Tips for SCULPTING a PORTRAIT with clay

You are alien to an additive method for

sculpting

portrait

s, there are many ways to sculpt

portrait

s, but today we will focus on the additive method. The benefits of additive is that when you add each individual piece, you think about it as a decision. You can think of the additive method, it's like the light hand pencil of drawing, no, it's a sketch, so you can easily add it or if you change your mind you can easily remove it. Thanks, that's the first thing we need to focus on. it's establishing the profile or the center line of the odd portrait but also the big masses so we can immediately in blocking start adding the mass of the widest point of the scalp right here towards the back and the other areas where to start adding with Pretty quickly they are into tiger modes on Joe.

The way I approach this particular way of

sculpting

is an additive method, so I want to keep everything subconstructed. Thank you, this is the first stage to create a portrait sculpture that we want. To start by focusing on the large masses and focusing mainly on the profile of the figure, if you are an original portrait sculpture I will focus on the measurement from below the nose to the hairline, it is a useful reference point because it is in a part. of the skull that will not change if we take a measurement from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the jaw this can change depending on whether your model is relaxed or more tense not because sometimes people relax with their jaw open now his lips are closed but his teeth are separated and this affects the total length of the face.

The two main measurements I focus on in the portrait are the measurement from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the nose and the width of the loop. modes this establishes a general proportion in height and width, so normally when you work with a model I recommend that you always take notes of the measurements you have taken so as not to repeatedly take measurements directly from the model in order to take the measurement that you had adjusted in your calipers and make a note on a piece of paper or a piece of wood so as you can see right now my profile line has gotten a little bit off center and that's why we also want to keep redrawing the center line because as we work from the profile perspective we want to know the location where that center line should be.

Now that I have the profile line more or less established, I'm going to start adding the basic width from the front perspective, these words. I will focus on the tigernut and the gel. I want to avoid adding width mass to features until the big overall masses have been established in the same way that when drawing we want to think about the big shapes first before working on the details. The same thing applies here in sculpture, uh, if you can turn it this way for a moment, okay, we'll continue to focus on the profile as I want to make some adjustments and the main thing when I'm working on this additive portrait.

I want to focus on establishing a really solid profile because this is going to be my reference point for the entire portrait, so I'm going to continue to focus on some of the main widths and start by adding the front box to the tiger mod and the Joe, it's okay when I, like a stick, I actually just want to hit the

clay

on the Armor quickly, um and then as I continue with the portrait, I essentially work with larger tools, larger tools first and getting to the smaller tools, the more detail they have. Get this, the large flat surface helps me unify the shape as I'm creating it.

When I start with the widths, I focus on the forehead box, the tiger mode and the Joe because they are parts of the bone structure of the skull, so if we take a look at the skull here we can clearly see the forehead box, the tiger and jaw mod and essentially when we try to capture someone's image, we can capture them better if we set their proportions accurately. So to capture someone's image it's not so much about the details as it is about capturing an accurate proportion. The blocking stage that we are doing today is probably the most important stage of the exit process because if we establish the correct proportions, this establishes the basis of our similarity we want to go further into the details we can focus on the individual person and their expression, but For today we focus only on the large proportions.

Thanks at this point I can recheck my great proportions to see if they really are. accurate, so I'm going to take a measure of the sacrament. The foreigner can use the spatula to draw on the surface of the

clay

and start blocking in the places where some of the details will go, so I'm looking for the hairline, the location of the Listen to the jaw, thank you. Something that people struggle with in portraits is that they obsess over the details and focus on the features quite quickly, so they create a general head because it is very easy to create a general shape of a head, but the difficulty lies . in capturing the likeness of a person and that is usually established first in the proportions and the profile, so if you can get those two things, you are on your way to creating a solid likeness.

I'm going to have you turn to For a moment, it's okay at this stage of the sculpt, as I'm still trying to create the overall proportions. I'm going to put in some placeholders for the ears outside of these years, they'll be adjusted later, but it's just for when I get up. back I think the impression of the large shapes is a better impression of the large shapes now that I have the large masses in place. Can I start adding some shape around the lips and nose please when I start adding mass to the lips and nose.

I always keep thinking about big shapes, big masses before smaller shapes, after I have established a block and I can develop the details when I am sculpting the lips, what I am thinking about is the curvature of the teeth, actually if you look at the skull from below, you can see how curved the teeth are, they are very far back in space and you have to think that the lips wrap around those teeth. A common problem in portraits is that the lips become too flat or too general. the portrait will become too flat and you will have to think about the curve of the face, otherwise as I add masses I tend to remember David's first feature exercises.

You know that each one has different traits, but there are specific designs within them. characteristics that you can usually find in most people, so for example when I look at lips I usually look for these round shapes, you usually find one or two round shapes on the lower lips and three to five round shapes on the upper ones . lip, the other area I focus on is the corners of the mouth trying to create this shadow or the funnel shape on the nose. I'll usually add the width of the nose and worry about the details around the nostril flaps later.

Thanks, normally when I sculpt the eyes, I first add a mass inside the eye sockets and then I'll look from the profile perspective, that way if you can turn in that direction, instead of focusing on the eyes, my focus The main one is in the eyelids. When you are sculpting a portrait there are a specific set of priorities you need to think about. No, you have to focus on the heights first, then the width, and then the depths, so we set the heights first when we were creating the line. of the profile now we have also set the width, the general large widths are not and the next step we need to check the depths, we cannot check with a measurement The depths until both the heights and widths have been set Louis, I'm going to take a measurement from under the nose to the outside, if we add a little extra mass here and take the same measurement, this is the same depth measurement, if we have the widths too wide, when we take a measurement on the depth, that measurement will appear closer of the profile and the opposite is true that if your widths are not fully set if they are too narrow then when you measure the depth it will be too long when you are blocking the hair you will still want to think in big shapes now When working on a portrait you will usually have several modeling shoots and hair will always change.

What you want to establish is a large general shape. When you work on a portrait, you can work on both sides simultaneously. However, when you start adding the information, if you try to capture similarities, it can sometimes be useful to establish the most precise blocking. It can be helpful to block one side first and then block the next separately so that you have more time to observe and this way, after you have completed both sides, you can check if they are aligned when you are working with a model and using your calipers. You always want to communicate and make sure. ask permission before doing so you also want to make sure you adjust the tool away from the model before approaching the outside when you are taking a width measurement you want to avoid approaching directly from the front as we don't want anyone's eyes to get poked, you should take measurements of the eyes when you are sculpting a portrait just to make sure they are aligned correctly;

However, sometimes it is a better option to simply give the calipers to the model directly. Can you take a measurement? from the corner of your eye okay okay thank you another useful measurement to take and this is not a direct measurement but you also want to take the measurement of the distance between the pupils and to do this you just want to align the calipers below. the eyes in line with the pupils thank you, it is useful to draw continuously on the center line, as this will help us avoid adjusting the profile line while working on the frontal or three-quarter views in portrait sculpture from where we often want look. below to check the depths, this can also help us see if the features line up symmetrically.

This is something we cannot see when we look only from the front or only from the side. This tool is probably one of my favorite tools for sculpting portraits, especially when you get into details because it has the thumb and like the typical thumb sculpting tools, however, it also has this knob end that is quite useful for getting into the details. details around the eyes, lips and nose, thank you before carving the nose, I mainly look at the line that goes from the ball of the nose to the wing of the nose, set these angle changes first, each separate profile is which helps you notice the details.

Due to the asymmetry between the difference between each side of the face, we often think of the face as a symmetrical shape, but there are many small details that are a little out of place and this creates an asymmetry that helps us identify ourselves when we work. In an additive method, this stage always looks like an extra old version of yourself, it's typical of blocking. In an additive method, yes, it's typical that at this stage, because of all the little wrinkles and everything, it's usually pretty blocky, no. a lot of sharp angles give him the appearance of an elderly individual for some reason thanks when you finish the blocking stages you will want to make some notes at the end of that day for when you come back for the next modeling session you will be able to jump right into things you weren't aware of sure before, so if there are areas where you think the Mass needs to be removed, you can create some little notes to remove or if there is something where you think there is definitely a need to add a dough, you can add a ball of clay to indicate that you are looking to add mass in that area.

Today we have completed the blocking stages, so we have focused on the profile first, we established the main widths and the large proportions, if we wanted to complete this portrait, we would have to continue with the details, make sure to make some design decisions on how we want to describe hair or eye color. Sculpting a portrait can take anywhere from four to perhaps 36 hours depending on what your intentions are and how much time you have with a model if you are working from photographic references if you are interested in learning how to complete a portrait or sculpt a figure, we hope seeing you in our workshops here at the German Academy of Fine Arts normally when you are working on a portrait you are not well normally when I thank you okay I don't know why I can't do this okay