on a high grade filter mask with anti bacterial filters. and wear some latex gloves.

Also, when working with catalyst, to not exceed the recommended amount. resin heats up when in sets, and adding more catalyst will lead to a extreme exothermic mess!

So be safe!

I'm pouring the resin into the mold, make a thin steady stream into your pour snout. this will reduce bubbles in your cast.

pour into you other molds, and leave to set for about 30 minutes.

well after 30 minutes,

to check whether your resin has set, press on an exposed resin pool in one of the snouts. it should be hard, but you want it to be slightly slightly tacky, you'll see why.

remove the rubber bands carefully, do not bend the mold.

slowly peel of one half of the mold bit by bit.

the resin should be tacky and soft now, almost like hard rubber. it will also be rather warm.

being slightly pliable like this, we can pull it out more carefully.

while the resin is still tacky, you can take a sharp knife and cut off the excess resin from your pour snouts and air vents.

moving on to the other mold.

good amount of flashing happened here, but no worries, with a knife, this can be easily removed.

both hands pulled successfully. some bubbles are present, but can be fixed with epoxy.

now for the mother mold!

removed bands. if you noticed some cotton bud sticking out, they are used to block air vents once they fill up. a nifty and cheap solution :)

the resin will be really warm for larger casts, slowly pop the edges of the mold, releasing the cast.

and here it is, a raw pull!

a bit of flashing here and there, some seam lines to sand, but nothing serious :D

sanded and cleaned up, ready for priming.

here's the sculpture sanded and the arms pinned in. some parts have been repaired with epoxy aswell.

stay tuned for the painted sculpture!

cheers :D

Kasting up my Kancil Pt3.5

2010-07-19T16:54:00.004+08:00

Here's a lil teaser before a full post. Weekend is over i will be getting back to work! :)

will anyone be interested in this kit? it's an 11 inch tall figure that comes in three parts.

I'm pricing them at Rm 75 per kit. any buyers?

I'm hoping to sell a few while i give some to my lecturers,

stay tuned and cheers!

Kasting up my Kancil Pt3

2010-07-17T19:04:00.007+08:00

Hi Everyone, sorry about the delay with this post, have been caught up with work during the week :)

Here's are the latest pics of my casting progress,

After two days of curing, i tested the surface to make sure my silicone was bouncy and firm.

broke off my foam walls, excitedly.

You can see here the plasticine layer stuck onto the silicone mold.

Gently peeled off the plasticine base.

This gave me a fright as the silicone areas touching the plasticine were very sticky and slightly mushy, almost feels like uncured silicone.
i tried to wipe it dry with soap water but that didn't work. I believe the silicone had a chemical reaction with this type of plasticine. apparently a forum member also noted the same, it was apparently due to the sulfur content in some plasticine.

Read more for we can solve this problem :)

Here is the raw outcome of the silicone. As you can see there are bits of plasticine everywhere, lodged into all the small corners.

Peeled off the other mold.

This one had more plasticine stuck on it.

Started removing the main mold, why i had to wait two days was because the surface of this silicone took longer to cure, it might be an error during the catalyst mixing, but fortunately it cured eventually.

Same as the first, plasticine stuck onto the mold.

Peeling it off, this orange plasticine is better because it didn't react to the silicone like the white one.

If there is no chemical reaction, the outcome of the silicone surface should be matte and dry, maybe just a little oily from plasticine residue. Read more for we can solve this problem :)

i removed large bits of plasticine with tweezers.

And here's a tip i found online on removing plasticine residue, use your store bought lighter fluid, the kind for Zippo lighters.

Squirt some on a cotton bud and swiftly wipe the excess clay off.

for larger areas, use a large brush and squirt a good amount of lighter fluid. The fluid should not react to sculpey in any way. but if you are using other forms of clay like Chavant, do test first before trying.

By using the lighter fluid, i also cleaned up the smaller molds with the plasticine problem. i used up quite a lot of fluid to clean off the chemical residue, and it took overnight to fully dry aswell. But i'm definitely relieved to have an ok mold.

After this point, my weekend was over and i had to get back to work, haha! So just earlier today i bought some silicone, and continued molding the other half.

