For the past year I've been stretching my boundaries as an artist. I've experimenting with painting, figure drawing techniques, and design. In an attempt to go a little further and learn something valuable along the way, I've decided to start sculpting.
I bought some clay from the art supply store and took it home, where it remains in the box untouched. I honestly had no clue how to start. I realized I would have to do something soon when a co-worker gave me some of his leftover oil-based (never drying) clay.
My father sculpted all the time while I was growing up, but I never really tried it myself ( randomly playing with clay as a kid doesn't really count). The Palette & Chisel Academy Of Fine Art has open studio sculpting from a live model, in addition to quick sketch figure drawing. While I wanted to go try that, I thought it might be a good idea to practice first. I had a small skull model that I bought for reference about a year ago, so I decided to recreate that in clay.
Once I completed it, I thought that it might be neat to put the individual facial muscles on it. I consulted a couple of anatomy books to see how to go about adding the muscles.
Because the skull was my first creation I was reluctant to cover it up. I also worried that the non-drying clay could get messy if I started adding to it so I decided to add the muscles onto the model skull. Here are the results:
Front
I found the neck muscles so challenging that I had to consult multiple anatomy books for the sides and under the chin. It was fun, but tough.
Neck
Side
One of the results of this exercise is that I am finding that the way I draw heads is changing. Creating something in 3-D puts a different perspective on the object and that change is reflected into the drawings. My drawn heads seem rounder and more solid then before. They feel more real.
Because I the fun I had and the lessons learned for the head, I have decided to do the same with the entire figure. Stay tuned...
