Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Crisco, and I design and make art toys. Art toys are small
collectibles that playfully blend art and pop culture
into cool, unique toys. Making art toys gives
me immense joy. It's like turning my
wildest dreams into tangible perky
creations that make people smile and spark
their imaginations. In this class, I'll show you how exciting it can be
to read your own. In this course,
you'll learn how to sculpt an art toy
using polymer clay. I'll show you how to combine simple shapes to build awesome, complex forms that are
both fun and impressive. We will discuss the
materials and tools you'll need and create
simple design sketch. We'll build each
part of the toy one step at a time until
it comes to life. Finally, we'll add
the finishing touches with details and paint, and as a bonus, we'll even apply decals to make your
toy truly stand out. So let's get started.
2. Designing Our Toy: Designing our toy. Right here, we have a
sketch pad and a pencil, and we're going to start
sketching our character. The first thing that
we need to decide on is the size of our toy. In my opinion, five to
6 " is the best size. Collectors will going
to display your toy on a shelf along
with other toys. If your toy is too small, then it will look
like a miniature toy. So we still want a good size on our toy so that it will look
a little bit more premium. If your toy is too big, No. It's going to stay on
the back of the shelf, and it will get less tension. For this toy, I'm actually
going to go for 6 ", so let's go ahead
and mark that in. We're going to go for it is called design because
this call already have that right amount of jacks
position to it because it's supposed to be scary and we're going to
turn something cute. I'm sure already for
some designs out there, and you'll notice that a lot of them actually have
oversized head. So that's what we're
going for on this design. All right. I want him
to have a bulging head. We're actually going
to sketch it sideways because we're going to represent it as a three D model anyway, so we might as well represent some depths on our
sketching process. I'm going to draw this
line for his forehead. You'll see this on
a lot of my model. I think it creates
a good expression. It needs to have an eye socket. Can you block that in?
Ing. Second eye goes in. Snout. For the snout, I'm just going to keep it
very simple. Is a triangle. I'm going to draw this line to represent the
depths on his tempo. I want to have something on top of his head to
add some interest. So I'm going to add
some man band to it. You block that in? Of course, it'll be a mine ban will help. H I'm going to just go ahead and
refine the lines. I just the proportion. I think it's better
to have some kind of snow represented as well. Next thing is his body. We can give him a hoo. We can keep it simple. I want to have his arm
actually longer than his body. It's a hoodie, so of course
we go to have that packet. I think mis suffice. For his shirt. I want to have a blacky design
almost like a lego. Falling the design
of the shorts, the foot is going to
be lucky as well. We can add some sole as well. Again, this is going
to be just a sketch. We can add some deters
later when we scope them. His hand is going to be very simple because fingers isusly h. All right, so this is going
to be a scar character. All right. Now that
we have our design, we can go to the front
part, is playing play. Alright, I know what
you're thinking. You are probably saying, Chris, I don't want to make your,
I want to make my own. Well, this is why we
keep the design very simple so that you can
inject your own ideas. For example, if you
don't like the man bond, maybe you can add
Spikey fair instead. Or maybe you can give
him some weapons. Maybe you're known for wearing a particular style of
shorts or a hoodie. Go ahead and incorporate
that into your design. Add your own
personality and style. But for me, I'm happy with the design, so I'm going for it. That's it for designing
our character. See you in the next part.
