Scenery
:
People
More People for Less Money - Part 1
Jan 31, 2011
By Barbara Nichols |
Author
Bio
One of the things that makes a Large Scale Railroad come alive is people. One drawback is that at $4 to $6 per person. Learn to make you own.
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One of the things that makes a Large Scale Railroad come alive is people. One drawback is that at $4 to $6 per person you can really start to tax the resources of your railroad populating several towns. One way around this is to make your own people. You can make them as simple or as detailed as you like.
In part one of this two part article we will learn how to get started using inexpensive materials to make people for your railroad. We will learn the basics of design for people and how to keep them in proportion. In part two we will learn how to paint and finish them for outdoor use.
 Supplies needed: - Sculpey modeling compound (white)
I found mine at Wal-Mart. I have seen it in most craft stores. You get box of it for about $5-6. I recommend the box of white rather than the small pieces that are colored. It is softer and easier to use. This is great stuff, for more info on this you can go to their website. (http://www.sculpey.com/) If you have some left over after this project, use it to make some other stuff for your train layout.
- Toaster oven pan or cookie sheet (foil lined)
- X-acto knife
- A smooth work surface
- A mat for cutting quilt pieces is nice because it has measurements printed on it and you can't damage it with the X-acto blade.
- Acrylic paints, artist's tube paint
- Acrylic sealer Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish, clear satin
- Paint brushes shader, size 6 liner size 3\0 any small brushes
Warm up a ball of Sculpey and roll into a tube about 3/4" in diameter, cut pieces about 1 1/2" long.
Make slits at both ends about 1/3 of length each.
 
Shape legs into pant legs. They should be kind of bulky like sweatpants. Round the back into a butt shape.
  
Using the point of the x-acto blade, slice out the bottom edge of a sweatshirt. Angle the blade and carefully stretch the Sculpey so that it comes out away from the body. You can fill the gap with a tiny bit of Sculpey to shape a belly.
Hold at the head end. (I know it's still headless) and at the feet end. Gently push the body together and the waist will buckle into the shirt. This gives the person a better 3D look.
Go ahead and give the little fella a little beer belly. Something like this, but round it over with your fingers, this is a little too blubbery but you see what I mean. A rounded look is better than flat. You might end up with a Gumby shaped person if you skimp on the rounding out.
This finished guy is a good example.
Hands and feet are a little tricky, but after you make a few people you will have developed your own method. I like to do the hands and feet before I put the heads on, but either way is fine. One thing is that when you are working at this stage, it's really good to have it soft from working the bodies. When you put the heads on, the Sculpey should be warm too, so they stick. I had a couple of problems with the feet breaking after I have glued them into their scene. I have not tested this but if you insert a common pin down the top of the head and up into the feet just before baking, it will give them stronger ankles and neck. Don't put pins in until the person is completely sculpted because it might poke out as it is being worked. A coiled wire would probably hold the Sculpey better. Another theory is that by putting the pins in causes another weak spot around the pins. I leave well enough alone, if they break just bring the scenery like grass or a bush in close. It only happened a couple of times, and both times the ankles were very thin. My own fault. Now lets get to it. 
Lay the person on its back on the work surface. Leave the arms bulky, at least on your first few tries at making figures. Pinch little hands at the end of the arms. Pinch the feet first vertically. 
Pinch lightly horizontally and bend the ankles. 
Pinch the feet as shown in above. This is a shot taken from the bottom of the foot. It looks like a foot, but the next step will change the look.
Push the ankles up into the legs. Don't push them in so hard that they completely flatten on top of the feet. Now take the little guy and stand him on the mat. Give him a gentle downward push to level out the bottom feet so he can stand. This step also makes the pant legs kind of roll over like big ole sweatpants tend to do. Unfortunately, this makes it a little chunky looking, but we will try to remedy this later on. Right now we want the feet to be strong through the baking process. Angle feet out as you wish, but turn the pant leg not the feet. Keep the pant legs attached at the inseam.
The figures you make later can be more refined. Right now you are learning.
Spread the arms out and lightly roll on the mat, an upside down T.
Bring the arms down to below the waist.
Shape the shoulders as shown.
Curve them into a normal human looking position, look at your own arms. Notice the elbows bend in only certain directions, and don't make the elbow bend in the middle of the forearm or upper arm. Half way or so is good. The wrists will be where the pinched hand starts.
When in the T position, trim the arms if they seem to be too long. The arms should be a little bit chunky at this point just as the pant legs are. We can trim later if need be. The hands are now positioned. Be sure to keep the arm attached to the body, either at the hands or the length of the arm. When you make a hand outstretched, keep it against the body if at all possible. You will be shaping the hands more after the head is attached.
Head and Face
(Just mentioning these drawing rules) Although it isn't that necessary to be perfect on these general rules with our tiny people, here are some guidelines on facial construction. Here are a list of standard facial proportions. I don't really go by it except for the eyes and ears. The nose and mouth fall into place. Don't be too critical, it won't be fun anymore. - The eyes are halfway between the top of the head and the chin.
- The bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin.
- The mouth is halfway between the nose and the chin.
- The corners of the mouth line up with the centers of the eyes.
- The top of the ears line up above the eyes, on the eyebrows.
- The bottom of the ears line up with the bottom of the nose.
- Most people are between 6-7 heads high.
Roll a small bit into an egg shape. It should be about a 1/2 inch in length, 3/8 inch wide at the widest part, the top of the head. Any bigger looks wrong, and much smaller is hard to work on.
With the X-acto knife, notch out a nose and chin. Round them out as you like, or as pictured.
Using a Phillips head screwdriver, Make eye indentations. If you don't want to do this on your first tries just shape the nose and chin.
Attach the head now. Try not to dent or mush or twist the body, face, feet and arms. Don't panic though, if something happens just repair the damage.
If it is easier for you to make the face after attaching to body, that's fine. Use what method works for you. Lightly rough up the neck and the base of the head. Notice that the head will be put on just slightly forward of the shoulders. Keep your chin up!
 
