How to build Armatures

[Novista]

Alright all, so there i was on thursday, sitting there with some left over green stuff, shall i do tarps, nah, done plenty, bored of knocking out sandbags... hey i know i'll try an sculpt a head (15mm scale) never done it before, i found it very easy, i've worked my way down from about a 32mm head. So next up i need to construct some bodies for all 15 of them. So i'm looking for an armatures tutorial that has some of the scale pics in them, so i can get my proportions right. As always, any help more than appreciated.
Cheers.

[Arkangel]

I'm pretty sure if you google it you'll actually find some very good tutorials.

Try these:
http://www.ebobminiatures.com/sculpting ... atures.htm

http://www.stormthecastle.com/miniature ... ures-3.htm

And:

http://www.miniaturewargaming.com/index ... Sculpting/

http://www.paint-sculpt.com/tutorials/s ... ature.html

You can use garden wire or something just a suitable. I then use a mini as a template then make a cross to give you the arms and torso. then add a U shape up turned for the basis of your legs.
Paper clips are a very handy source but can be harder to work with, just got to get the knack of twisting them together.

Hope this helps

[mangozac]

My advice: buy your armatures, don't make them yourself. I tried it earlier in the year and it was nothing but an exercise in frustration. Although if you're finding sculpting that easy then perhaps you have "the knack" and won't have any trouble making your own anyway

[Novista]

Cheers for the links, some i've seen, i suspect i'll re-read them, i've found a decent sculpting "how to" PDF (gives me something to read on the bus), and generally the advice is the same, gotta get myself an anatomy book. I've been trying to make armatures, the upside down U as you've advised Ark, my mate who sculpts also sent me down this route. Using a straight | for the body at the apex of the U using GS to glue in place, however the PDF shows an upside down Y which is just one piece of wire, i've yet to try this. As mangos said it ain't easy...

[Gavin Thorne]

I know I'm new and all, but I found epicfantasy's How to Sculpt Fantasy Miniatures video on youtube to be very informative. This segment specifically handles armatures.



One thing that helped me maintain proper human proportions is to remember that your armspan matches your height, which is about 8 of your heads tall. So, the head is about 1/8 of the overall height of the model and the armature's arms spread wide should be the same measurement as it's height.

[mangozac]

[Novista]

Here you go, it's my second attenpt, see the blog for the first sculpt.
Thanks to all for the help.
The one on the left missing hand is mine, the others Battlefront and is there for size comparison.

[mangozac]

It's hard to tell much when the camera has focused on the Battlefront mini! Are these 28mm?

[Novista]

Hi mango, no they're 15mm, forgot to put the blog addy sorry. My photographies a bit crap too.

[mangozac]

Ahh 15mm. Not bad work then - my attempts to sculpt figures at 28mm were disastrous so I take my hat off to you. You really need to sort out better photos though. Does your camera/phone have macro mode? My Galaxy S II takes fantastic photos and can get amazingly close, high detailed pics in macro mode.

[Novista]

[Fleafa]

It is possible to be too close, even with macro. Try having the subject around 20cm away and just set the resolution to max then crop the photo down.
Looks like good work though