Comments Tutorial: Making your own figures - Preforming

naisor • 4 years ago • #57406740I use paper clay. When I used to live in Japan, one of the most common brands I used was Fando and New Fando. I found an almost equivalent in the USA call simply Creative paper clay (since importing Fando from Japan can be a little expensive). www.hobbylobby....
Please note that this is different from DAS or earth-based clays; this is more like paper maché in principle. It is cellulose-based and the final dried product is very light and easy to cut, carve, sand and add more fresh material that will bond strongly once dried, but if you used glues like super-glue or so, it will first absorb it like a sponge and the bond will not be as strong. I used a home-made "oven" made out of a wood box, foil paper in the inside and light bulb to make it dry faster.
One block usually can give you enough material to make around two to three figure at 1/8th scale like the ones in the preform examples with all the added details with they are not that large.

Cool thank you very much :3

MattKaySeven • 4 years ago • #57408169View spoilerHide spoilerYes, i guess you are right, i edited my comment because i had a negative feedback,...but i realy think the same way here, over politness is nice to hear, but in the End it ´ll bring you no advantage or progress whatsoever, i am glad that you´ve seen the un-edited version of it.
It is true, every Material has it pro´s and con´s, and yes SuperSculpy is not cheap, but when i sculpt i always wonder if i´am not overdoing it ( effort wise ) by investing 4 weeks in just 1 single Sculpture is of course close to insanity but actually not even close to what other Sculptors
invest, ...but when i read how complicated your Sculpting process seems to be( that is from my perspective of course)...i stark thinking...hmmmm....maybe i dont put enough effort in it,...
on the other hand i dont wonder anymore why so called Life Size Anime Figures cost more then some Cars... it is just a crazy amount of work, but for me it seems that is not even much appreciated by the mass audience...
About the Game release, well there is a solution, yes you can not access the Game server because your IP is identificated with the country that your living in, it is the same with Credit Cards sometimes even Major Cards dont work in Japan because the Card Number also Shows where the Card was Originaly Released, ...but if you use a VPN you can access every Game Server in Japan even the DMM Server for KanColle :)
The thing with sanding all the parts sounds very much time consuming,... but i can rely to that, i´ve got the same problem after i apply the Primer with regular Brushes on the PU, because of the Foamy consistence Airbrush would not work, sometimes i have to do the process twice, at a certain point the PU just break without a warning, wich is very much annoiying especial when you work on a hair pice.
By Epoxy putty do you mean Tamiya 1 componet putty ...? That stuff is very good i know, but i can not imagine how much i would use one only 1 Sculpture, even in a smaler size,
Yes that baking Super Sculpy thing realy put me away from it to, and after you ruined your Kitchen equipment for food you have to buy a new Oven of course...
Sometimes i wonder to why some characters of an Anime are released few years after the Series already ended, or not at all, that wil stay as a riddle i guess... :)To be honest, I'm was not so eager to play kankore cause I'm not into that type of strategy games. And even their designs while good and I have collected a lot of figures I appreciate until this day, are getting a little behind to the content Azur Lane has been pulling out. I find Azur Lane designs more "toyetic" or that "I want a figure of that" feeling more. And Azur Lance Crosswaves is coming at the end of August to PS4 from Compile Heart (one of my favorita game companies for the Neptune series) and I swear I told my friends years ago Azur Lane existed that I would love for KanKore to be this third person action game over water where the ship girls were like skating over the ocean like in the Anime. Well, Azur Lane is making my wish come true and I'd gladly put money in that.

The tamiya putty is the one component, yes, the Polyester one is the yellow with a little catalyzer tube, which I wrongly referred to as the Epoxy one. The epoxy putty is the two component with equal size bars to cut and mix, but I was referring to the polyester putty as the one many Japanese pro's use to make things faster.

kaitylee • 4 years ago • #57408447Wow, you make it look so easy!
In your opinion, what is the hardest part of the process?Thanks for the comment. I guess the hardest part is to break the figure into pieces. You have to decide where to cut, do the cut as clean a possible, prepare proper connection keys and then do damage repairs. I try to do this before doing the most finer details.

okami34 • 4 years ago • #57295980Teach me more of your figure making ways! :3
I would like to know how you go about coloring your figures, if possible.Sorry, I didn't quite see the small letter part.

Well, to paint my figures, it is not different from painting any other Garage Kit. I think there are a couple of blogs already touching that subject in MFC. I guess my only advice is to use white primer over skin to try to give that milky peach tone of PVC.

Wow, you make it look so easy!
In your opinion, what is the hardest part of the process?

Echizen-Momoko • 4 years ago • #57396285I am curious... what kind of clay do you use? >w<I use paper clay. When I used to live in Japan, one of the most common brands I used was Fando and New Fando. I found an almost equivalent in the USA call simply Creative paper clay (since importing Fando from Japan can be a little expensive). www.hobbylobby....

