Want to sculpt a dinosaur for the first time. Any tips?

[Raptoress]

Hi all. I'm thinking of sculpting a dinosaur for the very first time! I'm thinking of creating a sauropod of some kind, since they have a very basic body plan. Can anyone give me some tips on how to get started and also on how to add some fine details? I'm very experienced in digital drawing, but not so much sculpting.

Thanks!

[Kayakasaurus]

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

A good way to start is to draw the particular dinosaur out on paper to the scale you want. Then make an armature that matches your drawing. I usually use a small chunk of foam that I stick wires in for legs, neck, etc. Then you can wrap it in tinfoil and or masking tape to hold it together and add bulk. It doesn't really matter what you use for an armature as long as it supports the legs to hold the body.

I would recommend sculpey for a first sculpt because it is easy to work with and Art stores carry it. the one thing to look for when choosing a sculpey is firmness. Firmer sculpey holds detail better.

As far as sculpting tools go; you really don't need much. I have a rubber tip one that I like but wood and metal work just as good. For doing scales I make little balls or mushrooms out of sculpey that I indent to create  negative scales that when pushed onto clay produce positive scales. these can have anywhere from 1 to 15 scales.You can use anything to make the indentations; toothpick, pen tip, lego rod...

Well that's all... I hope some of it makes sense 

[Newt]

Are you interested in sculpting digitally or in actual physical materials?

There is a free 3-d sculpting program called Sculptris. My understanding is that it's sort of the "Elements" version of the pricey ZBrush program. That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of digital sculpting.

There are lots of media for physical sculpting. I'll assume you're not interested in sculpting in stone, wood, or metal.   Here's a quick rundown of some of the other major categories:

Water clay - this is basically the same stuff used in pottery, and is the traditional sculpting medium of choice. It's super cheap and easy to work with. You can only harden it in a kiln; otherwise, treat it as a non-hardening medium. Its working consistency changes dramatically as it dries - this can work to your advantage, but makes it more maintenance-intensive than some other media.

Oil clay - AKA modeling clay, plastaline - This is a non-hardening clay-like substance. It comes in various consistencies from very soft (like Play-Doh) to fairly firm. The advantage of this stuff is that you can leave your sculpture for any length of time and come back and work on it some more; the clay will still be just as workable as it was when you took it out of the package. The disadvantage is that it never hardens; if you want your sculpture to be permanent, you will have to mold and cast it. Roma, Van Aken, and Chavant are common brands.

Wax clay and sculpting waxes - similar to oil clay but firmer. The firmest waxes are the best for holding fine detail. Castilene and Monster Clay are wax clays. Victory Brown, TMS and Ralph's are sculpting waxes. There are many others, and you can make your own too. These substances are easily molded when warm, and can be more finely tooled when cool. Heated tools and electric "waxers" or "wax pens" work well.

Polymer clay - these are plastic solutions that can be modeled like clay and then hardened by baking at a low temperature, easily achieved in a home oven. They are one of the best substances for making a permanent sculpture without the trouble and expense of molding and casting. Sculpey, Fimo, and Kato Polyclay are common brands.

Air-dry clay and papier-mache clay - these substances dry when exposed to air. You have a limited length of time to accomplish your modeling. I haven't tried any of these, so I can't comment too much on their use.

Epoxy, epoxy putty, and epoxy clay - these are substances that come in two parts; you mix the two parts together, which initiates a chemical reaction that ends with a rock-hard substance. As with air-dry clay, you have a limited amount of time to do all the modeling you need to do before the stuff hardens. But you can always add more epoxy, and the hardened epoxy can't be pushed around, but it can be filed, sanded, and carved. Milliput and Aves Apoxie are common brands.

More soon!

[Newt]

Here's a brief step-by-step of a sculpture I made. It's a fantasy animal, not a dinosaur, but the concepts are the same. I used Monster Clay.

First: gather your reference. Make decisions about scale, pose, and so on. Make some "control art" to check your sculpture against. Or just wing it. 

Second: make an armature. The armature is a "skeleton" of wire. It serves several purposes: it supports the weight of the clay, it allows you to determine proportions early on, and it allows you to adjust the pose. You need wire that's relatively easy to bend and stays where it's put. You can buy soft aluminum armature wire at arts stores; I usually use cheap wire from the hardware store instead. You can see I've filled much of the armature with aluminum foil - this saves on clay, especially important with polymer clay or epoxy, where you can't re-use the clay once it's hardened. The fine wire wrapped around everything helps the clay grip the sculpture, so it doesn't slide around.





Third: bulk out the form. Lay on clay to find the basic proportions and shapes of the animal. This is best done with your clay at a soft state; I warmed the monster clay until it was very soft. If you're using polymer clay, knead it thoroughly. Don't worry about details at this point.



Fourth: refine and add detail. Work in waves over the whole sculpture; try not to spend too much time on any one area, otherwise you can end up with finished parts that don't work with the rest of the sculpture. You can still adjust the pose at this stage.







Fifth: keep going until it's done!

[tyrantqueen]

A good place to check out is DeviantART. Lots of tutorials on there. Just type in "sculpting tutorial" or something like that. It doesn't have to be about dinosaurs specifically. The foundations of learning how to sculpt something in clay are pretty universal. There are lots of animal ones which are quite helpful.