Pyle's Pirate: Hat and torso roughed in

Pyle's Pirate: Head Sculpt

Here are the first shots of the head sculpt for the bust. I tried to work in some finer wrinkles and skin texture to help convey that rough searfarer look.

Pyle's Pirate; The Sculpey Sketch

Though I've never done this for a figure I find a Sculpey sketch of a bust to be a big help in it's development. The sketch is a nice warm up and helps to establish the character of the piece. It also helps to identify those areas that might be more difficult than others.

Here are a the first views of the sketch. I also added a piece of wire to represent one of the hoop earrings he will be wearing.

Slow but sure

I'm finally back at it. Here's a quick update on the small amount of work that's been done the past few days.

Coming next: Pyle's Pirate

On the heels of the trapper will come this 1/10 bust of a pirate based on a sketch by illustrator Howard Pyle. I've always wanted to do a bust based on this sketch in hopes of at least capturing the spirit of Pyle's drawing.

Although I found two other sketches this one is the main inspiration for the bust. Pyle's pirate had that look that went on to firmly establish themselves in print and film that continues today.

Fast forward

With the APG show fast approaching I need to get this and other projects out of the way. So I'm going to skip any sbs material I was going to do for this progress.

Coat update

Sorry for the delay in getting some new pictures and information. I'm trying to play catch up and here is where the coat is at today. In order to keep what momentum I have there will not be much in the way of an sbs. When I get to his equipment I'll be doing a more detailed look at making his pouch, powder horn, knife and sheath. Now it's time to get back to work.

The Buckskin Coat Part 2

Refer to photos 4-6. CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL FOR AN ENLARGEMENT.

4. Thought the Sculpey form was somewhat soft it did a decent job of supporting the putty.I ran hot water over the piece after it had cured in order for the putty to separate itself from the Sculpey form.

5. I had to turn the piece and slide it out sideways to remove it. There are some rough edges and excess material to clean up, but overall it came out okay. At this stage I'm not too worried about detail. That step will come after I permanently attach the piece to the lower body.The photos show both the inside and outside of the coat.

6. Here is the lower coat placed back on the figure following removal of the Sculpey form.

The Buckskin Coat Part 1

Refer to photos 1-3. CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL FOR AN ENLARGEMENT.

1. The first thing I needed to do was make the belt worn over the coat. I rolled out a snake of AVES putty and flattened it out to an even thickness. It was then trimmed using a small ruler.

2. A form that will support the sheet of putty that will become the lower coat was made using Sculpey. Typically sculptors add a partially cured sheet to the area and manipulate it as it's curing. The Sculpey form not only supports the putty but allows you work in a fold pattern that looks more natural. Using sheets of putty to represent coat tails, capes, or flags are often used to add drama to a piece. A lot of the time these additions lack life and end up looking like sheets of putty painted to look like a coat tail or cape.



3. The completed Sculpey form with major folds worked into the Sculpey. Before adding the sheet of putty the form was given a very light coating of Vaseline so it does not stick to the putty.

Sculpting the fringe

Sorry for the long delay. In the process of sculpting the fringe I managed to come up with a few ways to approach doing this particular detail. The method I planned to use just became not only too time consuming but not practical for this scale of figure. I hope to use the other method on a larger scale figure in the future. The method shown here on the following pages is fairly simple, yet yields satisfactory results.

Sculpting the fringe Part 1

This step covers the application of putty to the area of the trousers where there is fringe.

Sculpting the fringe Part 2

This section shows the final details added to the fringe. I tried to limit the number of steps in order to beak the process down in a simple manner.

The sculpey sketch

Further establishment of the pose

The next set of photos will show the lower half of the coat sketched in using Sculpey. This dry run helps to plan the actual garment for when it's done using putty. This method may be a bit overkill, but I want my garment to look like a garment not a sheet of putty with a few folds in it (OOOH AAAH!). Some may be satisfied with that but why not kick it up to the next level?

The sculpted trousers

Sorry there's not much to show on these. Other than refining a few of the folds I have to add some fringe down the outer sides of the legs.What's interesting is that the buckskin trousers are tailored similiar to period trousers. The waist on the trousers back then were even with the navel instead of lower down on the hips.

Trapper's coat and trousers

I'm working on the trapper's trousers and coat next. The trousers are close fitting so there will not be much in the way of in progress pictures. Buckskin is tough to replicate in this scale. So painting would play a big part of getting that look that separates it from man made type fabrics.

Sculpting the shirt continued

Sculpting the shirt

The shirt

Miller's paintings do not appear to go into much detail about the everyday shirts worn by the trappers he painted. Fortunately I have a book on men's shirts and there were plenty examples from the period of 1800-40 that were a big help in putting this together.