05-25-2011, 10:59 PM
(05-25-2011, 06:57 AM)The Death Curse link Wrote: You're being misled by the angle and lighting of that one crappy, mostly blurry photo. (NEVER use just one photo for your reference, by the way...) There are many other shots in the film where the texture/wrinkles can be seen on screen. Granted, paint and distance does obscure some details and confuse the eye, but you can still see light playing from many surfaces. Even in the sculpture pic you posted, I can tell that the details are at varying depth, smoothness, and thickness all over the head. This was done because the original artist tried to make the sculpture look more organic, as real leathery and dried up skin would be bunched up - thicker/loose and folded in some areas, thinner/tighter and smoother in others. So far, you have made more of a simple line texture that looks like tool markings to the naked eye. Check out the EffectsLab forum to learn some other ways of smoothing and blending your tool marks with that particular clay.
Another thing that's hurting your sculpture is your incomplete anatomical understanding. You began to intricately detail this head loooong before it obtained a confidently integrated musculature. Much like I did, you have to learn that just simply "sculpting a prop" isn't enough...You have to also realize why each individual thing looks like it does, see each layer (skull, muscle, skin) for what it is, and try to understand why the original sculptor made it look that way. Everything about that Jason sculpture tells a story: a story of decay, abuse, neglect, attempted murder, etc... With that in mind, it's important to gain a feeling for how the material you're trying to sculpt would actually move or feel in real life.
Other assorted tips:
Buy many specialized sculpting tools or make your own from some piano/guitar wire and brass pipe. I personally find that one-piece wooden tools are also important.
Become acquainted with rubbing alcohol and other chemical solvents.
Plastic bags are awesome.
Stare at yourself in mirrors constantly to learn how muscles of the upper body move and stretch.
CFX stands suck as armatures.
Klean Klay sucks as a sculpting medium; use that crap for reusable mold walls and support structures and buy some Monster Makers clay or something much harder that can easily hold the fine detail you're trying to replicate.
Cheers,
Ryan
Hey man
Thanks for your tips. I will continue to improve the detailing as suggested but I don't want to "invent" details that I can't see on the original. Mostly I've tried to bring some clarity to what I've already started by deepening and modifying textures so they don't look like tool marks.
I do have to contend that studying anatomy would lead to changes on this piece. I have taken the anatomical form entirely from Brian Wade's sculpt. Both the CJ and the Bradley sculpts are extremely poor representations of human anatomy, from the cranial shape, to the elongated jaw and the raised ears, the massive eye sockets, the skin texture, the shape and length of the nose and even the neck muscles as Wade sculpted them bear little resemblance to proper human anatomy. For example, the right sternocleidomastoideus is oversized and sagging along the side of the neck in both original sculpts in a way you would never see in a human. The duel scalenus muscles that you see on either side of the neck connecting with the shoulders do not resemble real human neck musculature, and are exaggerated for effect. Wade was sculpting a 1980's monster, closer in resemblance to Iron Maiden's "Eddie" mascot than a person. Since there are no good images of the lower occipital region of the CJ head, I took inspiration from the back of the Bradley head, which bears little resemblance to proper human neck/head anatomy.
Anyway thanks again, I have taken many of your suggestions already. :thumbsup: