By Jason Miller
Part I
The next step is to dress your blanks. The secret here is to imagine that you have to put on the clothes the model would be wearing- which would you put on first? I usually start with the pants adding thin skins of putty to the blank and smoothing them around and into shape. I do not add any details save those caused by the folds in the cloth. In addition I prefer a 66 - 33 mix as I find it allows for more time to work the folds in properly. Smooth and shape it until you are happy then put it down. While this dries work on your other greens but come back to it again to resmooth it before it dries.
Next I work the chest and the feet- again I do not add pockets or other detail at this time- just folds in cloth. On the feet I usually press in the laces though you can add raised laces too.
Part II
The next stage is to finish the arms and head- you may have wondered why I don't do this earlier? I sometimes find that it is best to reposition the arms while working the torso- if the arms have thicker layers of putty on them this will make repositioning difficult or impossible so I leave it till I have added clothes to the legs and torso.
For the arms remember that if you are going to want them to have 'clothes' then you will want them to be thinner.
While this dries work on your other greens.
Part III
Remember when I asked if you wanted 'free' hands or a weapon in them? Well if you want free hands then this is when you add them- if you have a long wire that will be a weapon then you will want to bend the wire into the pose the weapon will be in THEN do the hand.
You can also see that I added rolled cuffs to his shirt at this stage- two thin snakes of putty.
Hands can be a big challenge - I find it best to shape them into a cube then slowly press the thumb detail in followed by three slashes for the remaining fingers- the real key here is to take your time and to look at your own hands! Now you have a little clothed figure- in some cases this is when the figure is 'done' but for most of you adding the detail is what it is all about...
The next step is to dress your blanks. The secret here is to imagine that you have to put on the clothes the model would be wearing- which would you put on first? I usually start with the pants adding thin skins of putty to the blank and smoothing them around and into shape. I do not add any details save those caused by the folds in the cloth. In addition I prefer a 66 - 33 mix as I find it allows for more time to work the folds in properly. Smooth and shape it until you are happy then put it down. While this dries work on your other greens but come back to it again to resmooth it before it dries.
Next I work the chest and the feet- again I do not add pockets or other detail at this time- just folds in cloth. On the feet I usually press in the laces though you can add raised laces too.
Part II
The next stage is to finish the arms and head- you may have wondered why I don't do this earlier? I sometimes find that it is best to reposition the arms while working the torso- if the arms have thicker layers of putty on them this will make repositioning difficult or impossible so I leave it till I have added clothes to the legs and torso.
For the arms remember that if you are going to want them to have 'clothes' then you will want them to be thinner.
While this dries work on your other greens.
Part III
Remember when I asked if you wanted 'free' hands or a weapon in them? Well if you want free hands then this is when you add them- if you have a long wire that will be a weapon then you will want to bend the wire into the pose the weapon will be in THEN do the hand.
You can also see that I added rolled cuffs to his shirt at this stage- two thin snakes of putty.
Hands can be a big challenge - I find it best to shape them into a cube then slowly press the thumb detail in followed by three slashes for the remaining fingers- the real key here is to take your time and to look at your own hands! Now you have a little clothed figure- in some cases this is when the figure is 'done' but for most of you adding the detail is what it is all about...
