I Made POPEYE...But He Is WAY Too Real.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Ruining Your Childhood. Welcome back to another episode of Ruining Your Childhood, one sculpt at a time. Today we're going to be tackling a character who's been around for nearly a century, and he's arguably still one of the most recognizable cartoon characters of all time. He's tough, he has absolutely massive forearms, and somehow managed to convince thousands of children that eating spinach would make them stronger. So without further ado, today we're going to be sculpting Popeye the Sailor Man. Growing up, Popeye was one of those characters that I always kind of looked up to. And yes, those massive forearms definitely had something to do with it. I mean, look at those things. They're phenomenal. But what really stuck with me is that no matter how many times Popeye got beat up, knocked down, kicked around, he always managed to get back up and keep going. And yes, even if it was a little help from some chemically enhanced spinach, as a little kid, I thought that was pretty inspiring. But now that I'm older, I'm realizing maybe he was just actually a little guy with Napoleon syndrome that I would get in fights with guys twice his size. Which, also looking back, makes a lot of sense because I also was a little guy with Napoleon syndrome who would get in fights with guys twice his size. But hey, I was inspired nonetheless. Anyway, now that we have the basic structure of his face, we could actually go ahead and start adding some facial details starting with his nose. And as per usual, every good nose starts off with a dank nug of clay that we do a little bit of refining before going in with our silicone sculpting tool to start refining and adding those nose details. But once I was happy with the size and shape of that nose I could then go in with the pointy section of my silicone sculpting tool to poke in some nostrils. After a wee bit more refinement I was pretty happy with how that nose was looking so we could go ahead and stick that onto the head doing a little bit of a size check just to make sure we're liking how it's looking and it's looking like I'm liking it. So we could actually go ahead and pop that off so we can add his eyes. As for the eyes, well, I guess he just has one. But as for his eyeball, I started off with this pre-baked ball of clay that I sliced in half. I'm just going to be shoving that into the face. After a little bit of refinement around the eye, we can then go ahead and work on his squinty side. For this, I'm just going to start off by adding a little line just so I can have a visual reference of where it's going to be. Going back to his good eye, we're going to start off by adding his lower lid. For this, I'm using a little moon shape of clay, sticking that on the bottom of the eye, blending that in, giving it a little bit of refinement, and go ahead and start working on his eyebrow ridge. Now to achieve Popeye's classic furrowed brow, we're going to be building this up in layers. I start off by taking a sliver of clay, working it into this kind of handlebar shape. This is going to be the first layer of his eyebrow ridge. So after I'm done blending that in and giving it a rough shape, we could add a second piece over top of his eye and then work that into that classic angry look that he has. I feel like by adding layers like this, it makes it a little bit easier for when it comes to actually adding wrinkles and making the eyes look like they're heavy. And I don't know. It's just my preferred method, I guess. But once we have those stacked on and blended in, you go in with this wedge-shaped sculpting tool to start adding a little bit more detail between the eyes and above them. We could go on to the other side to actually build up that squinted eye. Start things off by adding a little nug of clay to the upper eye. for his upper eyelid. And then we're gonna add a rounded piece to the bottom to make his lower lid. And right now it kind of looks like he got punched in the face, which happens a lot. But we don't want his eye to be looking like it's a black eye. We want it to look like it's just squinted down. So we're just going to be adding some wrinkles. So once I have some basic wrinkles on there, we could go in. We could add that little chunk to the top for his eyebrow like we did for the the other side. Then after blending that in, smoothing it out. And with that, his eyes are at a pretty good stopping point, so we can go ahead and start actually adding a few more wrinkles to his forehead, just using that same wedge-shaped sculpting tool to draw in these wrinkles. I really want it to look like he's peeved, like he's ready to throw hands. But once we have the basic main structure of those wrinkles in, go ahead and pop his nose back on, blending that into the rest of the face. Once I add his nose firmly fastened to the face, it's time to go in with this little needle tool. I'm just going to be adding small wrinkles and folds and little details across the upper section of the face. Once I was done with that, we can move down to the lower section of the head to work on his mouth. I'm going to start off by establishing these little smile lines or frown lines or folds or whatever they are, the wrinkles that are on the side of the mouth, but I make these by taking little Nike-shaped bits of clay, sticking those on the side of the mouth, giving them a little bit more shape before blending those into the rest of the face. I'm trying to make sure that the folds and wrinkles are nice and smooth. I like the best way to make wrinkles look more realistic is having a smooth transition instead of just a sharp line going across the face. After getting some nice detailing in there, it's