Earlier this year I built a series of four terrain panels, each measuring two feet by two feet, and almost ten inches tall on the highest elevation. I was originally going to build just one, but I had such a good time making the first that I decided to go ahead and all three more to it to make a larger gaming table for D&D or war gaming. It’s not something I have done before, but it sure was a lot of fun. I can see why people get addicted to terrain building and 3d printing and such. It was a wonderful creative outlet, and I wish I had the room to use and store an eight foot gaming table with modular mix and match panels. I would love to build a proper wharf, a seaside fishing town, a mountain pass, ancient ruins, a meandering river bed, a proper cliff face and waterfall, try water effects, real rock moulds with plaster of paris etc… a hot wire cutter, a grass applicator and those uber swanky high class model train trees too. There are just so many things you could do with the time and resources to tackle them. My only hope is to help my kids build dioramas for elementary school projects! Or try to build a bunch of much smaller and more compact elements, like castle walls, or ruins or individual hovels & town houses. I’d love to see any of your work if you have images handy!.
The terrain boards.The smaller obstacles and scatter terrain, as well as the earliest buildings I have attempted.
I’m not a vlogger or youtuber so my video snippets are few and far between. But here’s a short flyby of my two completed terrain boards with a few minis in tableau on one half. I’ll be back to writing my short story series about The Chronicles of Kelvin soon enough. So fear not, I’m not transitioning to only war gaming, or recipes or short blurbs about nothing much at all. Take care out there folks. And with no further ado, my terrain build in video format.
And because I’m proud of much of it, my book case full of bust sculpts from my home office.
Like I said in a previous post, I have pulled back from my writing so that I can continue to dabble in clay. I just like the visceral feel of tacky clay under my finger nails. Watching something grow from a wire armature into a fully realized piece with some detailing on top for good measure. I put nearly 44,000 words to paper in the first six weeks of 2020, and only one full sculpt. So now I’ll do that for a bit instead. Below you can see the bulk of my hard work over the last several years. Enjoy.
Book case of clay sculpts.Last years super sculpey polymer busts.
All ten bust sculpts from 2019. Some are done in Super Sculpey and some are done in Chavant NSP Hard, and Monster Clay Hard.
I finally got around to putting together a single page spread of last years sculptures, with all of them together, the good, the bad, and the indifferent. I completed less than half as many as I did the year before, but I chose to work the bulk of the years items in super sculpey, so that they could be baked and painted, which is different than the Chavant stuff, which are used to cast and mould items for larger production. I have yet to step into that ring, mainly because it is expensive, smelly and requires knowledge I do not yet have a firm grasp of. Plus I’m not a house hold name, and I’d hate to end up sitting on twenty five pieces of my own artwork for no reason other than hubris, thinking others would like my stuff even half as much as I do in some instances. I chose to add in the crappy sculpts too, because, Hey!, a good portion of creating is putting out garbage until you refine your skills enough to do something you are somewhat proud of. I haven’t put any new clay down yet so far this year, I do have an armature bulked out ready to go, but I’ve been focused on writing, reading, and drinking water until I can’t stand myself any more. I have a couple of ideas for what I will do, I’m just not ready to commit to it yet. I tend to see so many great things over on the Shiflett brothers sculpting forum on facebook, and on instagram, and I squirrel those images and ideas away until I can really get my head around it.
Also I wanted to give a shout out to my Olympus SP-500UZ which I bought in 2006, which is still going strong to this day. I came to turn it on today to get my collage done and it was dark, but with some new batteries, she is up and running and just a great as the day I got it. Although if I’d have had the money, a Pentax film camera would have been my go to, but just out of College/University I chose a point and shoot that had several more options and capabilities. This is pre digital SLR being ubiquitous and cost effective for noobs to own. Although the camera on my phone is really good for this sort of thing too.