I started off by rebuilding new walls out of foam.

with some vaseline and a brush ready, i brushed a light but even coat of vaseline unto the silicone surface.

You have to be careful and try to avoid brushing on the sculpture itself, as it will affect the final surface of your pull.

This step is very important. make sure you are careful and thorough with the vaseline application. if not, you'll get parts of silicone from the first half sticking to your second half. resulting in a mess!

Applying to the smaller molds.

I poured the silicone over the existing molds the same way i did before. now just pray and wait :)
cheers!

Kasting up my Kancil Pt2

2010-07-12T16:46:00.010+08:00

Hey guys, just got back from Multifilla and got my silicone.
I have to say, i'm comfortable with sculpting and everything. but when it come to casting and working with silicone, it always rattles my nerves.

I'm fairly new with 2 part mould making, so everything i'm posting up now is un-tried before by me. Haha, so far i've just read articles and watched videos on mould making, but never really attempted a full scale one like this before.

Just to get an idea of how expensive this process cost, i'm using two tins of silicone rubber for just ONE half of the mold. that means per tin is RM 100, total rubber cost for casting this up is RM 400!

sooo, i really really hope i don't screw up! :D

Ok, so here's the plan, i will be building a base out of plasticine and foam scrap, the plasticine should line up right at the median of the entire sculpture. The hands were easy, a full body cast like this is more complicated.

I used a plastic base, and sketched out the are of the mould.

I bought ten packets of school plasticine. (wish i bought 20)

As you can see, i've drawn the median along the perimeter of the sculpture.

I realized that i didn't have enough clay, so i had to substitute with some foam scrap and the base of the sculpture.

After a foam base is laid out, i start bulking on plasticine based on the line drawn.

continue bulking, here you can see a large blue foam chunk.

The entire sculpture is blocked in with plasticine.

using a sculpture tool, i start leveling the surface, especially where the sculpture and plasticine meet.

Keep leveling at keep it as neat as possible.

from here on i started using my finger to smooth out the surface, and then with a soapy brush to get into all the corners.

plasticine is smoothed and ready for the next step.

I added some resin vents using wooden chopsticks cut to length.

a wire is used as an air vent.

vents were added on the ears as well.

I build the walls similar to the ones on the hands. added gutters and keys similar to previous post.

here i'm marking the silicone level, the ideal is that the entire sculpture should be covered with atleast two thirds of an inch of silicone.

Spraying some silicone release agent.

Here is my RM 100 per tin silicone, i got them from Multifilla. it comes with it's catalyst to make it cure.

prepare a mixing bowl and mixing stick.

Stir the contents inside first before pouring into you mixing bowl.

pouring into my mixing bowl.

I used 50% of my silicone tin, so use 50% of your catalyst as well.

stir well, but not too fast, we don't want too many bubbles.

Pour your silicone slowly into you prep mould.

The idea is to pour rather high up, about 30cm high, so that you get a real thin flow of silicone into your prep mould. this will reduce bubles.

Also, pour from the highest point, and let the silicone slowly slide it's way down.

Here is the main body mould with silicone poured into it. sorry i couldn't get anymore inbetween pics, my camera battery was dieing :)

noticed i put in small chunks of cured silicone, this was from an old silicone mould that had already served it's purpose. I cut it up into flat nuggets and laid them together to save on silicone.

Silicone curing in the hand moulds.

Have to wait 24 hours for it to cure,

wish me luck!

Kasting up my Kancil Pt1

2010-07-12T00:09:00.007+08:00

Here are some early casting pics, wips for the first part.
will go to Vision tomorrow to get more plasticin and wood board to prep up the main piece. so far i've prepped the A part moulds for the hands.

each part will have a A and B part mould. So a lot of work up ahead!

1) started of by cutting the hands of, these will be separate moulds.

2) planned area for the right hand, the red marker indicates the area of silicon, and also the air vents (outlets) for the resin.

3) laid a large slab of plasticine (white) on to my wood board. this is the base of my mould.

4) cut it to shape

5) making sure my clay has good contact to the sculpture, priority is that roughly half of the sculpture is submerged into clay, and submerged across the median of the sculpture.

6) added some clay near the edges where the sculpture is in contact with clay, and brushed on some glass cleaner to smooth things.

