When I was a child, I was introduced to modelling clays like plasticine (normally the thin strip types) and Play-doh. I fell in love immediately with the material, I didn't have many toys growing up, but with this stuff I could make anything, from Dinosaurs to characters from my favorite cartoon shows.
A pack not to dissimilar from this, was a staple gift in my youth.
This Play-doh set was one of my first introduction to modeling clays
From 1993 I started to get more adventurous with my models, learning to make dinosaur legs more realistic by adding muscle shapes and scales on the feet and adding details like scutes on my crocodiles, but they were still a long way from anything I would call "professional".
It wouldn't be until 2002 when I would touch plasticine again. Upon starting my university BA Animation course I was introduced to the product Newplast, the same, if not a very similar product used by Aardman studios.
A selection of Newplast clay products
I enjoyed using it, especially having access to a larger amount in quantity and range of colours, rather than just tiny, thin strips of 6 or 8 colours. The more I used it the more I began to refine my sculpting skills, but there was still the issues of detail. I found that no matter how careful I was, the clay would soon soften in my hands due to my body temperature or I would knock the sculpt by accident and any detail I sculpted into it would be deformed or lost, not to mention that the oils in the clay would dry out over time making recycling it difficult and rendering the product useless. I also found the different colours gave the clay different consistencies, such as the Stone clay was more firmer than the Black clay, which was extremely soft.
Alien Warrior sculpt 2005
Zombie Deer maquette. 2010
Self Portrait, 2015
I needed to find a better material to sculpt with, something that would be hard to deform but also easy to sculpt. Air drying clay really wasn't an option and I did manage to find a hard modelling clay that the auto industry used for making maquette's of car designs, but it was a little to gritty for my liking. I had heard of a new product that was making the rounds in sculpting forums called Cx5, which can be heated up to make it soft and malleable, it could be sanded with sandpaper or a file when it was cooled and in recent years it can even be 3D printed. The only issue was getting hold of samples to test to see if it was a product for me, and these were incredibly hard to find.
Then, I got wind of a product called Monster Clay, it sounded very similar to Cx5 but nobody I knew had used it before, and after checking out a few sculpting tutorials online I had to get a sample. As luck would have it, I found a company in the UK that happened to have a sample pack which had all three variations. Once I got hold of it and had a chance to play around with the products and test there limits and abilities I was hooked!
Miniature Scales and skin textures tester, Monster Clay Hard. 2016
Miniature Scales and skin textures tester, Monster Clay Hard. 2016
5Lbs of pure awesomeness! 2016
It comes in three forms, Soft, Medium and Hard, and can be melted down via a heat source like a heat lamp or a slow cooker, some people even microwave it but I personally think its safer in the oven. When it cools down, it can be melted down again and again without loosing any consistency, which for me is a huge advantage.
The Soft version is very similar to Newplast clay in how pliable it is, it doesn't need a heat source to soften it since it's already so soft. The Medium is a little harder but it can be softened either by body heat from hands or a heat source, it also take a little more pressure to remove small chunks when its hard. Finally, the Hard version, it takes a heat source to soften it up and when cooled it's quite hard to remove big chunks with a sculpting tool, so it can take a little more rough handling than the other two.
The detail that the Medium and Hard can take is much better for my needs than the Newplast, and because of the colour, I'm able to see the details I'm sculpting into the material better. Below are some example of sculpts that I have made since obtaining Monster Clay.
Human skull relief magnet sculpt. Monster Clay Medium. 2016
Dilophosaurus mini bust sketch. Monster Clay Medium. 2016
Tyrannosaurus Rex magnet set sculpt. Monster Clay Hard. 2017
From now on I'll be using Monster Clay Medium or Hard to sculpt all future works, unless something better comes along, but currently I'm VERY happy with the results I'm getting. I'll be using Monster Clay to sculpt all three of my creatures for Wildlife on Mars, hopefully I'll be able to sculpt their details and textures to a similar quality, reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen's "The Valley of Gwangi" or "One Million Years B.C".
I've been studying stop motion armatures now for over 10 years, 3 of those years has been actually fabricating them with Animation Toolkit on Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires , and at Telegael studios on Morten and the Spider Queen and Project 390 . What I have learned, both historically and technically would be of great interest to future students in stop-motion. I know what your thinking, you take one look at a ball & socket armature and think "this is way to hard to do, its so complicated", well, I once thought exactly the same when I started my animation path back in 2002. The trick is learning how to use it right, ball & socket armature kits are like a steel equivalent to Lego construction kits, you have many tiny pieces that when assembled create a final item, in this case a armature, so understanding the mechanics of biological joints and translating that movement into a engineering solution. Wire is simply understanding how the wire and which wir
Until recently, my only knowledge on mould making was basic, rules such as not having undercuts to allow easy removal of a casting and using mold release. I also only had material experience with plaster and silicone, I was aware of fibreglass mould's, but I had never used it on any job or hobby project to date. I have recently discovered a material that the industry also use whilst I was employed at Telegael in Ireland, which is called Aluminium Resin (I refer to it as Alucast for short). It's stronger than plaster, but just as light as polyresin, it's virtually odorless, it can be sanded with a file or a belt sander, each casting cures in about 30-60 minutes and it can be used for silicone and foam latex casting. If you're working at home making your own stop-motion film, you can make your mold's in whatever fashion and material feels comfortable for you; However, if you are looking to work in the industry, they expect a level of skill that demonstrates
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