3. Sculpting Materials: Sculpting materials and tools. Just like any other artutorial, we will start with
materials and tools. Let's start with the materials. First up is aluminum foil. We will use this
as an armature or a base shape to save clay and help with
the baking process. Next up is petroleum jelly. We can use it as a lubricant on our fingers to shape
the clay more easily. We also have some wooden stick. We will use these
as a brace and add support when joining two
parts of the model together. We also have a pair of pliers
to cut the wooden sticks, and for our main material, we'll use polymer clay. This is an oven baked
clay that's easy to work with and holds details
very well once cured. Now let's move on to the tools. This is a dental tool called lebron carver. It has two ends. One is a blade shape
that's great for carving, and the other is a
rounded flat end that's perfect for
shaping small details. Next, we have a wooden spatula. It's simply a piece of wood
with a tapered flat end, ideal for general
shaping of the clay. Of course, a cutter
and an exacto knife will also come in handy. So we've got those as well. Right here, we have a rake tool. It's basically a guitar
string attached to a handle. As the name suggests, it rakes the clay to help
with the smoothing process. Round rods like these can also be useful in the
blending process. I'll show you how
to use them later. We also have a rubber
tip tool like this. It's effective for
controlling clay in areas that are hard to
reach with our fingers. We'll use sandpaper for
removing imperfections on the surface and for
final smoothing after baking the plate. I use 180320 grit sandpaper but you can choose any grit depending on how smooth you
want your please to be. All right. That's all
the materials we need. Now let's start sculpting.
4. Preparing The Clay: Preparing the clay. For this project, we're
going to use a polymer clay. This particular brad
is super scalp firm. This clay is perfect for beginners because
it's not going to cure or harden until you
bake it on the oven. That means you can work on your project a limited
amount of time. It's also perfect for our
project because after baking, you can actually sand
it to a smooth surface. If you look on our
character here, there's a lot of
plain and white area and you need those
to be really smooth. You will receive your clay
on a brick form like this, and it's actually hard to
work on this at this stage. So before we get
started on sculpting, we need to recondition
this clay. By reconditioning,
what I mean is making our clay very soft so that
it is nice and pliable. To do that, we need to run our
clay on our pasta machine. It will create a thin
sheet of clay making it very soft and easier to work
pick than a brick like this. All right. Before
you get intimidated, let me explain this
enormous machine. This is simply a pasta machine. You can definitely
use a regular one, which is much smaller than this. Try asking your wife, husband, mother, father, or whoever
is in charge of the kitchen. You might already
have one at home. The reason I have this large industrial looking
version is that the particular clay we'll use is a bit hard to find
in my country. Often the stock I get
is old and brittle. This machine has a large crank, which doubles the force and makes it easier to
recondition my clay. So we're going to start cutting some small pieces. Like so. You want to put it on
top and start cranking. Repeat the process
as much as you want, depending on how soft you
want your clay to be. That's all for the
clay preparation. Let's start sculpting
in the next part.
5. Sculpting The Head: Sculpting the head. You're going to start with aluminum foil. This to serve as an armature
or our base structure. The aluminum foil is ideal
because it can be shaped, and it can help on
the beacon process. Let's rep our design. The head looks complicated, but we're going to break this
apart with simple shapes. And the first shape
will be a Speer. We're going to use our sketch as a reference for the size. We need a pudding because
we're going to this play. Now it's time to apply the clay. What I usually do is applying small pieces of clay until
I cover the entire thing. Now that it's covered,
let's check the size. Looks like it's still smaller
than we needed to be. So we will bulk it. I some more. Finally, we have the right size. After the process,
you will notice all these lines created by all the pieces
of that we added. To get rid of this,
we're going to use our wooden to blend it together. Here. All right. Now we have our spear. From here, we're going to decide what's going
to be the front, AKA, the fi of this column. Defendant Dan Defendant Dan
We need the face to be flat. I'm just going to massage the
area to try to flatten it. You can even use
the table, like so. As you can see, we already have the flat area, which is perfect. Now we can start
to block his jaw. We're going to prepare
another piece of clay. Again, using this catch
as a reference for the size before adding
it on the main shape. Using a wooden spatula, we can blend the two
shapes together. Then I also add a chunky
chick bone to our skull. Here. We can also run our metal tool in a rolling motion to
help with the blending. After that, I will use my g tool to smooth
