Lessons

How to Sculpt a Miniature Hand

Learn how to sculpt miniature hands with master sculptor Jordu Schell (Avatar, Hellboy, Men in Black 3), including detaching parts of a maquette to improve sculptability, understanding hand anatomy & how to reattach clay extremities with a handheld torch.

December 6, 2018
How to Sculpt a Miniature Hand

Sculpting a Miniature Hand with Jordu Schell

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In this excerpt from How To Sculpt A Character Maquette - Human Anatomy, master creature sculptor Jordu Schell (Avatar, Hellboy, Men in Black 3) reveals his methods for sculpting dynamic miniature hands for small-scale maquettes.

Small-Scale Sculpting Implements

Jordu Schell pushes the miniature hand to render the angles and forms more precisely for his character maquette.(Jordu Schell pushes the miniature hand to render the angles and forms more precisely for his character maquette.)

Schell begins by removing the hand from the sculpture to make it easier to sculpt. Then he starts to push, pull and carve subtle angles and fine forms into the Chavant clay with a variety of implements including his fingers, tiny loops tools, and wooden sculpting tools.

Jordu Schell uses a wooden sculpting tool to sculpt the Chavant clay.(Jordu Schell uses a wooden sculpting tool to sculpt the Chavant clay.)

Reattaching Sculptural Elements With a Handheld Torch

When the hand is complete, Schell shares one of his favorite techniques for quickly reattaching sculptural elements and establishing a strong bond. He simply heats the join point with a Bernz-O-Matic handheld butane torch and then blends the seam with various sculpting tools.

Using a Bernz-O-Matic handheld butane torch, Jordu Schell heats the join point of the maquette to reattach the hand.(Using a Bernz-O-Matic handheld butane torch, Jordu Schell heats the join point of the maquette to reattach the hand.) 

Sculpting hands can be one of the most challenging parts of the human anatomy to sculpt, so if you find that working at this scale is too tough, don't get frustrated. Instead, learn to sculpt hands at a larger scale and work your way down once you are comfortable.

How To Sculpt A Character Maquette - Human Anatomy Highlights

  • Detaching parts of a maquette to improve sculptability
  • Understanding hand anatomy
  • Small-scale sculpting implements: Fingers, loops & wooden tools
  • How to reattach extremities with a handheld torch

Full Course: How To Sculpt A Character Maquette - Human Anatomy