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rgyoung — JJ
Published: 2008-05-02 05:27:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 11575; Favourites: 411; Downloads: 124
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Description
Commissioned as a gift for Jesse James' owner.Jesse James was a beautiful, large young mixed breed dog whose short life ended earlier this year. Several acquaintances of JJ's owner all contributed to the commission price to surprise JJ's owner with a gift.
This piece is about 5" tall and is super sculpey firn over a wire/foil armature. It is painted with craft acrylics, and finished with a matte protective coating and gloss varnish in selected areas.
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Comments: 90
Your sculptures are so detailed and life-like, it's amazing. There is so much life in this dog's face, especially those eyes!! 
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this reminds me of my dog, hes always carrying at least one of his toys around the house
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Wow, wonderful work and really such a sad loss for the owners. They didn't happen to live in Pullman, WA? I have a friend with a neighbor whos dog looked identical to this, who's name was JJ (short for Jesse James) What an odd coincidence that would be
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LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE this!! I've been wanting to try serious (as in non-cartoony) animal sculptures for a longgggggg time and just haven't been brave enough to try yet! You captured JJ perfectly!
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The porportions alone are awesome in itself. I've been wanting to use sculpey for a long time now (creations like these make me excited to try) but I hardly know anything about it. With using sculpey and foil, do you have to have a hole in it like clay else it explodes? What type of glaze do you use for the shiny parts? Are there special tools in order to make the appearance of fur on sculptures like this?
Sorry for all the questions, I don't want to mess up my first time trying this nn;
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Thanks!
To answer your questions:
It can be a good idea to put vents in the piece, but I don't and really haven't had any bad experiences. The sculpey wouldn't explode, but you might get a bubble and or a crack where the air escapes, all of which can be repaired with sanding and epoxy putty. I've managed to avoid that kind of thing by just really packing down the foil beforehand and then using tape (masking tape)or wire to secure it to the armature.
I use sculpey gloss glaze on the shiny parts and testor's dullcote everywhere else.
For making fur, you can just use any pointy tool and add in each hair, or you can make a tool for longer fur, which I also use now and then. You can see photos of it and how I use it in the scraps part of my gallery.
Also, mistakes and messing up are just part of the deal and they are going to help you learn. Experiment and don't be afraid to fail. Until you cook the sculpey you can always just start over with whatever you're working on. Your subsequent efforts will always be better than your initial attempts. I still mess up and I've been doing this seriously for about 5 years now. What I've learned has mostly been through trial and error, and more of the latter than the former. 
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Thank you so much for answering my questions, you've been great! It's so hard to find a website getting down to the specifics like this. Now all I need to do is start practicing correct anatomy.
Thanks again!
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You're welcome. If you're interested in joining some sculpting communities, try the Shiflett brothers forum: [link] or the Clubhouse: [link] (you will have to join and be granted access before you can view the sculptor's forum). ConceptArt has a subforum devoted to sculpture as well as a few really helpful tutorials, and many of the people that post at the Clubhouse and the Shiflett forum are there as well. I know that it can be intimidating to share WIPs, but I have found that as a rule, sculptors are an incredibly helpful bunch who understand how to properly critique. They are also very good at offering tips and sharing their methods with other sculptors.
I'd also be more than happy answer more questions if/when you find you have them.
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I'll check those out and might just have to join. This is all so exciting for me, I can't wait to see what I can turn out. You've been so helpful <3
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thats amazing! he looks like he could just walk right off the page!!! I envy your work!
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This is so charming. You really seem to capture the life and character of your subjects. I haven't quite seen anyone do it as successfully as you do and in such a realistic type of sculpture.
There is so much subtly in what you do with the eyes and I think that's definetely a huge part of it. They really draw me in.
I am curious how long have you been sculpting? Also how long would a piece like this take you to sculpt and then paint?
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Thank you for such an overwhelmingly kind comment. I really appreciate it.
It's hard to say how long I've been sculpting. When I was younger, I sculpted a great deal, but not really in earnest. I picked it back up again about 4 years ago, and have been working to improve ever since. A piece like this takes about 20-30 hours from start to finish, maybe more, maybe less. I am bad about keeping track, and that's really only a very rough estimate. Painting is the fastest part, and usually only takes me 4 or 5 hours.
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thats so awesome that u do these sculptures =] i really want 1 of my old dog. his name was Dozer. he was an american bulldog/pit bull mix. mostly white except 4 a few faint light brown spots on his back and 1 over his right eye. my mom got him a few years ago but when her and her boyfriend split up he took Dozer =[ then Dozer attacked the guys kid and broke his arm. and he also attacked another dog that was playing with the kid. so im guess Dozer was protectin the kid and accidentally broke his arm. at least i know Dozer wouldnt purposefully hurt anyone. so Dozer had to be put down 
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As always, really great work on the detail of your sculptures and the overall coloring job. Specifically on this though, I felt you captured a really great sense of motion in the dog’s stride. I also felt you did pretty well on the button eyes of the teddy bear as well the stitching on the front and sides.
Very nice work on this RG.
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Thanks as always, Ganren. I always appreciate your insightful and heartfelt comments.
You're truly an asset to this community.
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*bows* I am happy to know that they are meaningful to you.
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Aww, thanks. Glad you think so.
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Wow that's so well done. He actually looks like he'd run off of that little wooden platform.
Excellent work.
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How did you do the eyes? Do you have special small eyes that you buy in a store for sculptures? Its really good, and sooo lifelike.
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The eyes are just hand painted with acrylic paint, actually.
The secret to them is that I put one or two coats of gloss varnish over them when I am done painting them. It gives them a liquid look and some extra depth.
Thanks for the comment! Glad you like the sculpture.
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How do you get them so smooth before painting? The problem that I always have is that I can't sand something that tiny and inset after it's baked, but that when I am sculpting it's nigh impossible to get that perfect sphere.. even gloss varnish is thin so it won't 'ball up' enough to make that shape.
The best results I've had so far were making 'glass eyes' out of sculpey disks, painting with acrylics, and then adding liquid sculpey on top to form a lens, baking until it went clear. Then I sanded with automotive grit sandpaper and after adding them to my project and baking, added gloss sculpey glaze which had a thicker consistency so it rounded it out a bit more too. It's a super time intensive process though, and even yet - nowhere near the clarity you've managed to accomplish here.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated! *hopeful*
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I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question correctly, but I pre-bake the eyes--I just make spheres of clay, get them as round as possible and ensure that they're as identical in size as possible, and then I dip my fingers in a bit of rubbing alcohol to smooth them a bit. They're then baked, and then set into the head of the piece I'm working on. Then I just sculpt the lids and orbital structures around them so that they're not bulging out of the skull. I always bake a couple sets at a time, different sizes, just in case one set isn't the right size for what I'm sculpting.
Some people also use bearing balls or other spherical objects inset into the raw clay as eyes with quite a bit of success.
I hope that helps!
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Awesome, thanks. 
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Kool, I'll have to try that! Never figured out how to make eyes like that...
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Thanks, ma'am.
How's things with you these days?
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Beautiful work, there is so much life in the face
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Thanks!
Faces are my favorite thing to sculpt and paint, I think.
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How you doin' these days? Still at digipen?
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I took a year off for medical reasons but I'll be going back in the fall
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My gosh this is amazing! It looks so real. Awesome work n.n Very cute, too C:
That's so sad about the dog though D: But this is a wonderful remembrance for the owner.
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Thank you!
Yeah, JJ's owners were heartbroken when he passed. He was a beautiful dog, with a really sweet nature.
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