ShadoKat's Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 3) helmet sculpt - WIP

[ShadoKat]

Okay, I am in desperate need of some advice here…

I recommend that once you are "finished" with it going back and just resmoothing everything and redetailing it.

Yup, that's about where I am with it right now. I smoothed and detailed once, now I'm in the process of re-smoothing and re-detailing. Unless you mean after I cast? At that point I hope to be able to sand it, as I seem to be having a problem getting the unevenness out of it with the tools I'm using... Exhibit A:






This lumpiness is really driving me bonkers at this point. I've used metal scrapers, rakes, rubber kidneys, and even a wire brush to really rough it up and try to even it out from there, but nothing is working well so far. If anyone has tips (other than "keep working it," as I'll be doing that, anyway) I could REALLY use them

The only criticism I have is that the lines appear to have a little excess clay on the edges.

Yup, I anticipated that would happen... that's the intended purpose of the blue rubber cord you see in that pic. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the lines will be nice and hold their definition when I'm finally done smoothing and pull the cord out. I'm sure there will still be work to do after that, but I'm hoping that will make things easier.

Thanks very much for the compliments, you guys! Looking forward to molding and pulling my first cast this weekend!

[Anonymous ONI agent]

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase can I have one?

[warmachineelite]

This gives me motivation to start clay molding and casting. Good job!

[Metalfr3q]

Sculptor detected!! I always enjoy looking at sculpted work, impresses me no end that stuff pull from the ground can be made into such awesome things. That and also anyone who does sculpt their work always has the talent and creativity to pull off said awesome work. Keep it up!

[Nintendude]

Oh my god I love it and this looks like the best made Samus Helmet I've seen yet, I even like this over my pep helmet and that's saying something.

[Neoproks]

Absolutely beautiful. That is a fantastic job for your first sculpt, heck, for any sculpt. I REALLY want to see where this goes. Good luck.

[SpartanM93]

Are you burnishing your clay? I would recommend that, I do a lot with clay, I have the amount needed to start something but not the drive, ya dig? So yeah. find yourself a nice smooth rock and get a rubbin'

[ShadoKat]

Hello again, small update... I've been working on this the last several days (a bit unusual, I usually only get to do this a few hours on the weekend), and I don't seem to be having any luck. No matter what I do, it's still ending up pretty lumpy. I've added, subtracted, pressed, pulled, cursed, scraped, rubbed, screamed, and even tried mineral spirits, all to no avail. Fortunately it's not getting any worse, but it's not getting any better, either. The surface of the lumps are smooth, but the lumps themselves won't seem to go away.

Are you burnishing your clay? I would recommend that, I do a lot with clay, I have the amount needed to start something but not the drive, ya dig? So yeah. find yourself a nice smooth rock and get a rubbin'

Burnishing? I am unfamiliar with this, which is odd, because I've been doing a LOT of reading about sculpting and such. Can you describe the process for me a bit, please? Videos would be a plus. Will that help with the lumpiness I'm experiencing? I did a quick search for that term and it looks like just taking a smooth object and rubbing it on the clay. Is that correct? One example I saw involved the use of a spoon, which is actually kind of funny... I read in another thread about someone using lotion and a spoon to smooth their clay, but I thought he was joking.

@ Anonymous ONI Agent: Perhaps... I was only going to make a few, but if there's enough interest I might consider doing a short run. Then again, I don't have access to the "Classifieds" section yet, so we'll see how it goes.

@ warmachineelite, Metalfr3q, and Neoproks: Thank you very much, the kind words REALLY do a lot for my motivation! Then again, it also makes me want to put more time into the sculpt before I start molding. I'm actually considering putting it off yet another week to keep working the clay, but I'm conflicted... I want to get to the molding and pull a cast soooo bad!!!

@ Nintendude: Yes, that does indeed mean a lot coming from a 405th MVP such as yourself! Your Samus was actually one of the things that inspired me to start this project.

Not to be a broken record or spam-post or anything, but I really could use more smoothing tips, please! Thanks, all!!

[CrimsonValkyrie]

As a friend once said to me:

"looks awesome... im blind"

[this is haji]

wow man! first sculpt!?! keep it up