Lightly fold some shoulder Sculpey up into the neck. Scoop the clay up and around the head to form a vague neck. A chunky neck is the best for keeping the head on. Actually no neck is better. This is a good time to take some of the clay off the shoulders and make a hood or collar. This little guy has a hooded sweatshirt.
Using the knife, build up the hood, make some indentations for a zipper.
Hands are tricky. For your first attempt, it would be all right to just leave the hands slightly formed. Make only the thumbs or skip along up to "Baking". Notch thumbs out making a right angle.
Score the finger separation lines. Don't go too deep.
Cut excess length and remove. Lightly round the ends so they don't look chopped off.
This is a little guy with very few details. He is cute and friendly just the way he is.
  
Base ball caps are made before the head goes on. When you first roll out the head before any features are put on it, slice of 1/3 off the top of the head. Form the visor and round it by pushing it onto your knife handle. It can be bent up a little after you stick it back onto the head. Rough it up a little bit on the head and on the bottom of the cap so it will adhere better.
You don't want to make only one person and you will want more people to bake all at once. Keep trying! Come up with some different poses for the legs and the hands.
As you finish each person, check them over. You will probably have to re do some of the details that can easily get out of shape as you go from step to step. Example of this is the bottom of the zipper on the sweatshirt. It got lost while forming the hands.
Add some more details (carefully) like indentations for buttons and pockets. Don't go overboard, you still have to paint the figures. Personally, I like to leave well enough alone. Indentations are harder to get the paint into.
Baking
Put the figures on the foil cookie sheet. I use the toaster oven sometimes but a regular oven probably is more accurate. Follow the directions for your clay. It generally is 15 minutes for each quarter inch. Watch it like a hawk though, If it browns at all it is over done, but still fine to use.
However past this point it gives off fumes that are toxic. Yup I burned them once. ONCE! They got taken outside, good thing they were on foil!
Once they are out of the oven and cooled they will be quite durable, yet fragile at the same time. They can break if tortured, twisted or bent, carried by small children or cats. But as far as being secured on the layout, outside in the elements, they take it all. Snow rain and fog, ice.
The next article will be about painting the figures. Thanks for your perseverance so far!
| Great job |
| Hi Barbara, Nice job on the people, can hardly wait to try your directions.. You definitely make it look eazzzzy... Thanks for sharing.. Elaine |
| Elaine Haggenbottom - 01/19/2011 - 06:27 |
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