in the surface. Let's look on the design once more to see the next
thing we can add. Looks like we need to start
to form his forehead. I will prepare a flat piece
to add it in the main shape. Now it's time for the ice. We are going to go an
outline to serve as a guide. We need to push the clay inward. I want you guys to
find something flat. In my case, I will
use my wooden tool, which have a flat end. And then we will refine
it with our carver. Oh, Oh. We can also use the
rubber tip tool to further refine the
corners and the edges. I did the same process on
the other eye as well. We will apply a small piece
of to add mass for his snout. Then we will cut the front
portion to keep it flat. Now let's carve a hole
to represent his nose. And do you remember that loneud we added during this sketch? We're going to add that as well. To add something on the sides. We're also going
to curve a tempo. I think this will emphasize
the skull design really well. To keep the symmetry, we going into trees where it starts and where it
ends on the other side. There here. Hair. For the hair, we're going to prepare
an oval shaped piece. We're just going to massage it until you achieve the shape. Now, for the Bini, we
need a cone shaped piece. I'll use a thin sheet of clay that I rolled
from the past machine. I will fold and slice it to
have some kind of a hair tie. Here here. Here. Here. Here. And now the head is complete. If you finish one
part of the model, I suggest to bake it. We will use just a regular
ovenser to bake the head. We're just going to
place it on a bed of aluminum foil and then
cover it with another. We did this to avoid
any direct heat so that it will not burn
the surface of the head. We will bake it at
130 for 15 minutes. Wait for it to cool
down before sending it with 180 grad to remove
the imperfections. He is the result
after the 180 grid. Now we will move on to 320 grid. And now the skull is done. I'll see you on the next
part of the class. O.
6. Sculpting The Body: Scoped in the body. In
this part of the class, we will do the body. Just like the first
part, we will start with the aluminum foil. Right now, we're just trying to wrap the entire thing with clay. The shape of the body
looks like a cone. The only difference is the
front and back should be flat. Looks like we need a lot
more mass on the bottom, so we will block
that in with clay. I realized that the
body is a little short, so I extend it with
a large flat piece. As you go along, you will notice some deep parts and some gaps. You can just patch it
with small pieces of clay and then blend it in
with your preferred method. Even your table can
be used as a tool. I'll just press it
against the table so that I can have
a smooer surface. Sometimes even with all the
smoothing techniques we did, you can still notice
some uneven areas. That is when a rig
tool is ideal. O. I rolled up a clay where I can cut a
small cylindrical piece. That is going to be his neck. We're going to use the wooden
stick that you can get from your local art store to
attach two parts of our toy. Remember we will bake
this on the oven, so we cannot use anything
plastic or anything that melts. That's why a wooden
stick is perfect. Since the body isn't big yet, we can just push
the stick inside. And just like that,
we have a body. See you guys on the next part.
7. Sculpting The Arms: Sculpting the arms. From here, we can start working
on his arms. First, let's roll up a clay. Based on our design, the
arms look like long cones. The plan is to prepare
a long cylinder, match the circumference to
the largest side of the cone, and then taper the
other end from there. Obviously, he has two arms, so the length of our cylinder should be enough to
cover both of them. Now, let's divide the
clay into two pieces. Now we'll taper one
end just as we plan. We can simply press the clay while rolling it
to taper the end. Then we'll shape the end
into a rounded form, as it will be his shoulder. Then we can simply
attach it to the body. Repeat the same process
to the other arm. And there you go. That's all
for this part of the class. We'll leave the hands
for a later section as they'll be a bit
more challenging. A
8. Sculpting The Hands: Sculpting the hands. Let's start by preparing enough
clay for both hands, then divide it into
two equal portions to ensure symmetry. Remember, our character
has slightly open palms, similar to action figures. This allows for the possibility of inserting weapons
or accessories, giving the impression that our character is holding an item. To create the open palm, we'll use a round rod
or stick as a base. Simply wrap the clay
around the rod, then massage it into shape. We'll use the carver to add slits that represent
the fingers. Then use the same tool to round off the
edges of the slits. Her. She. I also trim the sides to
keep the proportions. We'll add another piece of clay on one side to form his thumb. After blending the thumb, we can now remove the base. The result will be a
slightly open hand. Now we can trim it so that it can be attached to the arms. We followed the same
process for the other hand, with the only difference
being the position of the thumb. Here. Tender September 2 September 2 seem September seed. Now, let's attach
them to the arms. Let's all for sculpting the hands. See you
in the next part.