7) Decided to trim more clay off. (this means i will use less silicone, cause it's so expensive)

8) Here i'm using a modified loop tool, to cut grooves into the clay.

9) Me cutting the grooves, it's like a gutter all around the perimeter of your sculpture, it will hold hold the two parts of mould together.

10) My gutter groove complete, i also pressed some key slots into the clay using a back end of my loop tool.

11) here i'm building the wall using regular foam boards. You can get these for a few ringgit for an A3 sheet.

12) The foam boards are glued onto the wood board using hot glue.

13) Foam board should envelope the entire plasticine base.

14) Make sure you put alot of hot glue on all the exposed edges on the outside. We don't want any leakage happening.

15) as you can see, lot's of hot glue

16) Here's a nice trick to speed up your workflow, after you applied your hot glue, take an air freshener spray can and spray some of it onto the glue, air fresheners have a cooling factor, so it helps speed up the cooling process. This way you can work faster, and make your workshop smell better haha.

17) i'm starting on the other hand

18) This time i'm adding a mound of clay right under the palm of the hand sculpture.

19) Spread your clay evenly. make sure there are no gaps.

20) the fingers are tricky, make sure there are no gaps.

21) same as before, i cut some grooves along the perimeter and indented some locking keys.

22) The part A mold prepwork is done!, off to bed and get some silicone soon :D

Kancil Warrior Done

2010-07-11T04:30:00.003+08:00

Hi people, my Kancil Warrior is done, goona go get some silicon soon. cast it up, im hoping to sell these to whoever is interested :) probably put up a tutorial as well on casting.

Kancil Warrior Update

2010-07-08T02:31:00.005+08:00

Hi guys :) an update on the arms. body is about done, now to think of the details an accessories.

2010-07-05T18:06:00.004+08:00

Hi guys,

Updated the sculpt. i digging the mouse deer look, so im going ahead with that.

all i have to do is merge the arms, and work on the accessories :)

really happy with how the hands and head turned out. been utilizing a lot of blocking techniques to help get form fast.

my reference, mouse deers are really cute. it nice to see it beefed up.

Satyr Sculpt

2010-07-04T22:30:00.006+08:00

Hi everyone, just wanted to post up some more updates on my Satyr sculpt :)
it's coming along well i guess. hope to make this one good.

cheers!

National Manga Competition Commission

2010-06-30T23:41:00.006+08:00

Hi everyone! recently i was commissioned by an event organizing company to create a sculpture for the NMC as a gift for their guest of honor.

H.E Masahiko Horie, Ambassador of Japan to Malaysia, signing a manga picture book by Canon, and my sculpture in the foreground :) photo taken from baka steam

picture with his excellency, very nice guy and very chatty!

got this engraved at REP Graphic, nice place. speedy service aswell with the engraving.

It was a fun project, hope to work with them again in the future, had good exposure there.

cheers!

Pictures from Pixar Masterclass in Singapore

2010-06-30T13:56:00.007+08:00

A few post back, i was talking about the masterclass, now after much delay, here are some pics of the session :) not much different from the one we had back home, but we had a super nice pixar sculptor leading it :)

btw, i am the one who looks like a delinquent, out grew my mohawk already :D and jerome is the big hearty guy. kinda like Lotso, but nicer.

Here are the pics!

As you can see, Jerome was really hands on about showing us how sculptors work, it was a small class but all the better :)

cheers!

oopss

2010-06-28T16:43:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone,

well especially those who attended my class, anyway, if any of you remembered about me talking about a sculptor named Dan Brown? well, turns out, i made a mistake, his name is actually John Brown.

Honest mistake? hehe

First Conceptual Sculpture Class

2010-06-28T15:55:00.006+08:00

Hi Everyone :)

Last saturday we had a really fun sculpting session, alot of people turned up with sculpey, industrial clay (bleckh) and tools.

we learnt alot, and i sure had alot of fun. it's nice to see so many people interested in this artform!

unfortunately i had to leave early, so i couldnt stay to see their final sculpt. i'm hoping you guys will continue working on it, and post it up for everyone to see! :D

as i see it, alot of you have a knack at sculpting, i hope you realize this and more more cool stuff :)

anyway here are the pics! ( thank you Hooi Ling for taking these )

That's me in blue btw, i really like this picture cos it doesn't show my face.