now time for his mouth, but first we are going to be actually working on his pipe. Start off by taking this little skewer that I'm going to slice off a little bit. I can then take that little sliced bit of skewer, line it up where I think the mouth should be pressing that into the face. And once I was happy with the location of that, I could then take out the pipe and then we can actually start working on the pipe by adding the little pipe end. I'm not too keen on pipe anatomy, so bear with me. To make the little cup portion that goes on the end of the pipe, I just rolled out a cylinder of clay. So I was happy with the size and shape of that. I stuck that onto the mouth a bit before taking a small ball stylus to hollow it out a bit. Popping that back onto the face, doing a little size check. Pretty happy with how that was looking. So we can go ahead and pop that out so we can work on his lower lip. Now to make his lower poochy lip, I'm going to roll out this little nug of clay that I pinched off, tapering each end. Go ahead and find where his mouth is going to be, lining it up to the lower section of that hole. So I was happy with the location of that. I go in with my shadow carving sculpting tool to blend that in. Then I am going to be adding another part of the lip going over top of the pipe. I want it to look like it's kind of wrapping around so it's not just sticking out of his face. So once I add that little piece in, blended that in as well, we could stick that little pipe end back in so that his head was looking pretty good. But we do need to add his classic butt chin. I start off by using the back end of my sculpting tool to add the initial shape. I then flip it back around to use the pointed end to give it some more refined detailing. Once I was happy with how his chin was looking, his head was looking pretty good, we just need to add some final texturing. And for this, I'm going to be using a natural sponge, just gently dabbing this along the surface of the clay this is one of my favorite texturing techniques for making skin look a little bit more realistic it does a good job of adding imperfections and pores to the skin but while i'm working on that i just want to take a couple seconds to say thank you guys so much for checking out the video so far i really hope you guys are enjoying it if you are i'd really appreciate it if you could hit that like button and leave a comment down below who you think i should make next and if you're new here consider subscribing we have lots of fun at least i think but now that he's all textured and looking like a weathered seaman we can go ahead and do the final step for the head and that is adding his ears i start off by rolling out a ball of clay that i smash flat then using my X-Acto knife i slice it in half i can then take one of those slices giving it a little bit more of an ear shape before sticking that onto the side of his head using this wedge shape silicone sculpting tool i blend that into the rest of the face doing the exact same thing to the other side once i had both ears locked into their final resting positions i go in with a very small ball stylus to start to give those ears some inner ear detailing and with that his head's looking pretty good so it's off to the oven and with Popeye's head back from the oven we could go ahead and flip him over revealing this hole that i drilled off camera before filling it with a piece of armature wire this is going to be making up the main spine of the sculpture but with that inserted we could go ahead and start working on his neck i start off by pinching off a loaf of clay that i wrap around that piece of armature wire after fusing it together and blending it into the rest of the head i can then go in with a variety of different sculpting tools to actually start adding some neck detailing. And once I was done with the detailing on the neck, I did pop it in the oven really quick. That way we don't accidentally crush it when we're adding the body. As for the body, we're going to start off with a big old chunk of this Super Sculpey Ultralight. It's going to be making up the main portion of the body. This is just my preferred method instead of using tinfoil. I know it's not quite as cost effective, but it's significantly easier to work with. But now that I have the rough structure of what his body is going to look like, we can go ahead and insert his arms and legs and for this I'm just using some pieces of armature wire that I pre-cut to length. Once I found the position on the sides of the body we can insert his arms and then we're going to be doing the exact same thing for the legs. Once those are popped in and I'm happy with the location of them I do go ahead and pop in the oven just to lock everything in place. And with Popeye back from the oven we could go ahead and pop his arms and legs back out to make it a little bit easier to across his body. I'm going to start things off by wrapping a thin layer of clay around the entire torso. This is gonna just make it a little bit easier to add some detail, but once I had that fully wrapped around and smoothed out, I can then go in with my silicone sculpting tool to start adding some detail. So once I added some upper chest detail and some collarbones, I can then go ahead and start working on his shirt. Now Popeye is rocking one of those super v-necks, so we're gonna slice out a triangle, just stick that onto the front of his chest, lining it up with his collarbones, blending that in. I can then take the back end of my X-Acto knife to draw a line straight down the center. This is gonna be where the buttons are gonna be connected. The reason I'm using the back end of my knife instead of the actual blade is it gives it a much softer line. It