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My First Polymer Clay Sculpture

Posted by goregt On August - 28 - 2009

When I first started sculpting with polymer clay I basically only had around six weeks of sculpting experience. Up to that time the only clay that I even knew existed was a water based clay. For those of you that still sculpt with water based clays my condolences. To say that they are a challenge to work with is an understatement (unless you are using them for pottery or something along those lines).

I’ve always been one to push myself to the limits with my art and my first polymer clay sculpture was no exception to that rule. I wanted to create a sculpture that was both dynamic and unlike anything that I had ever seen before. I personally have always liked artwork that depicted angels so for my first piece I decided to create a piece that was my own version of how I think an angel would look like.
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Dog Portrait Sculpture

Posted by goregt On August - 7 - 2009

One of my wife’s complaints is that none of the current animals we have seem to take to her like they do with me and the kids. One of the dogs in my house is literally my shadow and follows me wherever I go. I think this is the type of companionship that my wife was looking for so she put together a well devised plan to spoil our new puppy until it fell in love with her. Seems to be working since the new puppy has really taken to my wife. So, now my wife is happy and in my house when momma is happy, everyone is happy :-).

Now where am I going with all of this? I decided for one of the Mother’s Day gifts this year to give me wife a sculpture of her new puppy. It will be a surprise and one I think she will appreciate. I’ve done a few dog portraits in the past and they really do make a great gift. One of the commissioned portraits I did was for someone whose dog had recently passed away. I created the sculpture from several pictures that the client sent me and in the end she was more than pleased with the final results.

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Sculpting Scales

Posted by goregt On September - 17 - 2012

There are a lot of different ways you can sculpt scales and the tutorial below is just one of many examples that you can use. I’m using a wax in this tutorial but the same steps can be used with polymer clay.

  1. The first step is to design and sculpt the forms of your sculpture (i.e. muscles bulging, wrinkles in skin, etc)
  2. Next, using a sharp tool I will draw patterns into my wax.
  3. Periodically I’ll brush away the excess wax to clean my surface while I work.
  4. Once I have my pattern to my liking I’ll go back and carve a deeper cutout around my shapes.
  5. After the excess wax has been removed I’ll begin to smooth out and clean up the sculpture with Odorless Mineral Spirits (use rubbing alcohol if you are sculpting with polymer clay). Read the rest of this entry »

Angel & Demons – Working on the Logo

Posted by goregt On February - 10 - 2012

When working on a larger sculpture I like to bounce around a lot by not spending too much time one a particular section. I’ve found that the overall sculpting seems to flow better when you move around the various forms.  Also, since I usually spend anywhere form 100-200 hours on  my larger pieces I’m able to keep the sculpture more interesting by investing a limited amount of time on each section.  The other advantage for moving around is that it is easier to make the overall sculpture more symmetrical.

I have to admit though that at times I tend to become too fixated on one section.  For example, I’ve been guilty on many occasions for putting too much work on one side of the body while ignoring the other half (which is unfortunately happening on this piece).  This mistake can create a huge headache when I try to blend the two forms together.  However the mistake is easy to make because sometimes you just want to really flesh out one section of a sculpture to see if you like the design enough to carry through the entire piece.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the demon half of this sculpture and have decided to revisit the logo on the sculpture so that I can break up the monotony a little bit.  The logo falls under where the wings join together and really merges the angel and demon halves of the ashtray together.  I’ve included a few pics below on my progress and will take more pictures once I come closer to completion.

Angel & Demons – Starting the Demon

Posted by goregt On February - 6 - 2012

Now that I have the angel underway the next step is to start sculpting the demon.  My goal here was to create a figure that was very contrasting to the angel.  Since the angel is a very muscular male I wanted to create an opposing creature that was not only female but also composed of an unfamiliar form.  Everything is still very rough at this stage but once I start cleaning up the sculpture I think it will all work out well.

** You can also see how the wings will merge together in some of the pics.

Angel & Demons – Starting the Angel

Posted by goregt On February - 3 - 2012

I’ve come to realize that most of my personal sculpting projects will probably never get completed.  One example of this is a warrior angel sculpt that I started some time back.  I really like a lot of things about this sculpture and after closely looking at it again I felt that it would be a great addition to my new cigar ashtray.  The side benefit here is that I’m also able to shorten the amount of time that it will take me to complete this project.

The gallery below shows some progress pics of my angel.  I’m sculpting the wings from scratch since the original ones really didn’t work well with my vase.

Minotaur Base

Posted by goregt On August - 24 - 2011

I still have some work to do on my Minotaur’s head, body, etc but I wanted to go ahead an attach him to a base to get an overall idea on how the sculpture is going to look.  Adding the base is a pretty easy task with wax since there really is no need for a support system (armature) for it to be able to hold up the sculpture.  Also, another huge advantage for using wax is that I was able to create wax cast from some of my other skull sculptures.  This allowed me to add a few of my already previously sculpted skulls to the base verse having to spend a lot of time sculpting each individual piece.  I have so many projects going on right now shortcuts like the wax cast really help me move the piece along.  I’m also able to sculpt the pieces together in a way in which they look unique, so the sculpture is not “cheapened” by this process. Read the rest of this entry »

Minotaur

Posted by goregt On August - 17 - 2011

I sculpted a bust of a Minotaur a few years back and although I still like a good percentage of the design, there are a few areas that really bug me.  Most of the problems that I have with this sculpture are with the hands, Minotaur’s face, the hair along the back and the horns. I rushed completing this piece and as a result the hands and horns ended up not being my best quality of work.  I have also been working hard trying to improve my skills over the years so an older sculpt is always subject to a very critical eye. Read the rest of this entry »

Soul Collector Update

Posted by goregt On August - 12 - 2011

It has been too long since I’ve shown any updates on my Soul Collector redesign so I thought I would include a few pics here.  My designs have a tendency to evolve as I sculpt, so for fun I’ve included a few pictures in the gallery to show how the Soul Collector’s skirt has changed over time. I also included a picture where I’m melting the original Soul Collector statue.   In all honesty it was hard watching over 100 hours of work melt away but the experience gained will in the end benefit the new sculpture.

The sculpture will eventually be released as a cold cast bronze and additional details can be found at http://www.goreartistry.com/works-in-progress/soul-collector.htm

My images are below (click the image for a larger view).

Cigar Ashtray Sculpting Trick

Posted by goregt On August - 11 - 2011

Skull cigar ashtray

For the most part I live a very healthy lifestyle, I’m in the gym six to seven days a week, eat very clean (except for Saturdays) and rarely drink.  I’m not oblivious to the fact that most people will probably find me to be a pretty boring person but hey I am what I am.  However, that being said one of the vices in my life is that I like to smoke cigars.  I don’t get to smoke them often, at best only a couple times a week, but they are something I’ve come to really enjoy over the years.

I enjoy collecting different cigar accessories, for example lighters and cutters, however one of the key accessories that was missing from my collection was a cigar ashtray.  There are quite a few cigar ashtrays out there that have a good design but I have yet to find one that really grabs my attention.  One of the key advantages of being an artist is that if I’m unable to find what I’m looking for in the commercial market I can always create it myself.  I wanted an ashtray consisting of skulls and skulls so it was off to the workshop to begin my project. Read the rest of this entry »

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Nothing special, just a self-taught sculptor having fun with my art and showing all of you the tips and tricks I use to create my own artwork

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