Work in Progress

Centaur Sculpture WIP

2006-12-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Hi all..!!
welcome to my "Centaur Sculpture" page....!!
Today I am posting the rough concept sketch of the.. character which I am going to sculpt.. it is a centaur..!! here are the few characteristics of centaurs according to the "centaur information page" which will help us mingle with the Greek Mythological Creature that we are going to craft;

>Centaurs have the upper body of a human, and the lower body of a thoroughbred horse.
>Centaurs are highly resistant to poisoning and charm based magics, but suffer additional hardships from extreme cold.
>Centaurs are very strong and hearty, but are less dexterous than most bipeds. >Centaurs have the ability to horse kick their opponents.
now let us get bak to main topic.. the concpet sketch and pose
here we go..(please note the below sketch is not anatomically 100% correct as this is just the basic/rough concept sketch.. we will go in minute details as we move ahead nito sculpting..)

cheers!!!

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Hi all hope everything is going good at your end!!!
I once again apologize for the long delay…..:) anyway let us continue..
I will start with horse part first… and later on move to human part….
Let us start with the armature for it…
For this we will actually require a reasonable gauge aluminum wire along with some thin gauge binding wire.. it was difficult for me to find aluminum wire o’er here so I compromised on (high/thin) gauge soft GI wire.. along with the normal iron binding wire which we usually use in RCC for binding.. u can get these wires from any ordinary hardware shop… one more thing you will need pliers for twisting, shaping cutting etc…
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Detailed drawing(horse part) for armature…
For this we will need to draw 1:1 scale detailed drawing of the figure that we intend to sculpt.. ie front view, side view and top view..
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I thought that the wire that I bought was pretty thin so in order to strengthen it I twisted it in two folds using combination of two pliers… if wire is strong enough we can use the single strand as well
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Armature logic: it should more or less replace the skeleton of your sculpture.. u have to use ur own imagination and logic for this…. there is no hard and fast rule for making main armature except that it should be reasonably inside the figure and strong enough to support ur sculpture during making process.. so I make wire armature as per my drawing..(leaving much extra length from limbs so that it can be balanced on these wire extensions later) comparing things time and again.. we have to try using minimum joints…
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Restricting joint movement: for this I applied plumbers putty on joints, sealed em with it… In India this putty is sold under the brand name M-seal or feviseal it is a 2 part putty which hardens after mixing and application.. use this on the joints of armature in order to prevent any movement in joints…
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Ideally at this stage the armature is ready for clay application but I am not using standard air drying clay.. so I apprehend things like cracks etc.. if the thickness of clay is too much and one more thing the sculpture will be too heavy to move or handle…. for this reason I will be using the light weight Styrofoam sheet cuttings as a filling… Styrofoam is shock absorbent synthetic polymer(normally used in insulation or packing of electronic items etc).. u can buy this from any stationery shop.. this comes in different grades of thickness…u have to choose thickness according to ur sculpture size…

For this draw the side view of horse figure on a different paper and cut down the body(as shown in figure below) to mark it on Styrofoam in order that we may later cut that styrofoam as per dimensions.. you can take few photocopies of this drawing so that you may not have to make it again and again as it will be required many more times.. in my case I have drawn all of em myself becuase I enjoy doing it….
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Cut another parallel shape from Styrofoam sheet so that the thickness of main body is two folded..
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Similar procedure with hind limbs… mark the limbs as L for left and R for right
Figures are self explanatory I suppose…
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This dude(shown below) is a 30 min sculpture that I have carved from soap slab.. I use it as a paper weight..:D
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Proceed with the same procedure for fore limbs as well..
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Once you get the proper alignment as per drawing… mark the lines on all 4(2 body, 2 limbs) layers of Styrofoam (as shown) so that we don’t need to align it again and again..
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Fixing the Styrofoam into armature wire: fix the Styrofoam body pieces into wire as shown in pics below (as per your drawing)
For limb fixing make a place for wire in the foam limbs and fix the marked limbs at the appropriate place…. U may need adhesive tape to fix limbs at proper place..( refer to pics below)

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Fix this foam tightly with laminating adhesive/transparent tape, you may need to do trimming at various places as you compare you figure with main drawing…. (Front, side and top view) As said earlier whole of this armature thing should fit well inside your main drawing…

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Wrapping aluminum foil and wire around the armature: Before doing this I got an idea and wanted to have some tangible utility of this sculpture so I decided to make a table lamp out of it.. for this I have crossed a pair of electrical wires thru its right rare limb going directly via its body to the right arm of human part.. so that it appears that centaur is holding the light bulb.. since we are starting with horse part so as of now electric wire will come out of horses neck..
Going back to aluminum foil wrapping and wire winding: this is done in order that the clay we are using fixes to the rough metallic surface that we are going to create for armature....
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Now our complete armature for horse part is ready… ready to be mounted on wooden board… balance the armature and fix it to the board(as shown)
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Cutting a figure (side view drawing): for periodic comparison of our sculpture and main drawing.. we will cut the side view figure of main drawing out of thick card paper so that it is easy to handle and compare during the process of clay application…
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Tools used in sculpting:
Here are the tools that I have got over here… although I won’t be using all of them…. just wanted to show you.. I will also need some water container for that I cut down the bottle and use it as disposable water container…