9. Sculpting The Pants: Sculpting the pants. The
pants look like a lego brick, so let's start by
preparing a rectangle. For this, we need a
large amount of clay. Start by forming
a single lump of clay by squeezing
it with your hands. I don't have a pasta roller, but I find this of spray
paint very effective. Roll it against the clay
to have flat surface. Then cover multiple sides
until you form a rectangle. L et's position it next to the model to see how
much we need to trim. A. Looks like we need
to trim some more. At this point, I realized I made a mistake in the design process. I tried to add rectangular
pants to his round body, causing the corners
to stick out. To fix this, we'll
make the front and back of the
pants a bit rounded. Looks like the pants should be a bit shorter based on the design. Let's strim it further. Now we'll make a cut
in the middle to represent the
separation of the legs. Here. Here. Here. Doesn't need to go
all the way to the back. We just need to represent
it with subtle forms. We will do the same on
the back of the pants. As you can see, it doesn't
go all the way through, but it's enough to create the impression of the
separation of his legs. Since we've made
so much progress, let's bake it to
prevent messing up the completed parts as we continue working on
the other areas. I'll create a bed
of aluminum foil to keep the head elevated. As you can see, his head is elevated to prevent
messing up his hair. As you can see, his head is elevated to prevent
messing up his hair. Again, you can
spend as much time as you want on the sanding. Now he has pants.
Looking good so far. See you in the next part. Ve.
10. Sculpting The Legs & Shoes: Sculpting the legs and shoes. Let's start by drilling a
hole under his pants to add a wooden brace for support as we continue
working on his legs. I suggest starting
with a smaller drill and gradually increasing
the size to avoid cracking. As I mentioned in the
materials introduction, since we'll be baking
it at 130 degrees, we don't want anything
that will melt, so we need a metal
or wooden brace. However, metal is
a bit hard to cut, so a wooden stick is ideal. After the brace is in place, we'll start wrapping
it with clay. You. Remember, we have a rectangular design
for his foot. We can achieve that by
simply using our Oh, 0000 Let's bake it again before we continue working on his shoes. Now, let's start with the shoes. Again, prepare a
rectangular shape and then carve the shape of the shoes from there. Here. I prepared a lump of clay that will be enough
for both shoes. So it's going to be a square. After dividing it, we'll have
equally sized rectangles. From here, we're going to trim
the top part of the shoe. Here. I'll refine the shape by
rolling the rod tool. I'll also trim the back part because I want to have
it a bit rounded. Are. The 101010 September september
sb December sb September 2 ten December
December sebbene sebbene see. It also needs to be tapered towards the front
tip of the shoe. Are. We'll add a strip of glade to
represent the rubber part. Here. Here. The back rubber should
be a bit thicker. So let's remove the original
strip and add a thicker one. I'll roll up clay to be cut in the middle for
the shoes laces. I'll also add some lines on
the front tape and back. You can also use the
carver to create two slits to represent
some shoe grip. For the last detail,
I'll flatten a rolled up piece of clay
to add to the sides. Here. I used the same process
for the other shoe, using the first one as a
reference to ensure symmetry. Now let's bake them both. Are. We'll drill a hole so that we
can attach it to his legs. September t t t t Stember September sebbene
December temer Deb, December 2 September, Sebbene temere see December September We'll secure it in
place with super glue. We'll let it dry for an hour.
See you in the next part.
11. Adding Details: Adding details. In this
part of the class, we'll add small details
like the pocket, hoodie and sows on his shoes. Let's add the pocket
to his hoodie. Again, we'll be subtle about it. It doesn't need to
be an actual pocket. A simple layer will do, so let's just apply
a flat piece. To help the raw clay stick
to the already baked parts, I'll apply some petroleum jelly. I'll use the rod tool in a rolling motion
to blend the clay. Then we can trim it to shape. L. Now we will prepare Clay
to block the hoodie. Oh. We're going to add clay that goes around
his neck as a continuation of the hoodie. O See how useful the rag tool is? We'll trim it as well to
keep the top part flat. I'll add petroleum jelly to my fingers as a
lubricant so I can massage the clay and smooth out any rough areas left
by the raked tool. Now it's time to add the string. Okay. We're going to throw this guy on the fit
for the last time? We can to send it a little bit, and we're done with
the sculpture. After all that, here's
our toy fully sculpted. What do you guys think? Have you also completed your sculpture? See you on the next part.