An to top it all off, they collectively bought me a sweet Toy Story 3 artbook :) haha, thanks you guys! you rock!

Practice Sculpt

2010-06-24T13:45:00.002+08:00

practice sculpt to get me warmed up, aswell as measure my current knowledge. i still have titanic room to grow. especially when when it comes to taking non blurry pics.

Character Sculpting Introduction

2010-06-23T10:38:00.004+08:00

Character Sculpting Introduction

Venue : The One Academy College/ Fine Arts Room
Time & Date : 10 am 26 June 2010

Admission is free

Things to bring

Clay ( i'd personally recommend Super Sculpey but i hear some are sticking to industrial?)
sculpting tools (just a few) most of it will be done via hand
wood block (as a base for your armature)
any additional reference you think might come in handy

* all interested students, please download your reference pack here ( anatomy and animal ref )
Pick either one of the designs, study them. photocopied versions will be distributed on the day itself. *

Course objective

Building a creature bust
Guide to creating your own armatures based on reference
Building and blocking up clay, understanding form
blending and finishing

Your reference

Male satyr

Male Minotaur

Art from Aaron Sims Company

* all interested students, please download your reference pack here ( anatomy and animal ref )
Pick either one of the designs, study them. photocopied versions will be distributed on the day itself. *

I look forward to seeing you!

if you have any inquiries, email me
jaroldsng@gmail.com

Artist Highlight

2010-06-22T10:35:00.003+08:00

Beth Cavener Stichter - A rush of blood to the head

Haven't highlighted an artist in a while, but the works really compelled me. i feel rejuvinated.

These boots are made for walking

2010-06-10T18:27:00.003+08:00

Blocking for silhouette to about 4-5 hours,

So far just finished modeled parts of the foot. Tons more work to go!

can anyone guess what mecha this is? :)

New Blog layout!

2010-06-09T19:33:00.002+08:00

Made a new template for my blog,
after about 2 hours tinkering with the html, it's done!
no new sculpt posts though haha.

check out this site!
It's where i got my layout.

cheers!

YEAHHhhhhh

2010-05-26T18:48:00.000+08:00

My Hot Toys Terminator T-800 finally Arrived!

PIXAR Master Class 2010 Report

2010-05-21T19:07:00.000+08:00

Made this report for office, it's employee responsibility, i feel it sort of sums up what i experienced during the short session. I thought i'd share it here :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Class outline:

To invoke the understanding of form and shape through the process of sculpting. Students are presented the techniques of armature building, and initial clay built up.

My feedback:

As I entered the classroom I was greeted by the hearty Jerome, I took my seats and he immediately began the lecture. After introducing himself formally, he presented to us a slide show of various sculpture build ups he had acquired over the web. Soon after, there were pictures of is own work, and his own progress of sculpture.

Jerome's highlighted particularly the fact that form dominates finish. That the strength of a sculpture is dominantly dictated by the quality of it's shape and form. Be it roughed in of smoothed on, a sculpture with distinct and clear definition of inter changing shapes on its mass has the better qualities of a sculpture.

We were taught to create quick armatures, simple and efficient ones and his sculpts are usually massed in quick and dirty. We then proceeded to displacing the armature with some aluminium foil, and then start to bulk up the clay. He constantly stressed to maintain a good overall form initially, to preserve the outlining shape of a design, rather than the details that litter within it.

Along the way, he was continuously showing us more behind the scenes sculpts he had done for PIXAR, from Toy Story to Nemo. Countless renditions of characters were sculpted and re sculpted before they ever get into a 3d software. This shows how particular PIXAR directors are at their direction before committing to digital output.

The sculpting session was very hands on, and Jerome would personally sit by your side and critique your work personally. It was a pleasure to have been under his guidance, despite it being rather short-lived.

Here are points that summarize the knowledge gained from this masterclass.

Form dictates finish
Detail just needs time and effort, form however, needs acute judgment in mass and shape.
Sculpting in the creative industry is a transparent process, where there is an continuous cycle between the drawn art, the director's vision and the film practicality

In no more than 4 hours, it would be impossible for me to gain any form of skill upgrade.

