Quote of the Day

The idea of me is better than the reality of me. - Verity

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Sketching for Beginners: The Basics

While some people are fortunately 'gifted' with the talent, it doesn't mean that it cannot be learned. With continuous practice and willingness to learn, anybody can develop the skill.

One of the things to remember is that portrait sketching doesn't only require the practice of your hand but more importantly, training your eyes and your brain. It is helpful to look at different sketches to familiarize yourself with details.

As I've mentioned, I'm not familiar with the different sketching techniques. What I realized was that every artist has his/her own way of doing their craft and there are certain methods that work on some artists which may not work for you. Truth is, there are no concrete rules when it comes to sketching. You will develop your own technique through practice and experience so this post will just give a rough guideline on different sketching techniques that can serve as your guide. Again, this is just a guide so don't hold back if you want to try something else.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Project of the Month August 2015: Adventure Time/One Piece Mash-Up (100% complete)

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 finally launched on Steam, and I have been busy playing the whole day.

I have finished the PoTM as well - Jake/Luffy Mashup. I had some spare clay left over, so I made a Marceline as well. It's just Marceline, no mashups. I can't think of a One Piece character that would fit her, besides - my daughter just wants a Marceline figure to play with.

Friday, August 21, 2015

DIY: Paint your Own Shirt

The great thing about designing your own shirt is that you won't worry that you'll bump into someone wearing the same shirt design as yours. Aside from the 'being unique' part, painting your shirt helps unleash your creativity and whatever you're feeling at the moment.

Another advantage is that you can have a 'new' shirt from your old shirts in your wardrobe. You probably have a few plain shirts in your closet that you haven't worn for ages so why not turn them into something more exciting and colorful?

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Original Artwork Series [The Writer]

Since I started with cold porcelain, I have created various popular characters from cartoons, movies and books. It was a great training ground since I was able to learn different techniques in sculpting and painting while enjoying my craft. It helped me be more creative and yes, patient (because I've realized that working with cold porcelain requires a great deal of patience!)

It has almost been a month since I started this blog so I thought it's about time that I challenge myself into creating original artworks.

This is my first original artwork using cold porcelain. It's about 3 inches with white paint finish. A great tabletop accent especially for writers. Her hair flows freely like her mind and the papers scatter around the same way as her ideas. 

Monday, August 3, 2015

Project of the Month August 2015: Adventure Time/One Piece Mash-Up

I was really gunning for an Adventure Time project, but I'm also excited for the PC release of One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 on August 25, so I decided to do both - an Adventure Time/One Piece Mash Up.

It's still lacking a few details and there's no paint yet, but it should be easy to see which character this is supposed to be:

Friday, July 31, 2015

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!

As a Harry Potter fan, I've always wanted to create my own favorite magical characters whether it be a sketch, painting, a T-shirt design or whatnot. And now that I am into cold porcelain, I cannot help but get excited in making Harry Potter and his friends! These chibis are actually some of the first batches that I've made when I was just starting out. They weren't perfectly done but I'm still happy with what they have turned out.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Cold Porcelain Jack Sparrow Chibi - Layering and Blending Tutorial

Jack Sparrow Chibi (blending technique)

This is my first try on sculpting eyes and 'blending' instead of 'layering'. When I was first starting out, I created clothes by doing the following:

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Sketching for Beginners - What are Numerical Graphite Pencils?


The King has been a favorite subject of my portrait sketches when I was younger. I clearly remember how happy and excited I was when my Mom handed me a magazine full of Elvis Presley's photographs.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Common Household Materials as Sculpting Tools for Cold Porcelain


modelling tools [photo from lazada.com]

I've started working with cold porcelain without any clay sculpting tool, which, I admit, makes it more challenging and yeah, most of the time kind of frustrating. I told myself to purchase a set of these sculpting tools but as I looked around in various bookstores/hardware shops/craft stores, I realized that they are quite hard to find and when I found a set (a sculpting set for cake decorating in the bakery section of a department store), they cost higher than I expected.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

How to Sculpt a Basic Face on Cold Porcelain

For quick projects, I prefer to paint the faces on the heads. Most of the time they come out looking better, because I have better control with a brush. However, I prefer sculpted faces because they simply look better and more realistic. It's not even that difficult outside of the fact that you have to work fast with cold porcelain, since sculpting when it's already drying will result in cracks.

On that note, I made a new video that will teach you how to sculpt a simple face in less than 3 minutes. The face that will come out is rather basic (and doesn't look that good, to be honest) but it should serve as a starting point.



When you get the hang of things, you can create far more detailed faces.

(I apologize if the video is kind of shaky in certain places. I just bought a new lazy pod and am still not used to working with it - I kept elbowing the damn thing. :p )

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Daryl Dixon Polymer Clay Charm (My Take on Bakeable Clay

I've already posted a blog about the difference between polymer and cold porcelain. This post is some kind of a deuxième partie of that, plus Daryl Dixon!

I bought a pack of bakeable clay from the bookstore due to curiosity. It's the 'generic' type (I actually forgot the product name already) and it only costs less than a dollar, which is a lot cheaper than the mainstream polymer clay.

If you are still contemplating on which type of clay to use (baked or air-dried), here are some additional pros and cons that I encountered using bakeable clay. Note that this is just MY personal opinion and MY own experience on working on this kind of clay may be different from others.

Friday, July 24, 2015

How to Fix Cracks in Cold Porcelain

One of the downsides of Cold Porcelain is that it's prone to cracks while drying. If you're planning to sculpt using cold porcelain as a hobby, you need to be aware that you're going to be spending a lot of time fixing cracks.

