starting your own model kits, action figures, sculps, and manga

I've always wanted to build and create such things (I too am into art; I've also made some of my own creations) The thing is I don't know where to begin: what the hell do people make action figures, model kits, out of? And how do they paint them? And for manga, what are the actual sizes of the original pages they are created on?

I have no clue about models and sculpture but for the manga is seems as though the actual drawing are roughly 2x the printed size.

Basically you need to draw large enough to cleanly fit in all the details you want to do. No point to draw large just for the sake of drawing large though. Like if you draw a pokemon it don't matter how big it is, there is no detail. But if you want gatsu with all his armor and weapons, you should it make pretty big. Also most any pic you want to ink should be larger because it makes it easier to do a good job.

Thanks for your input Serpico, it does makes sense that in order to fit in all the details you basically need to draw larger. Its just taht I've always thought there were certain lengths and widths of pages, but it doesn't matter as long as it's big enough for every detail.

For model kits, action figures, and sculps:
Does anyone out there have any friends in Japan who do garage kits?

Wandering Soul said:

I've always wanted to build and create such things (I too am into art; I've also made some of my own creations) The thing is I don't know where to begin: what the hell do people make action figures, model kits, out of? And how do they paint them? And for manga, what are the actual sizes of the original pages they are created on?

Click to expand...

I'm not too sure what kind of process garage kit makers use to create their pieces, but I assume they sculpt them out of some type of polymer, wax or clay, create a mold, and cast into it with their final material, usually some kind of vinyl or resin.

I put together a couple garage kits nearly 8 ago. Usually you need to cut and sand off the flash, glue the pieces together, and prime it before you start painting. When I painted one of my resin kits, I used Testors, but there are probably much better paints than that to use on these resin and vinyl kits. Few hobby shops were familiar with character model kits then, so they didn't really have any good suggestions for me as far as paint goes. Acrylic would probably work well, after priming. Airbrushes are also probably a good idea; you can do a smooth coat with them.

I sculpt, and for that I use a polymer clay called Super Sculpey, that you can get at almost any craft store. There are also many different types of clay that never harden that are great to use if you want to create a mold from the clay sculpt and make a final piece from that. Some sculptors use a special kind of wax that can hold very fine detail. The whole process is pretty complicated from start to finish, especially if you're gonna make a mold. I took a pretty intensive mold making class last year, and still probably wouldn't how the hell to make another mold without further assistance.

Hope that helps.