Sculpting in Digital Clay
I have been sculpting large figures, masks, and more for movies for 50 years. Many of you have probably seen my work but didn’t know you had. I have done this since the early 70’s when I first came to Hollywood from the bay area to work in the studios.
In all this time up until recently I have continued this work. It requires working with large amounts of heavy clay and once the sculpture is finished you have to make a heavy plaster mold of the sculpture. The molds are heavy and you have to be strong to lift and manage these molds.
The clay pieces have to be removed from the sculpture and disposed of, also very heavy. Once the molds are cleaned of the clay they can be cast in rubber, foam rubber and even silicon’s. With rubber you fill a mold to the top with 3-4 gallons of rubber and after they sit for an hour or more to thicken you have to pour them out. And they very heavy to lift and turn upside down.
What all this brings me to is as we age this type of work becomes harder and harder to do. I’m finding this now. It’s also more expensive than ever to make masks as the cost of the materials continually goes up. This drove my cost to sell mask up so high I sell very few masks anymore.
Even though I have been a 3D artist for years using Lightwave and other 3D programs also for film and TV it has always been difficult to make 3D organic models and sculptures until more recently.
With programs like Z-Brush and Blender I didn’t find them so easy to work with either. I wanted a program where you could just get in there and sculpt digital clay with digital sculpting tools. Now you can.
I downloaded Blender, it took a few tutorials and in less than a month I started sculpting. This is only the tip of the iceberg but the short story is I can sculpt what ever I want, 3D print it with a resin printer and it will exactly reproduce my sculpture and bring my creation into the real world. This is nothing short of magic to me.
The pictures in this post show the first two sculptures. When we sculpt a creature for a film character we usually work with a life cast of the actor. So first I created a standard human head bust to sculpt on .
From there I decided first to recreate a mask I had made and sold for years. “The Galaxy Being” from the first episode of the great science fiction TV series, “The Outer Limits”. Clearly this is to this day one of the best shows ever on television. If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember this episode please do yourself a favor and watch it. It is still relevant today if not more so than ever. Great philosophy and a message we all need to hear.
TheGalaxy being wasn’t a monster but rather an enlightened extraterrestrial. He kind , intelligent and wise. This being had a lasting effect on me when I was a kid. I first watched it in the troubled times of 1963.
The Galaxy Being was shot using a highly glossy rubber mask that was over lighted and printed in negative to give the effect of the being appearing as a radio light being. I actually made up one of my masks painted the same way. The original mask was painted a darl color and gloosy substance was applied to it. Here’s a short video clip of my own mask being used the same way.
And here are some pictures showing my first sculptures. The human bust and the Galaxy being. For fun I did a painted version as I have learned in Blender you can airbrush the digital sculpture the same way I paint actual rubber masks.
This is the raw unpainted digital clay sculpt.
I could not be more pleased with the advances in this tech because it was literally working with digital clay. I plan to print and paint this Galaxy being next week. I can even have it printed full size like the mask if need be.
This has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for me. What’s next? Anything from Frankenstein’s monster to The Curse of the Demon. it’s unlimited.
I highly encourage you to watch the episode “The Galaxy Being”. You’ll find it very intelligent and moving in a positive way. This show stayed with me all my life and sent me on a career that still continues to this day.
The Outer Limits always ended with a message of hope. Too bad today’s TV shows often lack this depth and hope. Watch it. You’ll be glad you did.
The Art of Steve Neill 