H4 Clay Sculpt

[Madfirefox55]

my other endeavors have been unsuccessful, but with my still developing artistic skills i will attempt to construct an H4 Master Chief helmet! When beginning my journey i searched for a few reference images to get an idea of what i was doing because the game still hadn't come out yet, and even now after it has it helps not, and noticed a disturbing lack of imagery. then i got the game and learned that there is no theatre mode for campaign, (yet?) oh 343, you silly geese. but alas i did find a few helpful pictures and have pretty much all of the features of the helmet set. unfortunately i haven't been on in awhile and can't seem to figure out how to use photobucket....i believe it updated and i don't know how to upload photos or copy the correct addresses. problem.

 

[Madfirefox55]

test photo

it has worked, good, so this was my base after i had bulked it out some with foam pipe insulation, it had a slightly crooked face wich i didnt want to build off of so i turned it around and used the back of the head for the side the visor would be on.

after about 3.5 hours of laying a base layer of clay and then starting to map out and build up the features of the helmet it looked like the above image.

at the end of the next day it looked like this, the duck bill just taking shape, and only this side bearing any semblance to the actual thing.

a week later after all the free time i had with school being out for "Super Storm Sandy" this is what i have, feature correct as i heard a fellow from the UK say, and with only a lot of smoothing with a putty knife to finish it off for casting.

the next image is a quick Bicep Tricep i whipped up in a few hours.

by the way this is what i'm making.

and my current Mp Armor because who is going to build a suit and not play the game a wee bit? look me up as Meleemsgtusmc on xbl

question, why are about half of the images a fifth the size of the rest?
I Have Returned

 

[Jakezilla3]

holy crap, if you would have shown me the pic of cut up pipe insulation I would have said there is no way that it would be anything interesting but HOLY COW this model is awesome! keep up the good work

 

[Inheritor95]

Looking Good!

 

[Gumption 117]

Such a transformation already, can't wait to see how this turns out! Keep up the great work Madfirefox55!

 

[Madfirefox55]

Thank you all very much!

 

[SodaPop]

Too cool, excited to see how this goes

 

[BlueFreeze128]

this is so awesome!!! when you finished this do you think you might continue to make maybe...H4 Masterchief?

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Looking good man. Im a sculptor myself so I always like to see other people do it. Pepakura is cool but it takes a lot more talent to sculpt it yourself. What kind of clay are you using? Oil based or wax based?

 

[Unity]

Awesome job man! Keep it up !

 

[elettrozero]

Very cool! Once the model is done, the next step is mold casting?

 

[Madfirefox55]

Totally, I intend to make the whole suit!
i am using oil based modeling clay by Sculptey, when i first got it i thought it would be sturdy enough to keep good edges for this kind of thing, but i am currently really regretting not getting either wax based or harder clay because this is only the medium softness. really need to figure out how to keep it flat and smooth as well because it may look real good in the pictures but in real life, up close the surface is really disappointingly wavy and rough.
And also yes the next sculpt after finishing the smoothing to the best of my ability is to mold and cast it which i really look forward to. but am worried about it. also i had the idea that i would cast it, then sand and bondo real small imperfections to make it perfect and then recast it. Unfortunately that would be extremely expensive because the estimates i've heard so far say that a helmet mold costs over $100 to make, so its not an absolute possibility. also i really want to finish the suit by next October so i could wear it for senior halloween at school, so i want the suit to be high grade but not take three years to make.
Thanks everyone for your comments and hope to post more photos soon.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Totally, I intend to make the whole suit!
i am using oil based modeling clay by Sculptey, when i first got it i thought it would be sturdy enough to keep good edges for this kind of thing, but i am currently really regretting not getting either wax based or harder clay because this is only the medium softness. really need to figure out how to keep it flat and smooth as well because it may look real good in the pictures but in real life, up close the surface is really disappointingly wavy and rough.
And also yes the next sculpt after finishing the smoothing to the best of my ability is to mold and cast it which i really look forward to. but am worried about it. also i had the idea that i would cast it, then sand and bondo real small imperfections to make it perfect and then recast it. Unfortunately that would be extremely expensive because the estimates i've heard so far say that a helmet mold costs over $100 to make, so its not an absolute possibility. also i really want to finish the suit by next October so i could wear it for senior halloween at school, so i want the suit to be high grade but not take three years to make.
Thanks everyone for your comments and hope to post more photos soon.

I'm all too familiar with using the wrong clay for the job. One of the best ways to get machine edges in clay is just to use a small, straight sheet of metal. I had a similar issue when making a robot head for a project at school. You can get some great automotive sculpting tools that are great for flat surfaces.

 

[thorn696]

Very nice work.

 

[Madfirefox55]

thanks Thugzz i will totally have to try that, however i don't know of any sculpting supply stores nearby, will have to do some searching!

 

[theTavernKnight]

I think this accurately describes my thoughts on this work.

 

[evilducky 00]

Very nice work. Can't wait to see more progress.

 

[Seth Knight]

So happy to see someone sculpting something Good work.

-Seth