Thankfully, fixing said cracks isn't that difficult and won't require material that you don't already have lying around. You just need the sculpting tool you normally use, a small amount of glue, a fresh batch of cold porcelain, oil, and what little amount of time it takes to fill in the cracks.

As for the specific steps, I made you a video:


Superman and Lobo

I was in the mood to create something small and quick, and since my daughter is currently on a DC superhero kick, I decided on the Man of Steel himself:

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Anna and Elsa Chibi Sculptures (V1.0 and V2.0)

Anna and Elsa V1.0


These are part of the first chibi sets I did over a month ago. I was just starting to get the hang of handling cold porcelain so they were kind of distorted in some parts. What frustrated me the most then was braiding their hair.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Project of the Month July 2015: Michonne from The Walking Dead (Complete)

Finally completed the paint job on Michonne and her two pet walkers. I still need to apply sealant but I'm marking them as complete and showing the pictures now because a.) applying sealant only takes a couple of minutes or so, and b. ) I'm going to use a sealant that will give it a glossy finish, which has a tendency to make the figures look unflattering on my cheap smartphone camera:


Is Nail Polish Usable as a Sealant?

When I was just starting out with making home-made cold porcelaine figurines, I searched for information on ideal sealants (because the figures themselves will be prone to weather damage if you don't use one) on the Internet. I eventually settled on these three, but the first one I tried was nail polish.

The truth is if you're just using them for practice or you don't expect to keep the figurines around for a long time, nail polish will do. They give a glossy finish and will protect the clay and its paint from moisture damage. They're also cheaper than the other sealants and it's easy to find places where they can be bought (in fact, most homes already have one at the ready.)

However, if you really want your work to be durable (something you want if you're planning to give the figures away or sell them,) avoid nail polish.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cold Porcelain Sculpture

back view
My sister loves Mickey Mouse so I thought of making a Mickey and Minnie Mouse set using cold porcelain for her (picture to follow). I had no problem making the first version because yeah, it's pretty simple and doesn't have much detail. All I had to do was to make two balls for the head, two oval-shaped cold porcelain for the body, two sets of thin rounded sticks for the arms and legs and two sets of small oval clay for the hands and feet - and additional smaller rounded sticks for the tail. Note that it is important to think of Mickey and Minnie's pose so that you'll be able to assemble them accordingly.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sculpting a Tiny Baby

I've been wanting to make one of those tiny cute babies and excitedly, I started my first baby the other day. Basically, the first thing I do before creating something is research [which actually takes a long time]. I visit numerous websites, and You Tube tutorials to look at different images and techniques for inspiration.

Morezmore is just one of the websites I visited before starting my baby. Though the materials used were different - polymer clay, wire for armature, 'real' clay tools (because I only use my toddler's plastic knife for sculpting), the tutorial pretty much gave me the idea on how to do the basics.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Sealants: Which One to Use?

If you're going to create things out of cold porcelain, you have to be aware that even when fully dry, they're still not resistant to damage. They can be easily scratched and water will melt them (bear in mind that most of the ingredients used in cold porcelain are water soluble). If you want them to last, you have to use a sealant.

There are many sealants that you can use, but there are three easily accessible (they can be bought in any hardware store) products you can use, namely waterproof primer, polyurethane floor varnish, and clear gloss varnish.

All three do a good job when it comes to protecting your work from weather damage (and scratches, to some degree), but they differ in a few things, and you may want to read on if you want to know which ones will work best for your project:

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Project of the Month July 2015: The Walking Dead's Michonne and Her Bodyguards *UPDATE*

85% finished. Just need to finish painting the walkers' clothes, Michonne's katana, shoes, and headband. I also need to polish the paint a little bit as it looks splotchy and uneven in some places.


This will most likely be finished by the next update, so I need to think of the next project. I'm thinking it's either something from One Piece (because One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 comes out for Steam next month) or Dragon Ball Z, because Dragon Ball Super just launched and it's all sorts of awesome in ways that make GT look extremely awful by comparison (I mean, even more so than usual.)

Cold Porcelain and Polymer Clay: What is the Difference?

The thing about cold porcelain and polymer clay is that it is not an "either/or" case. They have specific pros and cons and choosing which one to use will depend on your specific needs or situation.

As far as quality is concerned, take a look at Little Bane and Little Shawn Michaels below:


Can you guess which one was made with polymer clay and which one was made with cold porcelain? Exactly. After painting and sealing, you won't be able to tell the difference. They're also equally durable (my kid has thrown and dropped both figures numerous times and they're still intact.)

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Making Your Own Homemade No-Cook Cold Porcelain

Most of the mini-figs I create and feature on the site are made with cold porcelain. It is a great alternative to polymer clay because the ingredients are inexpensive, readily accessible, and require no baking/cooking. There are a number of trade-offs, but I'll get to that in a future article. For now, the affordability makes it worth trying out, especially if you're just starting out.

With that out of the way, if you want to try your hand at whipping up a batch of DIY cold porcelain, you can follow the step by step instructions below:

1. First, you need to gather the ingredients. As mentioned above, these are all inexpensive and readily accessible (in fact, there's a huge possibility that you already have them in your kitchen):

  • 130grams white glue, 2-3 cups corn starch, 
  • 5 tablespoon mineral oil/baby oil, 
  • 4 tablespoon lime, juice/white vinegar, 
  • cling film/zip lock bag
Once you've prepared the ingredients, you can start:

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Project of the Month July 2015: The Walking Dead's Michonne and Her Bodyguards

This month's project is from AMC's The Walking Dead, Michonne and her two walker bodyguards.

It's currently 70% finished, I just need to add more details to the face and paint everything.


This one took a lot longer than expected due to the fact that there's three of them, and I had a bit of trouble with the hair. It came out looking well, I think.

~~

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