However, I did gain a wealthy amount of knowledge and ideology behind sculpture. As well as a personal view regarding this art from a veteran professional sculptor for the world's most loved animation house.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Reading :D

PIXAR Sculpting Class in Singapore Science Centre

2010-05-21T11:07:00.000+08:00

Wooh, just got back from Singapore from a short but informative stay there. I attended the PIXAR Sculpting Masterclass, but wouldn't really call it a masterclas since it was only 4 hours long.

It's a shame really, the sculptor present, Jerome Ranft is a veteran sculptor and pixar staff, and in his brief time with us, managed to share a good load of stories and ideologies supporting his career and art. Plus, he was a really nice person, a hearty guy who enjoys eating! I really wish it was an intensive 3 day course.

We were all assigned to create a sculpture bust during that session, and 4 hours is definitely not enough! all i managed to do is make a quick armature and block out the general shape of the sculpt.

But i've learned a good fare of things from this, and i can't wait to share all the emotions behind the sculpting at pixar. Bear with me as i will try to post up pics of the sculpt i did there soon.

cheers and happy sculpting!

Some low poly doodads

2010-05-12T21:56:00.000+08:00

Made this on and off during work.
Next gen head with ao and normals, as a little practice :)

Legion is Done!

2010-04-18T00:19:00.000+08:00

Hi all, hope you enjoyed the process of making this, is sure did. Used some new techniques and they are very rewarding!

So here are some specs,

7 1/2 inches height, base is 2 inches
Has a light up eye, with switch embedded in base
Custom base - the works

In this project, we've learnt :

Accurate measurement armatures
Measured thickness and proportions
Telescopic armatures
built in LED
Rifle scratch build
awesomeness of dremel, yay!

ok, enough talk. here's the final pic -

Finishing III: Legion Part VIII

2010-04-12T00:25:00.000+08:00

:) A sneak peek

Finishing II : Legion Part VII

2010-04-07T10:29:00.000+08:00

Hi people, it always pleases me when a sculpt is finally done.
here are some pics, sorry about the quality. i will take better ones once i get it painted.
cheers!

A comparison picture, the pose is off, but the proportions are still acceptable, glad the compass tool really helped out with getting the proportions right.

the base is a solid block of resin cast from an empty tupperware, so it's rock solid!
will figure out how i'm gonna fit the electronics under it, to keep the presentation nice and clean.

so stay tuned for a lil more update here and there.

cheers!

Finishing I : Legion Part VI

2010-04-05T01:20:00.001+08:00

Hello! some more updates, Legion is heading into finishing, left remaining are some face details and maybe accessories, and we will be done!

Here are some pics

cheers!

Detour : Legion Part V

2010-04-05T00:49:00.000+08:00

It's my Birthday!

Slight detour on the sculpture, to show you a new tool i recently acquired.
My girlfriend got me a dremel tool for my birthday, and i am really exited about it!
The Proxxon dremel tool is used for grinding, sanding, cutting, buffing, -you name it.
A multi purpose precision rotary tool. SO i'll stop geeking out and show you how i'm using this new tool for the legion project.

So, using the dremel tool, i made a Telescopic armature upgrade for the legion sculpture.
a telescopic armature is basically a re attachable armature, it enable you to remove certain areas like limbs, to ease sculpting, and then re attach them. The name comes form the construction of this armature which is similar to a traditional telescope, where two or more cylinders are placed within each other, allowing the telescope to be extended and retracted.

So to start, you need two angular brass rods that slide into each other.

So using my new dremel tool, i cut small segments of two different size angular brass rods.

Here is the brass rod cut, you will have to clean up the insides with a knife and sandpaper to ensure smooth connection.

The sizes of the rods only vary slightly, allowing the smaller rod to slide in and out the larger rod.

So, if you noticed in the background, there are both of his arms prepared with a telescopic armature.

Scroll down more, to see how i made the hand armatures.

i used the same technique as before, twisting fine wire to form the skeleton of the fingers and forearm. Later, with the help of some epoxy, stick the wire armature of the hand to a segment of the brass rod.

