Djumbah the Western Lowland Gorilla READY! :)

Hi,

I will start to make my 1st modell at the weekend. He is my best friend, Djumbah the Gorilla.
I drew few plans. I upload one...  
So this will my 1st modell. I saw there are lot of talented people here who are made modells.
Can you help me please? I have few question.
Which clay is better   I can buy only two kind/brand of clay here:
1. Jovi(500g) air hardening clay
2. Fimo(56g) oven bake clay
Which tools I will need to make the details  
Glossy or not glossy paint is better  
Thank You for the answers/help!

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I can't wait to see your sculpture!

I've never heard of Jovi. I would recommend Fimo, although it's probably more expensive. Matte fixative will probably look better, but that's up to you.

Good luck, i cant wait to see your friend finish:-)

Jovi is as good as Fimo air drying clay. I often use it as a filling for small models. I haven't tried Fimo oven baking clay yet, but as far as I know Fimo, is should be very good :) Of course many sculptors recommend Super Sculpey.
Non-glossy paint is better, because if you paint the sculpture, or any other figurine, it will miss some details due to the light reflection.
Both me and Harriet use dentist tools, which are not very expensive (and much cheaper than those for sculptors)
By the way, your drawing is beautiful!!

I've already formed some models(Babirusa pair, Red River Hog, Tamandua, Cassowary and Silky Anteater with Baby) with FIMO SOFT, it is very soft when it is kneaded. It was difficult to shape detail, this I had to rework a lot, but it worked quite well.

Jovi I do not know unfortunately.

Good luck for Your project

Seeing your drawing I can say you are very talented! And we can expect very nice sculpture from your hands!
From these two kinds of clay I would choose Fimo. Super Sculpey is even nicer to work with. But I think Fimo is OK too, and probably it's easier to get. This Jovi I tried in the past but I'm not a big fan of it I must say.
For paint I also would say matte paint is better.
And tools, I was never able to get these famous dentist's tools haha (girls where do you buy them?) I just buy things that may be useful to sculpting, and keep my favourite tool of ever - the old scalpel (but kind of scalpel to cut paper, I think it must be older than me, I found it in my grandpa work room). I think you can look around in shops for artists, I found some interesting tools produced by Fimo themselves and they are good. Also things like knife or needle can be helpful.

the drawing looks really awesome !

I've actually used jovi clay, it soft anf fine for smaller details, but it does shrink a tiny bit. You won't nitice it while working on a sculpture purely made out of clay, but I don't know how it reacts to a wire structure. It may show only after a couple of days (or weeks).

I've never used Fimo, but I think it's good, lots of artists use it.

Good luck with your sculpture!

Wow! I love your drawing Noémi, can you post a better photo of it?

Dentist tools are great as Agata said! I was given mine, but the chap that gave them to me said he got them straight from the dentist, he just asked if they had any spare (unused ones of course!!). So you may be able to get them free:)

If you're using acrylics, building up the colours by doing the dry brush technique will give a nice realistic finish and prevents it from being glossy.

Wow! That drawing is very good!   

Hello Everybody,

Thank You for the kind words and advices!  
I can't wait to start my gorilla.  
Tomorrow I will take an other photo about the plans.
After your advices I think I will make it from Fimo clay. I heared about Super Sculpey but it doesn't avaiable in Hungary. I don't know how many hours/days/weeks I will need to finish it so in this case Fimo looks better choice than Jovi. Jovi needs 24 hours to dry.  
When i am baking the modell, aren't problems the masking tape, wire and alu foil in it?

Could you tell me about the ways of make copies?
What things I need to make them?

Thank You!

Bacardi King wrote:

When i am baking the modell, aren't problems the masking tape, wire and alu foil in it?

You shouldn't have any problems with this, that will be fine:)

Here is an other photo. His face will a bit smaller.

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I were in the artist shops. There are three in the county. All of them haven't got sculpture tools but the shop assistant said pedicure tools also good to make models. I have some unnecessary ones so I will try with them.......

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A great drawing!
I can't wait to see him finished!  

Very promising Noémi!

The drawing looks very promising!!! I like gorillas very much and have sculpted a livesized gorilla baby some moth before :) I'm very excited to see your sculpture  

You look like you're ready to go Noémi!

1. step  

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Looks fine!
Hope for the next progress soon!   

A very wired start!

MoonsongArt wrote:

The drawing looks very promising!!! I like gorillas very much and have sculpted a livesized gorilla baby some moth before :) I'm very excited to see your sculpture  

Really? it sounds fantastic! Could you show me your gorilla baby please?  I also love gorillas!  

Step 2  

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Looks promising!

I can't waith to see it finished