Part 6 1:1 Cj Sculpt (New Photos Page 2)

[🪦 The Death Curse ●]

Hey James

Thanks yah I'm going to play around with the texture, I've already changed the left cheek around and I've deepened some of the skin folds as suggested. My primary source is the original sculpt photo, which is the only one that really gives you a sense of how the texturing was done without interference from the paint job or grave crud that was added later.
What I gather from this is the depth and flow of the texture is not consistent throughout. On the cranium and parts of the neck it is basically linear. The chin appears to have almost no detailing. If I make, say the side of the face very detailed I now have an inconsistent texture with the cranium, which as you can see is grooved with linear "stripes" a few mm wide without visible additional detail. Here is a part I've worked on.
To my eye, the forehead stripes are about the right depth. In the above photo of the original sculpt, the cheek cracks don't appear to be terribly deep either.

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