One goal I am going to accomplish this year, if to do a full figure again. I started out doing whole people, and then couldn’t do faces and hands and feet. Spent some time with the Ninja Turtles as my muse and could do a passable three fingered hand, and two toed feet and then went to busts to really get to know a face; the eyes, ears, mouths and noses. I have yet to master any other those elements, but I can at least make things look human, or depict the essence of my subject. I think i got fairly close in 2018 with my Thanos, Yondu & Thor busts. Also a big reason I’ve calmed down on my output is that I have limited space in my office/studio for storage, and don’t want to have my rough work scattered throughout the house, or in the basement. We have Nerf® gun fights, and rough house down stairs and I’d get mad if my stuff got injured in the course of us having a family fun Nerf® gun fight. An errant bullet deforming an oil based clay sculpture would not be my favourite thing.
Oh, and another thing, the reason I did 60% of last years sculpting work in Sculpey was because I had ideas about painting them all, and taking the best paint job / best sculpted item to the Markham Fair. You see they don’t really have a sculpting category, but you can enter painted ceramics. Sculpey is ceramic like, but not ceramic. So I can enter to get people to see my work, but it doesn’t qualify for judging or prizing. Just eyeballs, and a chance to show friends and family my work out in public. Which is fun, so I have that going for me.
As we near the end of the year I’d like to look at the last two or three sculpts that I have put together. I managed to build 22 pieces in this calendar year, which felt really, really good. I covered some full figures, like Skeletor and some Ninja Turtles, and then transitioned into busts and portraits. I was fortunate enough to complete my first sculpting commission this year, of a Guild Wars II customized avatar. The last four pieces have really focused on the face and likeness of celebrities and family members alike. I think Yondu and Penguin captured the essence if not the complete likeness of the characters I was attempting to build. (As seen below)
Patton Oswalt “Penguin” from Badman
Marvel’s Gotg Yondu
The Guild Wars character is by far the closest I’ve come in respect to likeness. I was not as happy with the portrait sculpt of my youngest daughter Hannah, but it taught me a lot, and really helped to pin point where I still need to focus my attention. (Note to self : don’t use a glossy primer on polymer clay!)
Guild Wars II Customized Avatar (Unpainted and painted).
For now I am going to go back to Fantasy characters, such as those drawn by the likes of Adrian Smith. I will continue to hone my skills by doing sight copies of pieces done by sculptors I admire. It has been a real pleasure to cut out my own bases, from a tree that I cut into slabs, and round them off, sand them down, clear coat them, add cork feet, and build a sculpture on top. I think I will also try to add more wood working to the mix. I have a really great lathe sitting in pieces in my shop, so next year I’ll have to build a sturdy table, and then I can make more intricate bases. I’d like to find some exotic woods, and some nice stains, and if I manage to pull something really exciting out of my studio then perhaps a little brass plaque with finishing screws to name it and cap it off nicely. You know, like the pros do.
Not this year coming, but maybe the year after I’d like to try casting up some resin copies of my works. That’ll be a learning process in and of itself. Making a silicon mould, mixing the resin, getting the pours down properly, and then pulling them out correctly, and taking care of seam lines, and perhaps painting one up. It was actually kind of fun to bust out the paints to finish off my commission. I’m not a painter by any stretch so that was new and exciting. I think I’ll try to work more in Super Sculpey® so that I can bake and paint them if need be. Although to be honest I’m a huge fan of the Chavant NSP Hard oil based clay. I’m sure doing 30 some odd pieces in that medium might have something to do with that. I don’t think I’ll be able to do 22 items next year, but I aim to keep on getting better and better.
Until the new year, have a safe and happy holiday.
An even bigger roster of items I’ve completed this year. Definitely taken a turn for the fantasy realm as of the last three – four months. May even be taking my first commission offer within the next week or so. Could be a way to supplement my freelance graphic design revenue.
I’d love to use this skill set to design a really funky tap handle. I’ve done that on paper, and in illustrator, but never done it traditionally for a full on mould and cast job.
If any one would like to have a very custom award/ topper made to hand out to staff at conferences and the such that would be a cool project to do.
Contact me at : gwstudios@rogers.com
For OOAK (One of a kind) bust (around 8″ tall and 5″ wide depending on character) you’re looking at $600.00 + 13% HST (in either a Chavant® NSP Hard or Super Sculpey® medium). To have your item moulded and then cast in resin please contact me for a quote.
Greatwall Studios Graphic Design 
You must be logged in to post a comment.