A Geek Girls Attempt At Sculpting, Take 2.

don’t hesit to work, and work, to ask some help to anybody in this job. to observe the nature, the master and to have a critic spirit on your work to do a better sculpt. and be patient.

Cyril Roquelaine.

Facebook can be a wonderful resource but from time to time there can be a point where it can make you cringe and feel like you want to slip between the cushions of the sofa and disappear like that 1988 TV remote control as you forget who you have on your friends list...it becomes a friend of friend of a friend etc..

After posting a link to my first attempts at sculpting I got chatting with a guy whom I have never really spoken to before but we have a mutual good friend and a love for comics and art and that mutual friend introduced us.

So with the help and guidance of sculptor Cyril Roqelaine I have attempted my second figure from scratch. Looking at it a totally different way from the first but still using the same material.

There are many many ways to creating little men and many many different materials to use, I just need to find the style and material which suits me the best…. Something which can only be done with trial and error and time.

To create this one we took a classical approach by trying to vision the figure within the block of clay, you then start to cut out the shape you see and start to mould with your fingers as you go. This also gives a much more solid base to the figure as the torso and base are one.

Creating a female figure I found far easier than a male, the curves kinda suggest themselves and it is far easier to correct width than a more angular muscle based masculine form.

After kneading for a good hour I was ready to put knife to clay and decided to just go for it. I got the basic female shape which oddly resembled the statue of Liberty, in my head I knew what I was after. To my amazement the arm stayed in place in an upright position rather than flopping down.

This was due to using the clay correctly and all the kneading with the compounds and nylon gives it extra strength.

After the basic shape I kept the remaining clay wrapped in cellophane and then a damp cloth this stops it form drying out whilst letting the sculpted material dry out.

Then a basic head shape was placed and smoothed onto the neck using very little water, damp fingers… legs and feet only suggested as the stay within the main block.

After watching workshop clips which left me somewhat … WOW!  And a little hesitant to share what I was doing, it was pointed out to me to take things very laterally, don’t look at faces as features look at them as lines and shapes, break it all down, same with forming body parts.

The classic female in comics has very little detail, some hardly have a nose, and the most enhanced feature seems to be the eyelashes which are the indication that it is female.  Thighs take the general () shape, so by using some basic symbols:   -,  \, /,  _,  O,  ^,  ~, .,  along a horizontal or vertical line a human shape can be formed.

So with step by step instruction via the wonder that is Skype! I went in for the kill with trying to get the face better than 711!!

Using my pointy metal tool only a horizontal line was created to indicate a brow, ^ for the nose a smaller horizontal line for the mouth and two slightly larger pin point indentations for eyes… that was it!!

Next was the hands, form a basic shape and used scissors to create a finger and the rest is suggestion with lines. Again to my amazement the finger didn’t drop off…

For sculpting the hair I used epoxy, as this is what I am now used to and like it’s slight adhesive quality.

Another valuable lesson I learnt was not to be too gentle with it, put some strength behind it as it won’t fall to bits.

I feel it is time to throw away my nail files for filing and starting using what the big boys use and have a play with different grains of sand paper as there is no way I can get this stuff smooth by using an emery board.

Otherwise everything else is painted on. Facial features again.. the bain of my life!! She doesn’t quite look irresisatble she has a kinda £10 Blackpool strip club look to her.

I wanted to add a burlesque feel so added texture with making her a feather boa and the base of standing on hearts whilst breaking out of them… Yeah! Symbolism baby!!

SO… Who is she??

This is the classic character known to Europe as CHICA BOOM BOOM!! And across the pond I believe she is known by CLARA DE NOCHE.

Originally appearing in the euro erotica books drawn by the superb JORDI BERNET. And then a somewhat tamed version in a Parisian newspaper strip.

I love the tongue and cheek strip, even though the backstory is the same, Chica is loved by ALL men, no man can resist her feminine charms and she exploits that to its full capacity, there is nothing she won’t do for money to make sure her son gets what he wants. She travels across the world breaking hearts….

So, my 2^nd attempt at sculpting... if you view it from afar with a squint! It Looks OK…

I have learnt an awful lot in the two weeks I have been doing this and the most important lesson I have learnt is to be patient… rather than trying to do a full figure I am going to practice just heads and then move on to another part.

Getting the basics down… then I can move on to create something of worth.

So to all my geeky comic book, sci-fi, arty friends… HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! May Chica break your heart? ;)

You may like to check out.http://roquelaine.com/site/index.php?lng=en