I think I might be hooked on this Sculpey stuff. I love it… I can work as fast or as slow as I want and don’t have to wait for things to dry or cure. Just keep working it until satisfied… very fun and suits my short attention span for sure!

My next Sculpture project is another of Bat-Man’s nemesis’s (nemesi?), The Riddler. I’ve always liked this baddie. Maybe it’s the green and purple suit, the excessive use of question marks, or perhaps the Derby hat. Whatever it is, I’ve always found his look to be kinda cool. I also figured he’d be another good practice piece as my last two sculpts were misproportioned monsters. A clean and slightly more realistic figure would be quite the departure.

I had a picture in my head of him standing and contemplating his next move or devious scheme. One hand would be on his question mark cane, while the other holding his chin and in deep thought. So I made a quick sketch and armature and went to work. I also wanted him to be somewhat thinly proportioned. Long face and skinny body. Almost cartoonish.

I started out by sculpting the head seperately. At first I made it without the hat and with a normal hairline as I wanted to wait till later to make the hat, but have something proportioned correctly to work with. A half head would had threw me off there! Once mostly satisfied I mounted the head to the armature and becan sculpting a naked body just to get the proportions right. After that I started bulking it out with clothing.  Here he is so far. Next is some clean-up and smoothing and after that I’ll start the hands. I think I might bake it first before making the hands just so that I can work with them easier in place without messing everything else up.

Today I tweaked a few last areas and being satisfied I baked him. The baking went well… 200 Degrees F. for one hour. No saging, and only 3 small cracks to fix. A few people ased about possibly casting this. I’m thinking about it and will let you guys know. For now though, he’s done till I either cast him or just paint him up.

I had a little fun with one of the final images and colorized/”comic’d” it in photoshop. Even made it look “halftoned” as if it was scanned in from an actual printed page. ‘shopping model images is always fun!

And here’s the final sculpt shots and immediately below is the image I Photoshopped.

Today I added some last dripping details, mostly on the back and in bare spots. After that I made the large “hittin’ block” and added the texture. Again the camera shows a few small things that could be tweaked further so tomorrow I’ll address them then we bake! Nothing major tweak-wise… a few fingernail marks and other odd creases and I want to add a little more vertical detail to the lips and eyebrow ridges. Here’s the pics though!

Just about done with the sculpt. I made a bunch of random teeth then baked them before pressing them into the “gums”. I’ve also been adding more drips and gloops while smoothing out the surface before adding texture. The texture will be just a slightly rough surface with a few pock-marks and small divets. Similar to my Minotaur, but not as drastic. The Axe head is done. I just need to fill it (it’s hollow) and make the connection between the arm and axe before taking pics.

Since the last update I’ve begun smoothing out the surface with a soft brush and 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. I’ve also been fixing the drips and droops.  While working on the legs, I decided that to go with the detailed right hand, that a humanish right foot might also be appropriate. It’s a first for me, but doesn’t look too bad. The other foot I decided would look cool glooped on the ground so I’m working on adding the gloop too.

While editing the pics for this post, I noticed a bunch of odd-looking parts that the harsher light of the photo booth brought out. I’ll address these tomorrow. Once all the smoothing is done, I’ll add a very fine stone texture to him. I also need to make the teeth and axe-hand.