Sculpting Basics
Presented by Kevin Chenevert of LyonStudio.com
Basic Tools and Materials:
• Primary Sculpt-
ing Medium –
Kneadatite blue
and yellow
epoxy ribbon
made by
Polymerics.
When mixed,
turns green,
hence the term
greens for sculpts. Use green
Kneadatite for organic forms. The putty
is available online from
www.fortressfigures.com , $12 for 36”
roll.
• Secondary Sculpting Medium –
Kneadatite brown epoxy ribbon. Used
alone or mixed with green, it is used for
sculpting sharper edges and machined
looking parts. Sands well. Cures more
brittle. Also available from Fortress Fig-
ures. Optionally, fine white Milliput can
be used or mixed with green.
• Copper Wire (22 gauge) – used to make
the armature.
• Fingers and Spit – Most of the initial
forming and shaping can be done with
your fingers. Saliva on your tools and
fingers helps keep the putty from stick-
ing.
• Thin Bladed Spatula Dental Tool – This
is your primary sculpting tool. Available
at most hobby and craft stores.
• Razor Knife – also known by the brand
name X-Acto. Buy lots of blades. Used
for cutting and scraping cured putty to
sharpen edges and to texture.
• Pointy Dental Tool or Pin held in a Pen
Vise – For textures and sculpting.
• Lip Balm – Used to prevent putty stick-
ing to tools and smoothing putty. Some
other putties you may eventually use are
toxic so be careful with the saliva. Also,
remember to wash the sculpture gently
between steps with warm soapy water
so that new additions will stick.
Questions?, email me at Kevin@Lyonstudio.com
• Large Cork or Big cube eraser – To
mount your armature into.
• Mechanical Pencil - To make rivets and
textures. See the sculpting article by
Bobby Jackson in references.
• Ball Burnisher (small and large) - I use
two. I use them to blend putty. In tight
places I use the small one but in open
areas I find the large burnisher works
best. I have seen nice sets of ball bur-
nishers at hobby
stores with three in
a pack for only a
few dollars.
• Small wire cutter pliers to help make
your armatures.
• Optivisor (with Lens #3: 1 3/4X magnifi-
cation & 14" focal length) I would list this
tool as optional for someone with perfect
vision. Focal length is equally important
with magnification. If you cannot fit your
tool between you
and the piece, it
does not do you
much good.
Bought from Rio
Grande.
• Clip Lamp with a
40 or 60 watt
bulb. Used to speed the curing of putty
from around 45 minutes to 5 or 10. A
larger bulb will distort the curing putty
rounding sharp wet details.
• Sandpaper (fine and light grit) for sand-
ing and shaping sharp or machined
edges.
• Prefabricated Dollies to save time and
effort. These by ReaperMini,.com
Sculpting Basics
Presented by Kevin Chenevert of LyonStudio.com
Basic Steps
• Before starting, realize that the first five
figures that you do will probably look
pitiful. Do not get discouraged. Each
time you sculpt you will see improve-
ment. Below describes sculpting and
entire humanoid type figure. It may be
better to start with a conversion by add-
ing an arm or some small piece of ter-
rain or some fantastical ooze creature.
• Make the armature with
copper wire and a bit of
putty. I typically form an
inverted “V” into a “Y”
then use a cross piece of
wire at the shoulders for the arm. Keep
the leg wires long so you can mount it
into the cork or eraser. Keep the arm
wires long and cut them down later just
before you sculpt the hands. Use a ball
of putty to secure the arm piece and set
it aside to cure. Make a couple arma-
tures at a time. This is the most impor-
tant step. Ready made armatures
called dollies are available from Reaper
Miniatures at reapermini.com One is a
stick figure and one has some of the
musculature fleshed out.
• Put a thin skin
layer of putty on
the armature.
Later additions
will adhere to this
starting layer.
Mix up a piece of
putty about the
size of a pea. I
roll it into snakes
and mash/wind it
around the armature then with saliva or
lip balm on my fingertips to smooth out
the thin layer of putty. When satisfied,
mark the elbow joints and knees in the
soft putty. Set aside armature to cure.
• From this point on, you will probably not
mix up more than a bb sized ball of
putty. Also, many small stages with cur-
ing in between is much better that trying
to do it all at once.
• Mix a bit of putty and using yourself or
picture as an anatomical reference be-
gin forming the anatomy on the arma-
ture. This will not be the final layer of
putty so do not overbulk up the figure.
After the legs, torso, and head are
Questions?, email me at Kevin@Lyonstudio.com
formed proceed to adding details.
Sometimes it is better to form the arms
later so they will not be in the way.
• Again, mix small bits of putty and begin
detailing the
figure from the
inside out
starting with
clothes, then
belts, then
other outer bits.
• If, at any point
something does
not look right,
cut it off with
your X-Acto
and do it again.
Practice is good.
• Next form the arm wires into place and
bulk out the arms. After curing, detail
the arms from the inside out. Do the
hands last in many small stages. After
sitting, the partially cured putty becomes
firmer. Place the initial piece for the
hand or fingers and roughly form its ge-
ometry. Come back in ten minutes or so
and finish sculpting the fingers.
• The head is the hardest part and a
whole article could be written on just this
topic. Start the head with a small sculpt
a rough skull first. Come back in sub-
sequent stages fleshing out the skull.
Expect to sculpt the head five or six
times before you are satisfied, just cut
the old one off and start over.
• Finally remove the sculpt from the cork
or eraser, trim the wire and either sculpt
a base or put the sculpt into a slotted
plastic base. Sometimes it may make
sense to sculpt the feet or shoes at this
point in two or three stages.
Skeletal Dollie/Armature from
www.jeffvalentstudios.com
Sculpting Basics
Presented by Kevin Chenevert of LyonStudio.com
Sculpting Tips
• This is one of the most important con-
cepts to realize and accept:
Work in lots of small stages, layering
up details a little at a time.
• Here is the second most important con-
cept to understand: Mix tiny bits of ep-
oxy putty at a time. After the initial
skin coat, I rarely use more putty that
the size of a bb. If you have extra putty
mixed up you tend to want to keep
sculpting and use it. Chances are you
will destroy something that took you a
long time to get right. If you feel bad
about wasting the putty, start sculpting a
second figure to work on while the first
is curing.
• Form the kneadatite epoxy putty into
equal balls as you develop the figure
symmetrically to keep the part body
part you are working on in proportion.
• Use lots of spit or lubricant to keep
tools from sticking as you smooth
kneadatite epoxy putty surfaces. I cur-
rently use saliva or "chap stick" a lip
balm. If you use an oily lubricant you
may need to gently wash the sculpt in
warm soapy water from time to time or
new added parts may not stick.
• Use green kneadatite putty for organic
forms.
• Use green mixed with milliput (50/50),
pure milliput, or brown kneadatite for
sharp edged or machined items.
• With kneadatite putty use more yellow
putty in a mix for very detailed features,
like faces. More yellow also slows cure
time.
• Speaking of sculpting faces, rest your
eyes momentarily every 15 minutes or
so by closing them or focusing on some-
thing at a distance.
• Heat speeds up curing. Cold slows
curing. Put your uncured sculpt into the
freezer if you have to stop to rest your
eyes, talk on the phone, or change the
kitty litter.
• The properties of kneadatite epoxy putty
varies from when it is mixed to when it
cures. Some modeling should be done
when the putty is first mixed and very
soft. Some detailing should be done 15
or 20 minutes after the putty is mixed
and is becoming firmer. I generally
Questions?, email me at Kevin@Lyonstudio.com
firmly burnish putty that is almost fully
cured to smooth a surface.
• Sharp Edges with green putty: You can
still get these sharper edges in this way:
Form up the shape as sharp and
smooth as you can with the freshly
mixed putty. Put the piece on the side
for fifteen minutes or so (less if using a
heat lamp) and let it partially cure.
While it is stiffer use your tools and
sharpen and flatten edges. In some
situations you can come back after it is
fully cured and cut a sharp edge with an
x-acto knife, although most of the time I
find this impractical.
• Study anatomy. Buy a few anatomy
books with lots of good poses and with
viewes from different directions.
• Form the small piece of kneadatite ep-
oxy putty to be applied into a shape as
close as possible to its final shape.
• Do not cut corners. Make everything
as clean, crisp, and sharp as possible
the first time.
• Use a flat bladed tool or a round bur-
nishing tool to smooth surfaces.
• Do not be afraid to waste putty. Do
not keep working just because you still
have putty. I often try to forge ahead
and squash a detail that took me an
hour to perfect. If you are driven, be
working on a second miniature while the
other miniature cures.
• Keep a sketch book / scrap book of
notes, ideas, images from the net and
magazines, etc.
• Patience, patience, patience.
• Practice, practice, practice.
Brown Kneadatite comes in a 4” length.
Sculpting Basics
Presented by Kevin Chenevert of LyonStudio.com

