This past weekend turned out to be a very relaxing weekend for me. I just kind of stayed home, played Soul Calibur IV and Bioshock all day on Saturday. Also, instead of producing a comic for Level 99, I found myself messing around with Sculpey, and ended up sculpting this miniature figurine of Chun-Li. All that, without the aid of pants, even.
I’ve never really sculpted this intricately before. The most of my sculpting experience is when I took Ceramics as an elective during my senior year in high school. I totally sucked at spinning pots and crap on the wheel, so often I would opt to sculpt ugly clay renditions of whatever it was I was obsessed with at the time. For example, I made a Kuroneko-sama from Trigun, and I even sculpted the Sorceress from Diablo 2, which was the main character I used while on my freaking 56K modem. Ah, those were the days. Not only did I not get enough sleep because of video games and the Debate Team, Ceramics was my first class, so I would always come out of first period, with clay and shit all over myself for the rest of the day. To top it off, my teacher didn’t consider using non-fireable clays as an options for a “ceramics” class, so I never got a chance to work with Sculpey or putty, or whatever else that would help me in my goal of producing something that catered more to my visions of grandeur. I had to make thick, heavy things, which often times I would not hollow out enough so that they exploded in the kiln. The point is, I liked sculpting, but I hated making dishware. I loved forming things with my hands, but with the limited supplies in class, I felt like there was something missing. Oh, that, and high school was totally gay.
Anyway, as I was saying, I just picked up some Sculpey after a mean Soul Calibur IV session with Blaine, and I got obsessed. This tiny little thing took me hours. I found that working with Sculpey is difficult, so I ended up baking this thing three times in gradual steps, so that I could add stuff on without having it fall apart. First, the general form of the body and base, then with the limbs, clothes and part of the head, which was followed by the hair, ribbons, cuffs and other detailing. I then painted it with acrylics and sprayed one coat of clear glaze. This is how it all turned out.
Front 
Back 
Scale - Compared to a spool of thread. It’s about 3 inches high.
I think it turned out sort of okay, considering I didn’t know what the hell I was doing the whole time. I made this strictly on the basis of what’s in my brain (which isn’t very much, probably) and didn’t consult any documentation or online tutorials. I need to, though…I need to figure out what tools I can use, what types of clay and putty achieve what, and get some good advice in general. I really loved this project, and I think I would like to do it again, so I think a trip to the nearest table-top gaming store is foreseeable in my near future. They should have all the materials people use to make those little Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer type figures, right?
Here’s one last shot of her with my other action figures on my desk.
Ultra Magnus approves!
Next time, I’ll try to make something not as generic. =)
