The next step of creating a figure is to make an armature. Click here for Part 1.

Wire and aluminum foil are used to create the basis for the toy to be sculpted around. It’s very much like the gesture drawings you would do in any basic figure drawing course, just in 3D. Not only does it give a firm base when you’re mashing clay onto the sculpt, but it establishes the size of the final figure. If I have a target size, I will print out a rough sketch to scale to work alongside the armature.

Here are the beginning stages of the armature. I sculpt the head and arms separately, so i put them all together towards the end. That way I don’t put a thumb print in the head while trying to put counter pressure on the body. If the clay sculpt were the final piece, I would make a complete armature in the beginning so the result will be stronger. Since I only need this sculpt to last long enough to make a mold, I can afford to sculpt everything separately and attach them later.

Next step is adding clay!