Sculpting a Forgotten Scarecrow from a Ruined World - Polymer Clay Sculpting Tutorial

This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Hey everyone I'm Ace of Clay. Welcome to another video. Today we're starting spooky season sculptures with this creepy dystopian scarecrow. I pack a lot of detail into this guy and use a couple new techniques that I think you guys will really enjoy. And if you didn't know the spoon tool is here and it is available right now at aceofclay.com. One end is the big spoon that you all know and on the other end is the little spoon which picks up where the big spoon leaves off it gets into all those little nooks and crannies on your sculpture with the same smoothing and detailing capabilities as the big spoon. It also has this nice removable silicone comfort grip. It comes in studio silver which is the classic silver color I've been using in all of my videos and an all-new reaper black which is a sleek black chrome. This has been years in the making and I have been using this tool since day one and now you can finally get your hands on your very own. So head on over to aceofclay.com and start using my spoon tool on all of your sculptures too. And now without further ado let's sculpt this spooky scarecrow. All right for the first step I'm going to drill a four millimeter hole in the back center of my wooden base because I'm using some five gauge aluminum wire. I'm going to use this for the main post of the scarecrow so that it's nice and supportive. Then I'm going to add the arms with another piece of wire and tie them all together. Once everything is nice and secure I'm going to brush on some bacon bond and then start shaping out the torso with some ultralight. This is the bulking step and it can also be done with aluminum foil. And before I bake it I just want to add another piece of wire for his neck. Once everything is pretty smoothed out it's time to get it in the After baking I'm going to add my final layer of clay. This is living doll and then once we have the entire surface of the ultralight covered we're going to create some folds and wrinkles with some little snakes of clay and then blend them in with my spoon tool. Now at this stage I was imagining something a little more vibrant for the scarecrow maybe even playful. I had this idea of giving him a you know bright patchwork jacket some like fun textures a kind of storybook charm but nothing too spooky or grim just a whimsical character that might live in some quirky overgrown field. But that's what I love about sculpting though. I always start with a vision but as the piece comes together it starts to speak for itself. Sometimes the clay pulls me in a completely different direction than I expected so while I'm still aiming for that lighter tone here I'll just say this stick around things might shift a little. One thing I really want to do with this guy is give him a very layered look. I'm not just throwing one shirt on him and calling it a day. I want it to feel like someone kept adding to him over time like maybe he's got two or three shirts on all in different stages of decay some fraying some holes maybe parts peeking out underneath just to add that extra bit of depth and personality. I love details like that because they make the character feel more real like he has a history even if we don't fully know what it is. And sculpting those overlapping fabrics is going to be a fun challenge too. It really lets you play with texture and volume in a way that adds so much to the overall I guess silhouette of the figure. And here's some lapels for his next layer. This is where that stacked clothing look really starts to take shape. I want it to feel like every piece he's wearing I guess kind of tells a little story like someone just kept tossing shirts and jackets on him over the years without ever taking anything off. These lapels give him more structure and they help break up the silhouette in an interesting way. I'm already liking how the layers are adding personality even before we get into color or texture. One thing I always aim for with my original sculptures is to make them feel like real characters not just cool designs or interesting shapes but like they've actually lived a life. So whether I'm building a full backstory like I do with my hidden world characters or just creating a standalone piece like this scarecrow I want people to look at the finished sculpture and feel like there's a story behind them. Not just the sculpture but the character themselves. So maybe they don't know exactly what the story is but they can sense it like this guy exists in some real place in time and this is just a moment in his journey. That's something I try to do with all my original work. Bring these characters to life in a way that makes you want to know more about them. And then after wrinkling this tattered fabric that will be the bottom half of the oversized shirt he will be wearing we are going to attach it to the other part of his body just by sticking it on and blending it in. And what better way to blend it in than with my spoon tool. And we're just going to repeat this process to create the other side. When you're attaching free-hanging pieces of clay like this you want to make sure you're not just sticking it on and hoping for the best. You want to tell that clay what to do. You want to tell every single wrinkle where to go. So just take your time go slow and make it work. Now we're going to tie everything together with a nice rope belt. This is also going to disguise some of that seam where the two different types of clay meet. Now let's add a little button. And here and there all over this shirt we're going to use our explorer tool and create a cross hatching texture to create the look of fabric. Now for the final layer of clothing we're going to give him a nice overcoat. I've got this sheet of flexible clay here. No this is not cosplay. And I'm going to roll in some 16 gauge wire along that edge. This is going to allow me to position the fabric or the jacket after it's baked and make him like he's blown in the wind and whatever. And then also give it some support as well. Now we're just going to tatter that bottom edge there. And then of course fold in some wrinkles before we attach it and stick it on with some baking bond. And then after this guy's baked I'm going to work on his back. But of course I want to have a nice smooth surface to work with when I do that. So I'm just blending in that little edge there. Now we just repeated this process to create the other side of the jacket. And we're sticking it on like so. And it was at this point where I decided I wanted to make him creepy instead of lighthearted. And then what's a scarecrow without a patch? There we go. He's ready to bake. And of course once he's baked and cooled down it's time to finish up the rest of his wooden posts by adding some more clay and shaping those out. Just want to trim off some excess with my excel blade and then add a bunch of wood texture. I'm creating some wider grooves in the wood with this cone shaper tool and then I'm going to go over them with my explorer tool to add some thin ones here and there. This creates a really nice variance in texture. And now it's time to make some tethered worn sleeves. I'm going to use the same process I did for the rest of his clothing and then just carefully wrap them around those wooden posts. When you're blending uncured clay in with cured clay your best friend is going to be clay softener and baking bond. They make the process way smoother. No pun intended. All right we're going to take a quick break from our video to talk about our sponsor Squarespace. 