August Test Project - Results

It has gone terribly wrong, and I would need more than a month to make something that wasn't awful. Yikes.

On the bright side, I did learn a lot, and even made some useful stuff for around the Center. They aren't  pretty, but they help out.

What I learned so far using the Apoxie Clay:

• I need more space and airflow to do anything passed sculpting.
• Armatures are very helpful to have, but having a base helps even more.
• The wire I have may be slightly too weak, but maybe clamping them down will help to stay sturdy
• A wire thicker than the one I currently had, would need tools to bend.
• Apoxie Clay is very fun to play with, it's mostly time management
• A small bit goes a long way
• Water helps with smoothing
• Oil helps to prevent clay from sticking - Work space gets slight oil down; same with hands
• Once 24/hrs is up, very hard to break/fix areas
• Start Nude; add clothes after
• Creating a fully made reference would have helped-- especially for the wrinkles in the clothes.
• 2-3hours in, once clay is firming, It's a little easier to make subtle wrinkles; but hard to fix if you mess up.
• Sanding is necessary. Can sand while wet to prevent dust particles floating.
• Many books just cover wax or polymer...
• Also steps jump from "add clay shapes to armature -> now that you've finished sculpting..." Where is pages 13-18 to cover sculpting?! ( gave up trying to read the book on it. I just did trial and error.)

Things I did wrong:

• Everything
• I crushed my sculptures multiple times when trying to fix an area
• Tried to break off areas I messed up on, and end up breaking off other parts I did well on
• Took out too much clay to sculpt with in the beginning.
• Did not give enough space to sculpt in certain areas
• Did not have refs to work off of
• Pronouncing Apoxie correct, but pronouncing Epoxy as "E-poxy" like e-mail, and occasionally "e-proxy".

Things I did right:

• I had fun. A lot of fun. I would try again in the future. I need a break now.
• Made my own tools
• Worked with armatures first
• Used oil and water as tools
• Learned about the body while I works
• Found weak spots I did not understand well

I enjoyed my time on this project. While I did not like the results too much, there is some parts I am proud of. Today, youtube finally showed me a person that would have helped me for this month. Disappointment.

Maybe for September, I will do a project on animation. Something small, just to learn CSP better. That would be a lot easier to show progress than with clay. haha