doesn't actually cut down into the clay too deep. I then also use the handle portion of my X-Acto knife to add some wrinkles. Once those are inserted we can go ahead and add his collar that goes around. For this I'm gonna be using a clay called Super Sculpey Flex. It's this flexible clay that apparently is really really good for stuff like this. Never used it. So this is my first time experiencing it. It's very rubbery, which I guess makes a lot of sense. But what I'm doing is I just flatten out these really thin strips of clay, lining it up with that v-neck, then folding it over top of itself. Then I go around slicing off that curve shape. And then to finish everything off, I add that back flap. Now I'm curious if anyone's been in the Navy or if they just know a lot about Navy things, what is this collar called? Is it just a sailor's collar? Let me know in the comments. But with his collar finished we can then go down and put on his buttons. For this I'm going to be rolling out a thin noodle of clay and then use my X-Acto knife to cut out these little discs before sticking those on to the front of his chest. Once I was happy with the size and placement of those buttons I could then go in and start adding some final detailing to his shirt by using the back end of my X-Acto knife to add some more wrinkles. But while I'm giving his shirt a vigorous rub down i want to give a big old shout out to my all my members out there genuinely want to say thank you guys so much for supporting the channel just a little bit extra each month you guys are amazing and if you guys want to join the squad join the ruin your childhood club join the club you could uh hit that join button there should be a link actually in the description of this video if you guys want to join and support the channel a little bit more so but as you can see i did pop him in the oven and now he is back and that flexible clay is mighty flexy looking real nice, we can go ahead and start working on his arms. I start by popping out that armature wire to make it a little bit easier to insert his boulder shoulders. So once I stuck on that piece of clay, we can then go ahead and put it back into the body. Once we add that clay and pressed onto there, blend it in. You do the same exact thing for the other side. I'm going to be doing the arms a little bit different than I've normally done, and there's a reason for that. We'd be working on just kind of sections. I had the idea of, oh, maybe I can use that flex clay to make his arms a little posable. So I made his elbow joints using that flex clay, but spoiler, didn't work. I ended up not using it and I just go over it. But I think in the future, I might have an idea of how I could actually make it work. So I guess it wasn't a total loss. But anyway, as you can see, I'm completely done with the upper section of the arm and now it's time to work on his glorious forearms and fists. I start off by using these large chunks of clay that I'm going to start to roll out and give it a little bit more shape before going in with a variety of different sculpting tools to actually start adding his fingers. So after I established where his fingers are I'm going to flip that tool around using the back end to add some knuckle detailing flattening things out making it kind of more boxy. Then on the sides I'm just going to add some more finger detail. We're just going to be making our way around. We're going to be grooving moving and grooving. We got ourselves a nice little fisticuff. I was always happy with how the shape of that fist was looking we could add his thumb for this i'm just taking a dank nug of clay rolling it out into a well somewhat thumb shape before sticking that onto the side wrapping it around the front then blending that all together so after a little bit of final detailing on the fist i was pretty happy with how that was looking so i made the other one off camera then we could go ahead and stick those onto his arms i just go ahead and do the same process of shoving that on and blending it all together trying to keep a natural transition from his elbow to his massive forearms. But after I was done with the first arm I went ahead and did the exact same thing to the other side. With that his arms are looking pretty good so now we could go ahead and add his little sleeves. For this I'm just going to be taking some flattened out pieces of clay that I wrap around his bicep and once I was happy with the position of those sleeves I could then go in with my silicone sculpting tool to start adding some wrinkles and folds to help emulate the fact that they're rolled up but with that his arms body and sleeves are looking pretty good so it's off to the oven for another bake and with Popeye's upper body back and baked we can go ahead and start adding his legs now we are going to kind of speed run this because his arms and legs are virtually made the exact same way except the only difference is that they're legs but I will say unlike the arms he does have a crotchal region so for this we are going to be using a ball of clay that I mashed onto the bottom of the torso, blending that in. Once I had his hips firmly fastened, we could then add his legs. Now the hardest part about the legs was actually refining those holes that were in the torso, but once I found those, I could go in with my X-Acto knife to kind of trim down some of the bulk of his crotch. We don't want it to look like he's wearing a diaper, but once we had that down and kind of rounded back out, we're going to go in with the same method that we did for the arms, adding just tubes of clay, build up his thighs. Once we had that blended in we could do the same thing down for his calves blending them into the thighs giving them a natural