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This is the one(shown below) that I purchased from local art shop..
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Clay: I am using water based air drying clay.. the closest thing to this that was available here is wall putty.... although it needs more hard work and results are not too impressive.. however considering the limited choice that I have over here.. this is what I will go for.. I will need size-10 brush, water and mixing pot.. here is how I go about it…
Put the putty in pot
Add water gradually as if you have to make bakers dough..(this step should be done very carefully if you add too much water the mixture leans and is nightmare to handle… mix it till it resembles and as the consistency of the bakers flour dough..

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Application of clay:
Use the main reference picture and apply the putty(clay) on the armature according to figure shape/drawing you can use sculpting tools(which can even be a carved or can even be as simple as a normal ice cream stick) to emphasize on anatomy.. however we don’t expect the figure the be too exact at this time as we go on putting clay more or less roughly and later on give shape to it with shaping tools…(please note that the maximum wet working time for this type of clay is 2-3 hrs)
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Same procedure for other side too:
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After this we may need to use sand paper to achieve smoothness on surface and anatomy exaggeration… however this is done after 24 hours of drying at normal temperature we can use normal or water proof(on damp piece)(coarse to fine) sand papers as shown in fig… Sand papers are rated as per numbers.. higher the number… finer the sand paper…
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This is where I am presently…. this is not the final finish that we will be getting.. First I will add human part to it and then finish the piece together…
….
As always comments queries welcome…

I apologize for the quality of pics... as I am using my cellfone camera for this purpose..
Thanks for looking….

I am out to my home on holidays… I will return to this place after a week or so… and continue working on this sculpture after that…
Cheers
Abbas

Digital Sketch(WIP)

2006-10-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hi All!!
Welcome once again to my page...
Here I will share the technique of digital sketching with you....
This is what I will sketch:

Now let’s directly get going:
>Software used: for the digital sketch shown above I have used the French freeware known as "photo filtre”, it is only 1.6 Mb and has very good features and capabilities to its size you can download it from here

> Drawing tool: I use digital pen/tablet to draw, however to start with one can use the mouse as this particular sketch does not require very precise strokes.
>Reference picture: I have not used any reference picture for this particular sketch but the choice always lies with you...

(I apologize for the quality of pics as size is also one of the considerations esp for dialup guys for whom the site would have taken forever to download if I would have posted the pics in full resolution….
Please note: for most of the pics I have shown the relevant encircled and other pointers please key to them…)

After installation of “Photo filter” open the program and follow the steps;
Steps:
1) selection of canvas size: I selected 800 by 600(this is not hard and fast and depends on the requirement I mean the resolution required) refer to pic-1

2) view: I select the auto size in zoom as this puts my workspace to optimal size(see pic-2)

3) background colour: please refer to pic-3(we can invoke this colour selection screen by double clicking on the foreground colour selector, two squares on one another almost at top right of pic-3) you can choose the colour of ur choice but please keep in mind it must be near brown

4) select the bucket tool and fill the whole canvas with the colour selected refer to pic-4

5) Now choose the air brush with the settings and colour as shown in pic below(pic-5)

6) Continue step-5 to make ur work look like the pic below(pic-6)

7) we assume sun at almost the centre therefore select the colour shown in the pic below and colour the edges of already created colour mass(see the pic bewol pic-7)

8) choose the smudge brush with settings as shown in pic-8(below) and start smudging at the interface of two colours sometimes from light to dard and sometimes from dark to light to give it the effect of gradient

9) continue smudging(see pic-9)

10) continue smudging till u reach pic-10, use horizontal strokes mainly.

11) Select the colour as shown in pic-11 and colour with airbrush between the two main shades(see pic-11)

12) Start smudging once again… till u reach to the point as in pic-12
13) Select the lighter colour as shown in pic-13 as colour the edges once again this time using normal brush with settings shown in pic below(pic-13)

14) Carefully start smudging once again from light to dark as shown in the pic below(pic-14)

15) Continue with all the newly added colour lines till u reach to point of pic-15

16) Add some more red lines (pic-16)

17) And smudge (pic-17)

18) Now adding the sun: for this select the normal colour and paint brush as shown in pic-18( Round with radius of 40 )and click once, twice or even thrice at the point where you want to put ur sun

19) Making some light shade around sun: for making some lighter shade around sun select the colour lighter than sun and airbrush tool with the settings as shown in pic-below(pic-19) and carefully click around the sun till u get some light shade to show the light effect of sun.

