Blesbok female, Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi

Hi, I'm very new to this forum and this is only my second post, but I wanted to show you all a figure I recently completed :)

It's a female blesbok, Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi. It's the first model I ever made, my only previous sculpting attempts being with plasticine as a child and a little clay figure a couple of years ago. I made it using Fimo Professional polymer clay on wire armature and painted it with acrylics.
Being my first model it is far from perfect, but I hope you like it. Any feedback, good or bad, will be highly appreciated.

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Some work-in-progress shots of the sculpting.

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First model? It is a hit

I'm happy to discover a new artist on STS,, this work is beautiful and you can be proud of it.

The making of is really interresting too and I wish you could show some pics of your Blesbok with your other antelopes.

Thank you Christophe, I'm really happy you like her!

I'm definitely more naturalist than artist, I just wanted to make as accurate a depiction as I could. I'm really surprised that it turned out as well as it did and I will try to make more models when time allows :)

Here it is with a few of my CollectA antelopes. Sorry about the bad photographs, it's already dark and the light is very poor.
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Thank you, your pics are really helpful!

It is hard to believe it is your first work! It is excellent and very realistic in my opinion. Trying to be as natural as possible is a quality of an ARtist as any other. Not always the word artistic means stylized. The species choice is very good, it works nicely with your impressive collection of CollectA antelopes and I like to see it togehter with the hirola once they bear some ressemblances.
You are, undoubtfully a prodigious person and I hope it is just the start of a profitable adventure.

This is absolutely STUNNING  Is that really your first model ? It is fantastic ! I LOVE it

This damaliscus has beautiful details.

Is very realistic.

Marvellous model, big congratulations.

Thank you for the kind words, everyone!
I am stunned by such positive feedback and warm welcome :) I don't know how long it will take me, but I will make more figures.
This has been a very educational process and I'm already thinking on how to improve when I make my next model. I want to use a harder polymer clay. The one I used (Fimo Professional) was good, but any fine surface detail was immediately destroyed by handling, so I was unable to add any fur texture. I'm going to try Super Sculpey Firm next time.
I'll also have to work on my acrylic painting technique.
Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Roger wrote:

The species choice is very good, it works nicely with your impressive collection of CollectA antelopes and I like to see it togehter with the hirola once they bear some ressemblances.

I intentionally placed it next to the hirola, as they are close relatives :)

Your first?! Wow! That is fantastic! Really great job.
I did my very first custom with Super Sculpey and it is a very nice clay to work with.

Do you work with pastels too? Soft pastel sticks can be used for shading and highlights.
Some even do the base colors with pastels. Looking at the mustle build of an animal, helps with sculpting one :)

NightLioness wrote:

Your first?! Wow! That is fantastic! Really great job.
I did my very first custom with Super Sculpey and it is a very nice clay to work with.

Do you work with pastels too? Soft pastel sticks can be used for shading and highlights.
Some even do the base colors with pastels. Looking at the mustle build of an animal, helps with sculpting one :)

Thank you! And thank you even more for the information. How do you use the pastels for shading? If it's basically powder in a stick, how will it adhere to the clay? How do you stop it from smudging and coming off? Is there a brand you would recommend? So many questions

Dragonette29 wrote:

......How do you use the pastels for shading? If it's basically powder in a stick, how will it adhere to the clay? How do you stop it from smudging and coming off? Is there a brand you would recommend? So many questions

Sadly I am not one of the admireable people who can sculp and paint models, so I can not help at all .
But have you seen in this group of topics https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/f94-tutorials , perhaps you can find something useful there ?

PS : The Rhinoceros hornbill in your avatar is very, very beautyful

Wonderful antelope!!

Dragonette29 wrote:

NightLioness wrote:

Your first?! Wow! That is fantastic! Really great job.
I did my very first custom with Super Sculpey and it is a very nice clay to work with.

