Sculpting a Fantasy Character With a Wire Armature

Are you wanting a model of your favourite fictional character?
maybe someone from your a good book, a treasured Dungeons and Dragons character or a family member as their favourite superhero; but you don't want to/ can't buy such an item?

Then why not create your own?!

I'll talk you through steps to creating a scale model aka a maquette of a human or humanoid character in a dynamic pose. Starting with a solid base armature I will be giving tips that I have picked up in the process of sculpting such people and characters to come out with a piece worthy of display.

In my example i use bespoke tools and materials but these aren't all necessary to get started, so I include other options through out that can be easily found at home or at many stores.

So the essential materials for this build are as follows;

Armature wire - this is for the 'skeleton' and gives some structure to build on, you can use proper armature wire but I've found garden wire does the job just as well in is far cheaper and more available from garden centres/ DIY shops

Clay - There's a few options here, I use Super Sculpey Original, this is easy to work with, relatively safe and clean, and can be baked with a normal oven to be hard. Other clays I recommend are Super Sculpey Firm - this is grey and is firmer so holds its shape better. Oil based clays such as Chavant or Monster Makers clay are great to work with but cannot be hardened. Personally I'd avoid most air drying clays as these don't hold detail well and are often harder to work with.

A base - An offcut of wood does the job perfectly here, something flat that the wire can be firmly attached with a screw etc.

Essential tools are as follows;

Sculpting tools - I used a loop tool, some metal tools, a rubber tip and ball tip. But any thing that can make a more accurate mark than a finger tip goes. Lolly sticks, wooden sticks, tools and cutlery can do the job too!

A Knife or Blade - This doesn't have to be super sharp, just enough to cut edges through the clay with a flat edge for smoothing.

Pen, Ruler & Paper - For marking out the armature template.

Pliers - For accurately cutting and bending the wire.

Nice-to-have tools and materials I used in this build;

A Cutting Mat - Protects your surface and can easy be moved and clean, a piece of wood or or chopping board would do the job fine.

Tape - To attached the wire together firmly.

Pliers - For accurately cutting and bending the wire.

A Drill - To attach the wire to the base

Tin Foil - For bulking out the armature.

Wooden dowel - This was used as a 'prop' for my character but also adds stability to the sculpt.

Texture stamp -Get creative with using things like fruit skin, rocks, fabrics and more to add their textures to your sculpt.

An oven - For cooking and hardening polymer clays such as Super Sculpey

I have provided a PSD of a template you can use to create an armature fitting human dimensions.

You can either print this out or copy it to paper like me, it doesn't have to be perfect.

- Take the wire and cut two lengths of 43cm
- Lay it against the template starting from the bottom, go along bending the wire at all the bends on the template.
- Repeat with the other length

- Lay each piece on top of eachother symmetrically

- Attach these together - I recommend winding the legs and chest round one another once or twice

- Secure chest and waist with tape

- Bend hands and feet around, this will put the sharp wire ends out of harms way and will give loops for attaching

The measurements included will create a model approximately 1:10 scale, meaning your model will stand around 18cm tall. For 1:5 you can double the values included or half them for 1:20 scale etc.

Feel free to adapt the measurements if you want a character with e.g. longer forearms, a wider chest etc.

You first want a rough idea of the pose your character will be in, this is just for the placement of the feet, and in this case the prop, so there's room to change afterwards.

- Firstly position your character armature in a rough pose

-Take your base and place the character on top, mark out where the foot loops are on the base.

- Drill small holes at these points

- Screw in the two short screws, but not all the way, leaving some room.

- Loop the feet around said screws, and use the pliers to secure them around the screws.

- Add in holes for props, such as the dowel here used as a staff. The hand wire was then looped through the staff for stability.

TIP; Your base doesn't have to be smooth, an uneven surface can give a base for the character to interact with and can help motivate its pose.

Now you can work on the pose further with the feet secured to the base.

For the best sculpting it is important to have reference imagery to constantly be checking your work against.
Here I used photographs, artwork and anatomical diagrams cut outs on to a 'mood board' style back drop. I am lucky also to use an anatomical model.

The easiest way though is to search the web for images that have elements you'd like to incorporate into your character. Save these to a folder and have them on display on a computer or tablet and set the folder to slideshow mode, you can even split these into separate folders as you work through your sculpt, from anatomy to character expressions and costume reference.

When you have manipulated the armature into place you can cover it roughly in a single layer of baking foil, this will help bulk it out and give the clay something to grab on to.

TIP; If you can't find a good image of the pose you want, try photographing yourself in that pose from multiple angles.

TIP; When choosing a good pose, a 'strong' silhouette is important, meaning and interesting and easily understandable shape if you character was photographed and all the detail ignored. Ask if your characters silhouette would be instantly recognisable as a character's form, and does it show the characters personality.