20) Smudge the area around the sun carefully and let some of it overlap the sun to show some natural effect of sunset.(see pic below,pic-20)

21) Mark the horizon with black normal paint brush as shown in pic below(pic-21)

22) Assuming the reflection in water(below) Try to do the rough mirroring of the upper part using colours and brushes same as that of above refer to pic below(pic-22)

23) Use the horizontal smudging technique and keep on adding colours as and when required refer to pic below(pic-23)

24) To give the watery look to the part below use precise smudging settings and do the horizontal quick smudging as shown in pic below(pic-24)

25) Use the eyedropper tool to select the colour from sun and choose the airbrush with settings show to draw a vertical line in alignment of sun as shown in pic below(pic-25)

26) Use the same brush to make the shape almost elliptical as shown in pic below(pic-26)

27) Go for precise smudging horizontal smudging along the boundary of the sun’s reflection to show the watery effect and add some light lines randomly to sow the sparkling effect refer to pic below(pic-27)

28) Some more precise smudging… see pic below(pic-28)

29) Select black, round and thin brush to mark the dry(land) area in the sketch refer to pic below(pic-29)

30) Fill this area wil black colour using brush of ur choice n convenience(I used airbrush) as shown in the pic below(pic-30)

31) Further filling with black colour as shown in pic below(pic-31)

32) To give your sketch a natural look smudge the land-water boundary line as shown in pic below(pic-32)

33) Same is applicable to all the relevant areas, to give the effect of reflection and sense of light direction refer to pic below(pic-33)

34) Add some thin lines of light colour to the land peaks as shown in pic to show the effect of the setting sunlight(pic-34)

35) Smudge from light to dark logically as shown in pic below(pic-35)

36) Add some roughness/bushes: to do this select pricise, round, normal paint brush using black colour (pic-36)

37) Add some more bushes/grass blades and overall tiny roughnessas shown in pic below(pic-37)

38) Fill em with black colour refer to pic below (pic-38)

39) Ummmm I don’t like the colour of sky….. frankly speaking… so I go for some changes(pic-39)

40) Adding some flat intermediate colours and some more smudging.. results in the formation of pic shown below(pic-40), I like it better..:D:D:D

And now here is the final pic… but trust me , and yea I’d say most of the fellow artists would agree with me when I say that one can work on a sketch forever changing shades and adding elements..:P… but I stop it here.. some other time mayb..:)

Thanks for looking!!!>:D<>:D<>:D<
Opinions and comments welcome
Cheers!!!

As Seen On TV

Simple upper body drawing tutorial with work in progress(WIP) pictures(charcoal)

2006-09-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Welcome to my page, this is basic tutorial for figure drawing lovers, sculptors etc… this is a very easy and simple/basic sketch in which I'll try to explain the process of figure (upper body) drawing in charcoal from scratch (stick figure/manikin) using some very basic things and techniques. I apologize for the quality of pics, these have been taken in low light with my cell phone camera.

First of all let us see the material that we require to draw this
1) A4 size paper(simple Xerox Copying paper will do)….
2) Hard pencil (~4H)…
3)Fine(soft) charcoal stick(this can be bought from any reasonable stationary or art shop, In India they sell it under the Brand name "Camel".. Camel doesn’t ay me for this trust me!!!:P:P:P it is worth mentioning here that fine charcoal is not a big deal it can be made at home by burning softwood stick(not to ashes though:P) on your cooking gas stove.

Apart from the above mentioned things I use almost all of my right hand fingers for smudging.. (sounds pretty untidy...:P… doesn’t it)

Lets get going now… !!!

1)Pose: In this sketch we will go for semi-side pose with one of the arms of the subject twisted, so that reasonable part (front portion) of body is exposed. Refer to pic-2 [Draw the stick figure pose with 4H pencil (this one is edited in MSPAINT to focus on stick figure lines as actual lines were very light because of usage of hard pencil)

2)Outline: Now we need to build the mass outline around the stick-figure according to the anatomy(for this some basic idea of anatomy is necessary)

3) Erase the stick figure after above step.

4)Charcoal: now we will rub some charcoal to the outline according to the imaginary light source (I assume very simple lighting and shading for this sketch) refer to pic below for light directions.

5)Smudging..(black fingers…:P) :this is a pretty tricky technique, we need to create kind of gradient, sometimes from dark to light and sometimes from light to dark.. purely depending upon what our purpose is…. If you want some dark shade use high pressure in smudging and do not spread the applied charcoal over a big area, A Sketch generally needs few rounds of charcoal application and smudging.

6)Result after first smudge:……

7)More charcoal:…

8)More smudging:…

9)Adding some final dark details with charcoal:….

10)After final smudging(fiishing touch):…

Hope you find it useful..
I'll be updating this site with more WIP..s
cheers!!!
Abbas

As Seen On TV