12. Painting Materials: Painting materials. Right here, we have all the painting
materials we need. We'll use a paint
palette that you can pick up from
your local art shop. We have a set of paint brush. We'll use some water
based acrylic paints. To keep it simple, we'll
stick to three basic colors. As I know, many of
you might not have a wide range of colors
readily available. Lastly, we have primer and
clear top coat spray paints. I'm sure you can
pick this all up on a single trip to your
local hobby or art store. That is all for the materials.
13. Painting Our Toy: Painting out toy. First thing is we're going to
prime our model. We're going to
prime our model in a throwing motion like this. And we're going to repeat this until we cover
the entire model. That way, we can have a nice even code on the entire model. For safety, make sure you're in a well ventilated
area when doing this. Start with white for the
skull in other areas. I don't usually
use solid colors, so I'm mixed in a
little bit of black. His hands will be white as well. Oh. Speed up the drying process. I can air d. I'll mix a
darkest shade for his hair. Next, I'll lay red firs hoodie. I air. I'll put for his pants. The shoes will also be red
to balance the contrast. Now let's add some
paint details. To add more details. In contrast to our paint job, let's apply some decals. To do that, we'll
need decal paper, a material widely known
in Gun Dam modeling, also referred to as
water slide paper. You can find a link to where you can buy it in
the description. First, we need to
design our decals, so let's jump over to my PC. I'll use Canva to
create my design. Go over to custom design
and choose A four document. The idea is to fill
this page with decals to be printed later. You can put anything
you want in here. As for me, I always go for a sci fi design with all the mecha symbols mixed
with some text. I purchased this, and after
importing it into Canva, I now have an array of cool
designs to choose from. I'll put the link to
this digital file in the description if you
want to give it a try. Now, I'll start adding the elements to the page
in different sizes, so I don't have to worry about whether they'll fit
the model or not. You can even combine
the elements to create a unique
set like this. Okay. Now the page is filled. You can print this
using a regular printer with photo and photo settings
for the best results. Here's the printed page. We need to apply a clear
top code three times. This will give the prints
a transparent layer to help them stick
and keep them intact. What I mean by t code
is that you will free, dry, pre it again, and you will repeat
that three times. I suggest to let it
dry for an hour. After that, we can start
choosing the size and position. For example, this one looks like the right size
for his shoulder. Here. Here. Here. Submerge the print to water for 10 seconds
before applying it. You'll notice that the print will start to slide
off the paper, hence the name slide. What I do is gently
slide the print and then hold the exposed paper
with a pair of tweezers. This makes the
application easier. Continue to add more. Try to experiment with the positions. I bet the stripes right here
will look good on his foot. Look how nice that looks. When I'm happy with the decals, I usually use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. Then I apply a clear to coach. This secures the paint job and decals by adding a protective
layer to prevent shipping. After this, I suggest to
let it dry over night.
14. Final Project: Finally, our toy is done. So I'll give you
the final shots. Remember, every
piece you create is a reflection of your own
unique style and imagination. So embrace the imperfections and celebrate the
small victories. Keep experimenting,
keep learning, and most importantly, keep
having fun with your art. I'd love to see what
you've created. If you followed along or use
this course as inspiration, please share your work with me. Tag me on social media or drop your photos
in the comments. I'm excited to see
your unique takes and celebrate your
creativity with you. I'm very happy with how
this toy turned out. I had a blast making this piece. I hope you guys followed
along with me or at least felt inspired for joining
me on this class. I hope to build more toys with you to you guys on
the next class.
Cristopher Dino