We arrive at the fun bit; the sculpting!

- Firstly break the clay into small manageable bits, they can be strips, sausages or balls, its not important.

- Cover the armature entirely bit by bit with clay. It can be super sloppy right now.

- Use fingers or a flat tool to smooth out the clay into one smoother shape add clay if gaps appear.

- A flat tool, blade or loop tool can now be used to remove excess clay while you with the form of your character.

- Add a head, using a bit of dowel or wire to secure it into the body- use vertical sausage for the neck attaching to the shoulder area.

- Reference to anatomy photos at this point roughing out the big areas of muscle, bone and fat.

- Making sure to keep changing the angle you view your sculpt to spot things that are wrong. Looking from above, for afar and even take photos and viewing the flattened image can be great ways to do this.

TIP; keep in mind how the pose affects muscle here, an outstretched arm has a much flatter bicep than a curled arm, this applies for all the body's muscles.

TIP; Don't be afraid to chop bits off, add/subtract clay then attach them back on readjusted, clay is surprising forgiving.

Now the fiddly bit, the key to the characters expression, its face!

- Smooth out the facial area and use a tool or blade to mark out the vertical centre line, and horizontal lines for the eyes, bottom of nose, mouth, bottom of lip. top of chin etc.

- Gouge out some holes for the eyes

- Now create two spheres for eye balls, if using a bakeable clay like Sculpey, you should cook these to become hard, or use relevant sized ball bearings or marbles. The spheres should be larger than the characters final eyes.

- Press these into the eye sockets and cover with chunks of clay as the brow, nose base and cheek bones would.

- Very thin sausages of clay can then be used to build up the face and used as eye lids over the eyeballs

- The main neck muscles join the head where the back of the jaw meets the base of the skull, this is also where the ears sit.

- Check the silhouette of your character from all different angles to check for symmetry and to compare with your reference imagery.

- When sculpting your characters expression you can use a mirror and your own face to check where the skin stretches and wrinkles and how the whole face reacts. It may feel silly, but this is what the pro sculptors do!

TIP; To avoid the difficult task of sculpting a symmetrical face, give your character an asymmetrical expression such as a wink or a snarl.

TIP; I go more in-depth into making realistic eyes and facial sculpting in the following instructable.
www.instructables.com/Sculpting-a-Character-With-R...

Next up is clothing and other items such as props, armour or surroundings.

- It is good to have an idea of the characters clothing early on so you don't spend time on detail that will be hidden.

- If you don't have a clear idea, do what I did here, roughly make shapes and flat pieces of clay and try it out as different clothing options to see which ones work best.

- Once you have mixed and matched and decided, you can remove them and refine before adding the final thing.

- For very thin clay, first make a ball and then squash it with your hands, a round object such as a handle can be used like a rolling pin.

- Clothing can be then cut from these flat shapes before being added to the character. You can even reference tailors sewing pattern for more complex clothing.

- For pieces that need to look thinner, a flat tool can be used to push the existing clay to an edge, giving the illusion of the edge of one layer of cloth atop of the body, I used this technique in the sandal as seen in the above picture.

TIP; Props such as weapons or things like horns can be sculpted separately and cooked before being added to the main sculpt. Baked polymer clay can also be glued to itself if necessary for you sculpt!

The last step of the sculpt is to add the final details.

- The most basic technique for adding detail is sculpting with hand tools hear.

- Another option I would recommend is to use a texture stamp, this could be anything from a bit of cloth, some fruit peel, a rock or in my case, a thin jewellery chain, giving a chainmail/rough fabric effect.

- The idea here is to emboss the existing detail from the item onto your sculpt, this is far easier than hand sculpting in a lot of circumstances.

TIP; For things such as wrinkles, hair and wood grain it is recommend to sculpt the lines with a sharp tool, then use fingers or rubber tools to then smooth it out in the same direction, then resculpting over again and repeating the process, this gives more natural and embedded detail, looking less like a 'carved in' texture.

TIP; It is important to be careful when handling your model during this stage, a thumb can easily erase detail you have previously sculpted while holding the model. Try to grip only the base or work on the pieces last where you place your fingers.

There you go with a finished model.
You can leave it there and put it on display for all to see.

Or...
If you are using a polymer clay you may then cook it using the instructions on the packet. (Make sure to let it cool slowly to reduce the chance of cracking, leaving in the switched off oven seems to work best)

Now it is hardened it can be painted with acrylic paintings, varnished, gold leafed or any number of other finishes you can think of! There are a tonne of great mini painting tutorials that walk you through paint layers such as base coats, a wash and dry brushing.

Have fun with it and enjoy your maquette!