Somehow neglected to share this Stegosaurus bas-relief project here, when I began in December 2024, so now that I'm starting it over I may as well share both versions. The more finished-looking one, in soft clay, is now unworkable because its plastic base has warped too badly, and so the new, slightly larger air-hardening clay version is mounted on a pane of glass instead. Thankfully, water restores this Paperclay's pliability, so I'll be able to texture and reshape this project even as it dries.
More detail and context in the image descriptions.
My loot from Monsterpalooza. All of my favorite things were at this convention. 💀 Gonna focus on doing more art stuff the remainder of this year with a focus in sculpting/3D traditional art.
Everything I try to use as a substitute (pins, needles, etc) has proved disappointing. I never used it as much as the other tools, but it turns out to have been crucial for some things. All the pupils are a disaster now!
Oh well, my sculpting is just me doing 3D doodling and not an attempt at “art”, so I guess it doesn’t matter too much...
Dang, it annoys me though!!!!
**My theory? It fell through one of the holes in the floor. Sadly it’s a real hazard in my house.
I've had a few questions about supplies I use for sculpting and painting miniatures. My best piece of advice, my secret, BUY NAIL ART TOOLS. THEY ARE SO MUCH CHEAPER THAN SCULPTING TOOLS AND BRUSHES. OH MY GOSH, SO MUCH CHEAPER. Amazon search nail art tools and it's a treasure chest.
What is the famous SketchUp extension Artisan? What tools does it offer and how can you use it properly?
Ease of use, simple interface, and flexibility are the main reasons behind the enormous popularity of Trimble SketchUp. The said flexibility of SketchUp comes from the ability to upgrade, enhance, and change the way its default tools behave by the addition of a myriad of extensions from outside. SketchUp Pro and above enable this feature for the users, who can find these extensions in the SketchUp Extension Warehouse 2.0 or some third-party web sites.
Artisan is one such extension or plugin. This powerful plugin can turn SketchUp from a 3D geometric designer to a 3D organic modeler. In other words, Artisan lets you design your model with such complex geometry that the result looks and feels like a natural object. For example, you can literally draw a lifelike flower using the Artisan extension.
Previously, Artisan was released with the name "Subdivide and Smooth" and it was a hit then already. Developer Del has worked hard for two years over it and the child of this labour is what we see as Artisan - a complex remake and upgrade with a plethora of added features.
The extension exposes itself in the form of a toolbar with large, friendly-looking buttons. Each button represents an important function, and they are arrayed in four basic functional groups. These are Surface Subdivision, Sculpting Tools, Vertex Transformation, Mesh Optimization. Let us delve further into each group below.
1. Subdivision Surfaces
These functions are used for smoothing a given hard geometry by introducing more subdivisions in the object to make it appear more organic and softer. The robust subdivision algorithm works blisteringly fast on any number of selected faces, groups or components. You can also use the Crease tool to create hard edges from edges or vertices. The Knife tool will let you create loops and the Extrude tool will further help you in this by making loops without interior faces. With the latest version of Artisan, you can preview the subdivision content change before committing. The Proxy button presents you with a low-poly mode that updates subsurface geometry in real-time parallel to your editing.
It occured to me that it has been a while since I showed my sculpting tools, and that I had never shown my sculpting “space”. (I am sooo being generous with the word “space”.
Of the tools the bent one is not bent for some artistic purpose. The fact is I one day got very angry and stabbed a chair. Well, it could have been my leg easily! LOL The double ended wooden tool is the most important one to my sculpting, and also the most irreplaceable. I’ve yet to find another one that small and I can get quite frantic whenever I misplace it.
The chair situation is a disaster! LOL Ignore the pile of books and comics in it and the mountain of pillowsand blankets beside it when I took the pic. As you can see the chair is busted. One arm is broken off and an old blanket had to be shoved into the seat to hold it up. The light is actually situated behind the back of the chair, made worse by the collapsing floor tilting the chair forward.
The arm rest tray is a recent addition, something I found when cleaning out the house. Unfortunately it doesn’t really fit the arm well and slides over if the weight isn’t centered on the arm.
So how do I sit to sculpt? Contorted! I face the tray cross legged, kneeling, crouching or whatever is most comfortable in that moment. While doing this I have to lean into the back of the chair so that light falls on the sculpting.
Yeah, it’s about as far from ideal as you can get bit if you have a sculpting addiction you make do.