Please note that this is different from DAS or earth-based clays; this is more like paper maché in principle. It is cellulose-based and the final dried product is very light and easy to cut, carve, sand and add more fresh material that will bond strongly once dried, but if you used glues like super-glue or so, it will first absorb it like a sponge and the bond will not be as strong. I used a home-made "oven" made out of a wood box, foil paper in the inside and light bulb to make it dry faster.

One block usually can give you enough material to make around two to three figure at 1/8th scale like the ones in the preform examples with all the added details with they are not that large.

MattKaySeven • 4 years ago • #57335295View spoilerHide spoilerThis is realy nice, and after i read the whole thing twice i realy think you should do more of those Blog´s
Interesting is that you dont use any support structures like wire or tinfoil underneath the Clay.Thank you for the comment. Also, please feel free to express what you think and we can discuss it; that's the whole purpose for me to do blogs about my work in the first place.

Regarding the preform step, it is only the beginning of the process actually. It is true that paper clay by itself is not able to produce a smooth surface. At much, after sanding with the finest grades you'll get a kinda fuzzy surface; however, that doesn't end there. In the very last picture of the Rias figure, that's actually not finished yet, and you may notice it looks grayish instead of the natural white color of the paper clay seen in the other preforms.

To smooth the surface, first I use a jewelry file level evenly all the marks from adding material and molding with my hands. Then, I use different grades of sand paper from #320 all the way to #1000 to smooth as much as possible. As said before, you'll get as fuzzy surface at much, and so little remaining micro-cavities here and there.

To smooth even further, I start with Tamiya modeller putty; they sell it gray or white color, I prefer gray most of the time because it contrast with clay color. I use paint thinner to dilute the putty to the point that I can brush it to the surface as if I was painting the part. After drying I proceed to pass the sand papers again to smooth. I do this a number of times, each time the surface becomes smoother and smoother.

After all this, I use surfacer as the ones used to prepare Garage Kit; this I airbrush or use spray cans to put the surfacer onto the pieces as if I was painting again. The result is a very smooth surface which is the final goal.

This process is maybe for me the most difficult to document, cause the sanding and adding surfacer is a kind of messy process, my hands get very busy and stained and I don't feel like using my phone or camera to document this, so I don't have much on that for the moment. I'll see what I can do in the near future.

As for the kantai thing, I was drawing that Rias because I'm currently into Azur Lane (cause KanKore won't release the dem game outside Japan) and because there was a recent collaboration with the Neptune series I thought "I want a collaboration with High School DxD", but then I reflex on that and said "Nah, I'll do it myself". I still have to finish that drawing (I'm still not very good drawing mechanical parts) and I want to make a figure of that. XD

And for sculpey, it was actually one of the first materials (besides school clay) that I used when I was a kid long long time ago. The fact that I work by adding and adding material makes it a little troublesome for me, since I have to bake everytime I make a progress. It can get smooth, yes, but I would still prepare the surface as described above to get it even smoother. I have used sculpey thoroughly in the past, but I prefer paper clay better as of now. I should also maybe explain in a next tutorial about the little "oven" I made to make the paper clay dry faster.

Paper clay is used widely among Japanese Garage Kit makers; it is a basic technique, because sculpey is ver expensive in Japan. That doesn't mean people don't use sculpey, and there are also other materials. What I consider a more advanced technique from Japan is to use Epoxy putty. Since it hardens way faster, it lets you work faster too. I have tried it, but since it is a more carving-sanding technique, with a lot less molding, I have struggled and left it for the moment until I can get a more grasp on the paper clay technique.

I am curious... what kind of clay do you use? >w<

holy fuck that looks really good

Kimm134Saya • 4 years ago • #57298070View spoilerHide spoilerGreat blog, but I disagree on one thing: skeletons or armature as I prefer to call them. If there is no intention to make a copies using sturdier materials like resin, the armature helps a lot in making sure that the sculpture maintains its initial pose moving forward.Thanks for the comment. Actually, even if you do not intend to do copies, this technique in particular is not really favored by putting an armature. The paper clay once dried is sturdy enough to support its light weight, it is carvable, sandable and you can add more fresh material on and it will dry and stick together with a pretty strong bond.

Thing is, if you're going to cut pieces and re-positioning them for posing, the armature is in the way. If you want to cut into pieces for better painting, the armature is in the way. If you're not going to do any of the above, then sure there will be other techniques better suited to use the armature, this is certainly not the only way to do figures.

I used to use armatures at the very beginning, but I continue researching materials and techniques, I just find out I really didn't need them the way I work things.

The casting in resin part is usually due to the fact that I paint my figures as any other Garage Kit, and to prepare the parts and to add coats using airbrush and so, I feel more comfortable working with resin, even if I only cast one figure out of the mold.