Do you work with pastels too? Soft pastel sticks can be used for shading and highlights.
Some even do the base colors with pastels. Looking at the mustle build of an animal, helps with sculpting one :)

Thank you! And thank you even more for the information. How do you use the pastels for shading? If it's basically powder in a stick, how will it adhere to the clay? How do you stop it from smudging and coming off? Is there a brand you would recommend? So many questions

Some scrape with a knife some powder of the pastel stick, others use harder brushes and rub them on the sticks. You have to apply multiple layers, depends on how good the pastels are. You can apply base coat spray, on every later to prevent smudging and such. Mr Clear pray works good. But there are several brands. I have to look up which pastels I use XD Will come back to that later :)

What a model so well done ! . I like the smooth texture of the surface. And cla photo with the rest of his companions antelopes is very pretty. Congratulations !!.

Oh wow, what a great sculpture! This is extremely good, especially for a first sculpture! Well done! Now I can't wait to see more of your work

Thanks again, everyone, I'm really flattered! I feel I want to make more and, if things go well, who knows, maybe I'll be making copies one day :)
I'm trying to decide what species to make next.

SUSANNE wrote:

PS : The Rhinoceros hornbill  in your avatar is very, very beautyful

Thank you Susanne, I'm glad you like it. This hornbill was my first time sculpting since I was a child. It's a very primitive figurine made with air-drying clay, so I didn't count it as my first model. I can feature it in a separate post if you like :) Oh, and I scoured the entire tutorial section before making the blesbok, it was very helpful!

NightLioness wrote:

Some scrape with a knife some powder of the pastel stick, others use harder brushes and rub them on the sticks. You have to apply multiple layers, depends on how good the pastels are. You can apply base coat spray, on every later to prevent smudging and such. Mr Clear pray works good. But there are several brands. I have to look up which pastels I use XD Will come back to that later :)

Thanks, I'm really intrigued by this idea now! Blending and shading was what I struggled with most because acrylics dry so quickly. I saw a couple of videos of this on YouTube and it looks like it might be the perfect solution

signatus wrote:

What a model so well done ! Very Happy . I like the smooth texture of the surface. And cla photo with the rest of his companions antelopes is very pretty. Congratulations !!.

Thank you so much! I've seen your sculptures and I'm absolutely in love with them, so your praise means a lot to me.
I was initially going to give this model some kind of fur texture, similar to CollectA's hirola, but struggled with the clay holding detail. I eventually decided that I like it too, since this species is so smooth-coated. Fur wouldn't really be that visible at this scale. I'm looking forward to making something more fuzzy and experimenting with texture.

She´s gorgeous! Very well done! I love her!

signatus wrote:

What a model so well done ! Very Happy . I like the smooth texture of the surface. And cla photo with the rest of his companions antelopes is very pretty. Congratulations !!.

Thank you so much! I've seen your sculptures and I'm absolutely in love with them, so your praise means a lot to me.
I was initially going to give this model some kind of fur texture, similar to CollectA's hirola, but struggled with the clay holding detail. I eventually decided that I like it too, since this species is so smooth-coated. Fur wouldn't really be that visible at this scale. I'm looking forward to making something more fuzzy and experimenting with texture.[/quote]

Thank you very much for your words about my sculptures Agata !    I think you're right in the softness of the texture, instead of marking it and that it is more rough, it is much better this way. You will already be experimenting with other species.

Good work! Blesboks are not often seen in the toy market. It's good to see that someone thought about making one.

Glad I could be of help :3 Hope you will try this technique and I am very curious for the outcome

Beautiful work! Amazing! And what a talent you have, I would have never guessed that this is your first model! Congratulations and keep up the great work!

NightLioness wrote:

Glad I could be of help :3 Hope you will try this technique and I am very curious for the outcome

I've already decided on the next species and this technique should work very nicely with it

signatus wrote:

Thank you very much for your words about my sculptures Agata !    I think you're right in the softness of the texture, instead of marking it and that it is more rough, it is much better this way. You will already be experimenting with other species.

I've noticed this especially with some of CollectA's antelopes, they make their fur appear slightly rough or shaggy, when in reality it is smooth and shiny.
I initially wanted to imitate their style, but I think I should just find my own and go with what I think is right. Still, I would love to know how they achieve that fine fur texture. I have a lot to learn. All fur seems a little intimidating for now!