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Go to squarespace.com start a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com slash ace of clay to save 10% on your first purchase. Now we're just going to complete the other sleeve and then we can start working on the back. I did add a piece of uncured clay to his back so I can texture it a little better. That's a very rough job right there. I do make it look better don't worry. And I just have another dangling piece of fabric to join both sides of his coat together. As I'm putting these final clothing layers in place especially this overcoat I'm really starting to feel that dystopian vibe come through. I want him to look like he's been standing in a field after the world ended. Not just abandoned but like he survived something. And now we're going to take some time to create his head. Instead of using a stereotypical pumpkin or you know burlap sack I'm going to use a wooden box for his head. That's what it's going to be. So I created this nice rectangular box and then we're going to use the lid on it as the mouth. And I'm just opening the mouth of course and then blending in some clay inside and then making sure everything is nice and smooth and then we can start poking out his eyes and adding a nice wood plank texture. I think the head is really going to be what sells the whole vibe I'm going for with this piece. That quiet sad eerie presence like he's just been standing there for years forgotten. You know his head's just this old crate or container the lids slightly creaked open for his mouth again and it's subtle but unsettling like he's trying to speak but he can't. The two holes for his eyes give him this blank almost hollow stare that just kind of lingers. You know it's not meant to be in your face creepy but more like the kind of character you see off in the distance and wonder what his story is. I really want that emotion to come through in this piece and I think it's really going to start coming through with the paint job so just wait and see. Now let's add a couple nail holes here and there and let's stick it on. And just like that he's ready for another bake and I'm glad I pre-baked him because adding this you know post here would have been a lot harder and I probably should have done this as like the first step but that's okay we got flexible clay in our way nothing's gonna stop us. Now we're just going to texture that up and then add a couple like branch nibs here and there to make it a little more interesting and we're going to give him a tiny little pointed hat on the edge of his head and I'm just going to roll the textured edge of my tool here on the surface to make the hat look like it's fabric and then add some wrinkles and get it done. Now I'm just going to add a thin layer of clay on the top of the base so we can make it look like dirt. To texture it I'm just rolling this cheap rock texture roller from Michael's that was like ten dollars by the way all over the surface every which way again to make it look like dirt and then after we stick them back on we're just going to clean up the edges a little bit. Now for one more bake and now it's time for paint. I'm going to start with a nice black primer coat over the entire thing this is Gallery's new Kaleido paint line it's amazing it doesn't need to be thinned or anything goes on super smooth and I love it and I can't wait for them to come with more matte colors and then once that primer coat is dry we're going to go in with some shades of brown and this is also a Gallery airbrush you can use my code aceofclay at gallery.com to save 10% on your purchase. I love love love their airbrushes they are super beginner friendly and I absolutely would not have an affiliate code or recommend their products if I did not like them and believe in them. I will always steer you all in the right direction. Now I'm really starting to build up the color with my airbrush and I'm layering on different shades to give the clothing some real depth and wear and I'm not just hitting it with one flat color I'm starting with that mid brown base then I'm going to go in with some darker tones around the edges and folds and undercuts to push the shadows that's going to give the whole piece a more worn aged look like the clothes have been exposed to the elements for years then I'll come back in with a lighter brown or even like a dusty tan in certain spots to bring out the highlights and textures it's subtle but it really helps sell that layered weathered almost post-apocalyptic feel I want for this guy and once I'm done airbrushing I'm going to go in and fine-tune things with my paintbrushes starting with this light tan shade that I'm going in at the very peak of all of the folds and wrinkles on that second layer coat I want his clothes to look like all the color has completely faded out of them not just dirty or aged but like truly drained like he's been standing in one place for so long that any trace of life or vibrancy has just disappeared I'm going for a really muted almost monochromatic palette mostly layered browns it helps sell that eerie forgotten feel that I want from him nothing on him should feel new or cared for everything's just been worn down by time it's a subtle thing but I think it really pushes the atmosphere the less color there is the more the textures the shapes and the silhouette have to carry the character and that's exactly the challenge I want with this one going to dry brush all the wood areas with some lighter brown making sure it doesn't get into any of those little cracks and details I just want it to stay right on the surface and I'm just going to dry brush brown after brown after brown until I reach a lightness that I like and I'm going to go in with some pure white essentially and dry brush that selectively to different areas on his head just to make the wood look even older then we're going to go in with some stains here and there blend those in and then really highlight some of the details on his face now this is my favorite part adding all of these drips with a dark brown wash I just let it run down the surface in different spots especially around the seams in the front the edges it's just it's a simple step but it really pushes the age and the creep factor it makes everything feel stained weathered and just a little unsettling like this guy's been soaked in dirt and rot for years the randomness of the drips also adds character they're not uniform or clean and that's the point and then all those drips are going to create a nice creepy puddle at the base and just like that say it with me and he's done my dystopian scarecrow sculpture is complete let going to make him kind of cutesy and bright and vibrant but then as I kept going I realized he's going to make a really creepy nice sort of apocalyptic looking scarecrow design and I think I was right I think he turned out pretty darn cool I love the wire built into his jacket where I can just pose it and move it and make it look like the wind's blowing which is kind of like how I have him here and I think he just turned out pretty cool I think he'd actually make a great centerpiece for a bigger diorama so if you want me to expand on this let me know in the comments I can picture him with like a bunch of corn stalks and like some animals and all kinds of different things so again let me know what you think in the comments and as always thank you so much for watching and being here be sure to like comment and subscribe check me out on facebook instagram and tic tac at ace of clay now we'll see you in the next video thanks for watching