Super glue the loose wires so they don't run when you sculpt.

when the epoxy hardens, you have one part of your telescopic armature ready!

For the other half of the telescopic armature, i've attached the larger brass rod segments to the torso of the sculpture, again using epoxy putty.

When the epoxy cures, you can attach the hands and they slide in like butter! now you can bulk you clay on them, and when you want to move into fine detail, pull them out and put you full focus on each individual piece. A great advantage to really sink into those details!

Legion Update

2010-03-30T10:32:00.000+08:00

Just some updates

Color Study

2010-03-23T19:09:00.000+08:00

must mention that this is a study piece, so the palette is heavily referenced.
The painting below is a beautiful artwork, but i cant remember who did it :P

My ref

Colored Speedy

2010-03-23T12:54:00.000+08:00

Colored one of my early sketches

:(

2010-03-22T19:08:00.001+08:00

:((((((((((((((

Blocking II : Legion Part IV

2010-03-21T14:02:00.000+08:00

Alright, so amidst the process of blocking and creating form, you will move on to unify and blend the surface of your sculpt.

Here's an example of the surface of an early blocked sculpture.

Now here are some of the tools i'll be using to refine the form and the surface of the sculpture.
Note that these are called "rake tools". Due to the raking action across the surface of your sculpture.
On the left is "loop heads" and on the right is "teethed/rake heads"

Teethed rakes are good to really scrape the contour lines in to the surface, similar to how your would sketch with a fine pencil the lines that make up contour.

loop rakes are good to smooth out surfaces and also create recesses on the surface.

So these are just a few of the tools i use, stay tuned for more in the future!
And a little update on the Legion sculpture.

Types of Clay

2010-03-21T12:23:00.001+08:00

Ok, before we start blocking our sculpture, it;s good to inform you the types of clay/sculpting medium available for you.

They are mainly divided into these groups

Water Based
Oil Based
Oven Bake able
Epoxy
Wax

Here's some description and pictures for each category

Water Based

Affectionately known as WED clay, these are cheap air dry clay that is used dominantly for large sculptures. Popular in the monster making and FX industry.

Oil Based

Notable brands are Chavant Plasteline. Oil based clay do not dry up, and can be soften with heat and hardened to a degree with a freeze spray.

Come mainly as Chavant Regular ( Sulphur Based ) and Chavant NSP ( Non Sulphur Plasteline )

Used dominantly in the fine art industry for its flexibility and control.

Oven Bake able

Notable brands are Sculpey and Fimo. Popular amongst amateur craftsmen and professionals. This clay hardens after baked. allowing you to sand, paint and finish your work. Due to this bake able feature, this clay is rather expensive RM 65 - RM 75 per box

Sculpey regular is a beige+cream colored clay which is softer than it's cousin, the firmer grey colored Sculpey Firm.

Epoxy

I briefly showed the usage of epoxy putties in the previous armature post. But putty can be used to sculpt as well. Milliput is a popular brand of high end epoxies, but you can get cheaper versions of epoxy from your local hardware store.

Used dominantly by customizers and miniature artists. Epoxy dries after its two part are kneaded and is capable of holding good amount of fine detail.

Wax

Wax is the most professional form of sculpting material, it comes in various densities and brands. A notable brand is FUSE Wax. Dominantly used in high end figurine and statuette sculptures by industry professionals. Wax is the most versatile sculpting material known, allowing the artist to create the most minute details.

It is also the most challenging to pick up, as it's workflow is very unique. Pliable with heat, artists use heat guns, Lamps and also wax pens (picture above).

Honestly, most of my knowledge of these materials come from reading forums and research, i have never worked with wax and chavant personally. So if any of you would like to try FUSE, WED, etc , do tell me. We could definitely learn together!

As for me, my favourite clay so far is 50:50 mix of Sculpey Regular and Sculpey Firm. I will mix the two until it's a smooth blend and store them in plastic tupperwares to keep them from becoming crumbly.

Happy Sculpting!

Blocking : Legion Part III

2010-03-21T11:47:00.000+08:00

Alright, in this part we're going to learn about clay blocking. Blocking is the first stage where the initial form is sketched onto the sculpture.