taper and a little bit of muscular detailing but with that his legs are in place so all we need to do now is add some detailing to his pants for this I'm just gonna be going through with a variety of different sculpting tools to add some wrinkles and folds and really anything to make it so it doesn't look like he's wearing tights. But once I have those wrinkles in place we can then go in and start to add a little bit more fine detailing such as zipper flaps and little seams on the side of his pants. And with the details in place, the last thing I'm going to do is just rub my fingers down over top of the wrinkles. This is going to help give him a more natural flow. But with his breeches looking more like breeches, all we need to do next is add his belt. Using a flattened out strip of clay, wrap that around his waist. I try to make sure that I have it pressed real nice and tight up against that shirt to make it look like the shirt's kind of rolling over top of it. Once that's in place, we can then add his belt buckle. And for this, I'm just using another flattened out bit of clay that's slightly larger than that original strip. I then followed up with a wedge shape sculpting tool to kind of round off the edges, making it a little bit more belt buckle-y. But with that, his belt's looking pretty good, so now we can move down to his shoes. Starting off with a little ball of clay, I'm going to kind of oval it out into a shape that kind of resembles a mighty bean. So I was happy with the shape of that. We are going to slice that bad boy in half. I can then take one of those halves and begin to work on it and mold it and fold it until I get a little bit more of a shoe shape. So I was happy with the length and shape of that shoe. I can then take the back end of my X-Acto knife, drawing the line around the bottom. This is going to indicate the sole of the shoe, and then finish off the detailing using the soft wedge tool to draw some extra layers to make the shoe a little more interesting. Now to make the shoe fit a little bit more natural up against the leg, I'm going to be slicing out this little half moon shape. There we can then take that, stick that on the front part of the leg, blend that in, And once I was done with that first shoe we could go ahead and do the exact same thing for the other side With that his little kickers are in place and all we need to do is add these little strips around his ankles to make it Look like his pants are cuffed and this is made the exact same way that I did his sleeves Taking these flattened out strips of clay wrapping it around then adding some folds and wrinkles to give him a little bit more interest But with that that pretty much completes the entire sculpting process so it's off to the oven for its final bake And with our salty crusty seaman back from the oven we can go ahead and actually top his head with a hat that I made off-camera. Now the reason I made this off-camera is because this video has already been taking me a thousand yards to make so it had to be done. Sorry about it. But now that he is back and baked and fully cooled down we could go ahead and start the painting process. And for this I always like to start off by giving the entire sculpture an initial base coat of its initial base coat colors and for this we're gonna be starting off with the shoes and belt and the The color I'm using is called Leather Brown, and I'm mixing it with a little bit of Saddle Brown just to make it a slightly bit darker. So once I had those thoroughly coated, it's nice and dry, we can then move on to his pantalones, trousers, his pants. To make his pant color, I mixed up a little bit of medium blue, ultramarine blue, and a slight bit of black. This gave it that classic, almost like blue denim look. I'm not actually sure. think he wears jeans in the show, but I guess you could just chalk it up to I'm using some artistic liberties. But anyway, once I had his pants completely coated, we could then move on to his shirt. Now for a shirt, I didn't want it to be just straight up black. I did want a little bit more color to it, so I added a very small amount of this color called Magic Blue. In the end, it still pretty much just looks black after it dries, but you know, I tried. As you can see, I do paint over top of the buttons with the same exact color. I feel like when I'm painting metallic colors, having a darker undertone tends to help it pop a little bit more. After getting the shirt done, we do the same to the belt, giving it that dark blue. Then we can move on to his collar. As for the collar, I wanted to keep it kind of simple, but I'm just mixing out two colors called Blood Red and a little bit of this color called Beastie Brown. Can't really tell right now, but once it dries, it kind of dulls the color of the red and makes it a little more matte. But with the collar done we could then move on to his flesh tone. As for his skin, I mix up three different colors, starting with a basic skin tone, then a medium flesh tone, and then I add a very small amount of blood red. I like to really water down the paint, that way it lays over top of the surface of the skin a lot easier, helps eliminate a lot of brush strokes, gives it a much more even coat. As for the face, I'm using the exact same color, the only thing is I'm watering it down significantly more. That way it could sink down into all those cracks and recesses of the face. That way it accidentally clog up those pores. Now as for Popeye's eye, I'm going to be using a color called Bone White. It's this nice off-white color. I'm also going to use that same color for his shirt that's peeking out there. As for his hat, we're going to be using that same Bone White color that we used for the eyes. The only difference