Further Reading and References:
The materials and techniques described in
this handout are the minimum that I could
present and would suggest. As with most
hobbies there are many variations and dif-
ferent opinions. I have discovered very little
of what I describe in this handout. Almost all
of the techniques detailed here are from ar-
ticles by Bobby Jackson and Phil Lewis as
well as the invaluable information from the
Yahoo Groups 1listSculpting community. .
Web Articles and Communities:
The following articles can be found at
www.LyonStudio.com
• "How to Sculpt Little Guys" by Bobby
Jackson - This article is what got me
started.
• “Figure Sculpting 101" and "Figure
Sculpting the Prequel" Phil Lewis -
These articles are what kept me going.
• 1listSculpting FAQ
• Join 1listSculpting group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1listScul
pting/ This is the place to go and join if
you are serious about learning to sculpt.
Here you get answers to specific ques-
tions, upload your work for valuable cri-
tiques, and help out others who are
starting to sculpt. Awesome web com-
munity.
• “Miniature Figure Sculpting” by Bob
Lippman..
you want a way to invent and model
flowing robes, boot creases, etc. short of
having a reference model, this is the
book to have. I like this book a lot but I
am not a big fan of his other book inso-
far as an anatomical reference. Some
of Mr. Hogarth's drawings in Dynamic
Figure Drawing are extremely stylized
and not a good starting point for a sculp-
tural reference.
• Realistic Figure Drawing by Joseph
Sheppard ISBN 0 89134 374 1 This is
a good basic book on anatomy and pro-
portion. Mr. Sheppard also has a few
other titles out that are worth a look.
• An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists
by W. Ellenberger and others ISBN 0
486 20082 5 This is one of the wonder-
ful inexpensive compilations by Dover
Publications. It is an excellent reference
for Horses. There are anatomical stud-
ies of the dog, lion, bull and others.

Books:

• Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay

ISBN 0 316 90764 2 I have recently
seen stacks on the discount books sec-
tion in my local Barnes and Noble for
$15. This is one of my primary refer-
ence books as well as the book that I
used to make my scaled anatomy refer-
ences.

• Modelling the Figure in Clay by Bruno

Lucchesi ISBN 0 8230 3096 2 This
book is the best. It is highly recom-
mended by other sculptors and I concur.
This book has radically changed how I
approach a figure sculpture.
• Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery by
Burne Hogarth ISBN 0 8230 1587 4 If

Questions?, email me at Kevin@Lyonstudio.com