We will be aiming to nail all the proportion issues here, width length, roundness, angles, cuts, etc.

So instead of doing this with only our eyes as judgment, we will use a tool called measuring calipers.

Now these are professional calipers, i have no idea where to get them in Malaysia, but we can opt for other substitutes,

like using and old geometry set compass,

The usage of the compass is simple, based on your 1:1 reference sheet, make a measurement with your caliper, and compare it with your sculpt.

Repeat this throughout you sculpting process to check proportional issues, Calipers can be used to compare limb lengths as well ( left arm/right arm) to ensure a balanced anatomy.

So, continue measuring and blocking, start by building up representational "bridges" of clay to define the main mass before filling up the gaps.

If you noticed, i build up my sculptures using small bits of clay, these are booger sized bits that i press on to my sculpt to gradually build up size.

This is a popular method for veteran traditional sculptors. Stan Winston was taught to practice this method. The benefits is that you have maximum control of how your form grows, allowing a gradual and controlled creation of form.

Happy Sculpting!

Quick Mechas

2010-03-19T19:03:00.000+08:00

Alot of 'finished' concepts at work. It's nice to spit something up.

Research : Legion Part I

2010-03-15T23:50:00.000+08:00

New sculpture commission, Legion from Mass Effect 2

Here's my research.

.

I'm quite exited about this one, always wanted to add LEDs to my works.
and a game character aswell, this isgonnabeswell.

Building your Armature : Legion Part II

2010-03-15T22:50:00.000+08:00

Building your Armature

Alright, so you have your ortographics and your research done, it's time to move on with building an armature for your sculpture.

We will be making it out of different gauge wires, and also epoxy putty.

Here i have drawn out the placement of the armature within the mass of the sculpture.
The lines in red represent the wires that go through the sculpture. Note the excess wires that trail from the feet, those wires will be used to attach the sculpture to the base.

Bend the wires according to your diagram.

Using a finer gauge wire, wrap the parts together tightly, this will hold the pieces of bent metal together aswell enabling the clay to grip on to the armature.

Continue wiring your armature, be mindful of your reference and make sure everything is proportionate.

Here you can see me attaching the early armature on to a mock base. This base is a block of wood with holes drilled into it. bend the excess wires to fasten the armature to the base.
With a little bit of duct tape, you can secure the excess wires. bear in mind that this is a mock base, and we will transfer the final sculpt to a proper base.

So make sure you don't glue the armature down.

Here we have the base armature, note the arms a cut shorter, as i plan to sculpt the individually prior to attaching.

With that aside, here's some epoxy putty i am using to really secure the joints of the armature. especially where the wires meet.

This is how your knead your epoxy,

It comes in to parts, A and B.

Swirl them together so they mix well.

Keep swirling and pressing until you get an even putty. You have about 2 hours working time (Pot Life) before it becomes rock hard.

Apply putty to where the wires meet and end. this will greatly improve your sculpture's structure.

Here is the finished armature, Note the wire trailing down form the head. I am planning to include an LED light for the eye. So you should include early wiring on the armature itself. that way it will be invisible when i add clay.

Leave your armature to cure overnight, and then you can begin sculpting!

till then, cheers!

Portrait Sculpture

2010-03-15T11:11:00.000+08:00

Just finished this one, expanding portfolio to portrait works.

Animator's Survival Kit

2010-03-11T12:52:00.000+08:00

This brings back alot of memories. my hard copy is sitting in the bathroom.

Sam Jinks

2010-03-08T18:44:00.000+08:00

a big part of me died after seeing his work, for that part is now reborn to a new desire to sculpt.

hope parts of you will die too link

T-600

2010-03-08T14:56:00.001+08:00

bout 2 hours on ps. painted with ref ( my toy on my desk )
it was interesting to figure what sort of lighting i wanted.

first post since forever

2010-03-06T12:23:00.000+08:00

Speed sketch of some hover tank.
painted this at kuan win's pc in dg department. haha

Rikuo

2009-11-12T10:25:00.001+08:00

I finnaly remembered to post this up.
this was my submission to UDON's Darkstalkers Tribute.
I am really happy it got into the book :)
but anyway, this competition is like ages ago.