So let's begin this little tutorial!! Here she is before it got crazy. I'm going to be telling you what materials/tools you need as we go along because maybe it's more fun? ok, so first things first, you need some sculpting putty. Most people use green stuff but I like to use "grey stuff" called Procreate Putty. I get mine from a local game store.
The main sculpting tool I used is a modified X-acto blade. What you wanna do is sand the blade down so it's dull. (don't test it out on your hand btw, that's really dangerous!). But what you want to do is sand the blade and also the tip so the tip is a little rounded, just slightly. I also use clay shapers and in this demo I used the one with the point (seen in the pic) and also a flat one.
Mix up some putty and put a TINY ball over the eye of your mini. The above pic shows how much putty I mixed. For the first putty you put on, it is extremely small.
Okay, so you've made the sunglasses and now it's time to cure the putty and make it hard. The reason why we want it hard is because when we add the goggle detail (the frame of the lens), we don't want the first putty to be squishy. Having it hard will give us a good foundation to sculpt on.
To speed up the curing time, I use a homemade oven. Basically a cardboard box (most people use a coffee can) lined with foil. I put cork on the bottom so when I reach inside it isn't too hot to grab something.
In the pic above, that piece of putty is actually too big. I had to cut it in half to get the size right. You'll see why the size is important in the next step.
If the putty was too big in the last step and you pressed it down, you won't see the first putty you placed (the sunglasses).
If you judge the size incorrectly, don't worry, just scrape the ball off. Because we cured the "sunglass" layer, that layer will be solid and won't change or deform any more.
Now you may notice that the indentation you did looks more like a bowl rather then the frame having hard edges. So what I do is use the tip of the clay shaper and "gently" press down to create a better edge. Next pics illustrate the idea:
And that's it! Remember, if you don't like something, take the putty off and try again. Keep at it and you'll have goggles in no time. The first goggles you make will be tricky and you may be nervous but the more of them you do the better you will get and the more confident you will be. So have fun and show me some pics of goggles you make. I'd love to see them!
For those of you who are interested in how I sculpt the mask, the tutorial continues!!
Sometimes I will use the Xacto blade to cover the face so I can see if the goggles are working or not. The face can be distracting.
and the goggles I made for my Kayazy Assassins. The process we've been going through is the same exact one I used for them. Now I'm going to show you how I do my masks.
Using the flat part of your blade, pull down from the eyes on both sides to create smooth planes. I think of them as facing 45 degress away. The pull down motion is going to pull the mask down and flatten it out so "push" it back up from under the chin. In the pic above you can see the three planes I created. One on the left, one one the right, and one on the chin. Be gentle with the push and pulling and use the vaseline to make it all smooth. Remember to check your mini from different angles.
For the shape of the mask, I like to have it as an inverted triangle. Once I like the shape, I add in details to the sides of the mask using the blade (which should be dull if you sanded it). Next pic shows the indentations I made with the tip of the blade.
Two lines-- Red is the first one, green is the second. Doing this might push the putty in so you might have to go back and flatten out those three planes that we had. Yep, after each step, always make sure that everything is looking right.
Next I'm going to use some 30 gauge guitar string I got from Guitar Center (again, cheap). Cut off a part that will be the tube for the mask. Be sure to either wear safety goggles or look away when you cut the string because it can fly off in random directions and you don't want it going into your eye! I shape the string using two pliers and use tweezers to hold the string next to my mini to see if the shape is working.
Use Krazy Glue. For this step I like the "brush" one and I brush on some glue on the chin and wherever I want the other end of the string to connect to.
Sometimes I'll sculpt a little pouch for the tube to connect to but recently I have the other end just go to some random spot. I just imagine she has a gas tank somewhere in her cloak ^^. One more detail to add and we're done.
For this step, you're probably going to have to cut the smallest piece of putty you've ever made. To make it, put some Vaseline on your cutting mat, then roll the putty super flat like you would dough. Then with a little Vaseline on your Xacto, cut the piece. Green arrow shows what you need. We're going to attach this piece just below the chin of the mask, right on the tube. After you place it, use the Xacto or clay shaper to wrap this piece around the tube.
And there you have it! Goggles and gas mask all done! For Sorscha, one detail I'm going to add is a strap that wraps around her head to hold her goggles up. To do that, I'll roll a flat piece of putty and make a cut to get a thin piece, then just wrap it.
Hope this was helpful and gives you some ideas to make some gas masks. This technique is the same one I used for all my masks of this type like the ones on my Kayazy Assassins. Butcher and the Great Bears have a different mask.
If you have any questions, you can leave a comment here or hit me up on the Privateer Forums. My name there is nerdforest. I'm thinking of doing another tutorial about how I make my hoods. Is that something you guys would be interested in? Have fun and happy modelling!