is we're adding a bit of white to it to make it a little bit lighter. Once we have that thoroughly coated, we can move on to the brim of the hat. And for this I'm just using straight up black. As for Popeye's pipe I actually was a pretty big fan of the color of the skin that I was using so I am going to be trying to color match that. For this I'm using some bone white, desert yellow, and a little bit of dead white to kind of get that tone right. But once I had the pipe done that concludes all the base coats and so we can actually start making this bad boy look a little bit more alive. And for this we're going to be using a plethora of different washes starting off with this red wash. The color that I'm using is that blood red and I'm just significantly watering the paint down and we're going to be going over pretty much the entire surface of the face. And once I had that pretty much coated completely, I'm going to go in with this rag just to dab off the outer surface, but keeping it down into those cracks and pores. I repeat this process multiple times, highlighting specific areas such as the tip of the nose, his lips, his cheeks, ears, pretty much where a lot of blood is going to sit. But once I the face completely coated and fully dried we could then go in with this blue wash going over the lower section of the face this is going to help add the effect of stubble and kind of that five o'clock shadow look we're kind of just doing some basic color mapping when it comes to painting faces we're having the lower section of the face more of a blue tone upper section being more of that yellow and obviously the red in the center but once we have the entire face coated and fully dried, I'm going to go over top of the entire thing with another coat of that same skin tone that I I made before, just watering it down. I feel like this does a really good job of setting back those colors, and it makes it feel all more uniform. As for his arms, we're going to be basically doing the exact same process as we did for the face, just using that blood red, and we're going to be going over pretty much the entire surface of the arm. I just repeat this process multiple times until I'm happy with how the arms and hands are looking. Once I let those fully dry, we can then go ahead and start working on his tattoos. I'm going to start off by freehanding a little anchor here on the arm. Once I was done with the anchor and I was happy with the size and placement of that, I could then go ahead and start inking it up. For this, I'm actually using pretty much the same color that I was using for the shirt. The only difference is I'm actually using a little bit of that flesh tone. That way it has a little bit more common ground. Once I had that initial layer completely finished, I could go over top of everything with a wash of that skin tone. This helps to set the tattoo back underneath the skin. I feel like it did a pretty good job of making it convey as a real tattoo. Once I was done with the first arm, I tried to mirror the exact same thing on the other arm, doing my best to make them match, and we can move on to his collar. There's a little pinstripe that goes around the border of the collar, and so I mixed up some more of that black that I used for the shirt. I'm just gonna be following that along. Once I was happy with that, we can move down to his shirt. Now to make his wrinkles and folds on his shirt pop a little bit more, I just mixed up a lighter version of that initial black color. adding a little bit more blue to it. We're just going to be actually going over top of his rolled sleeves and then dry brushing this over top of the wrinkles. Once I was done dry brushing the details onto those wrinkles, we can move back to his sleeves, adding a much lighter tone to kind of convey that the sleeves are actually rolled up. Once I add that on, I'm actually going to be using that same exact color down on his pants, and we're just going to be dry brushing this over top of the wrinkles and folds, and especially focusing on areas such as his knees and thigh area. but with that his shirt and pants are nicely weathered so we can move on to his buttons and belt buckle the color i'm using is called polish and gold and like i was saying before with a darker undercoat it makes these uh metallic colors pop quite a bit once i had his buttons and belt buckle complete we could grab his hat and actually paint those little buttons on the side of the hat the same exact color we could go into weathering his hat for this i mixed up a very thin wash of that color called Leather Brown. I do kind of go over the entire hat, but I am mostly focused on around the brim and also the wrinkles that are on the top of the hat. As for the pipe, to give it a little bit more three-dimensionality, I carved in some wood texture and then I'm going over top of it with that same exact wash that I used for the hat. I'm going to carry some of that wash onto the stem of the pipe just to bring those colors together. And to finish things off, I'm going to be painting his eye this bluish color. I'm just using my ball stylus to help me get a more perfect circle finish it off with a black pupil and last but not least all we need to do is add his eyebrows and for this I'm gonna be using some fabric fusion and a little bit of synthetic wool to glue these onto his face but with that and a little bit of off-camera detailing we're on to those JC Penney glamour shots thank you guys so much for checking out the video I really hope you all enjoyed it if you did don't forget to hit the like button and if you're new here don't forget to subscribe also be sure to leave a comment down below who you would like me to sculpt next, and with that, I'll see you next time.