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Tamara · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:01 am Post subject:

Love this. He has such character in that garb. Thanks for the tips on how you did the base but just turning the sculpture stand. The cutting off the nose technique surely saved lots of time.

Phillipe Faraut show how instead of rebuilding perhaps an eye and bringing it out further, he pokes a dowel or something into the soft clay behind the eye and bulges out the whole eye area as he wants. Or if he wants a shorter face, he'll slice into the face with a wire and cut out a sliver and then smoosh the face back together. Just saves rebuilding the actual face structure. Not so good for making air bubbles in the clay for firing. However, the way he does it is that he cuts the head in half and then removes a lot of the clay on the inside for an even wall thickness. Also, by he gives vent holes by poking a lot of holes on the inside of the head. But I like your technique better of using paper on the inside of the head and building around that and not cutting the head in half.

I digress, back to your sculpt.... Wonderful!!!!

~Tamara
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Hui Em · Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Posts: 12 Location: China

beautiful sculpture, thank you very much for sharing the process of sculpture, which I learned a lot.

～hui

Lori · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 82 Location: Colorado

Brilliant! It looks really good and your idea for speeding up the drapery was really worth it!
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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject:

Thanks Hui and Lori!
Well, this thing has been sitting untouched for the past couple of months, so it's a good thing I'm using plasteline. I'm on vacation this week and finally got around to working on it again. Jerry came by one day and sat for me and I was able to make some needed changes. Having the model there in person is a real eye opener. Here's a little farther along, after the sitting.
This is one that is growing - started out 1/2 life size, but now has gotten to be 3/4. Funny how that happens sometimes.

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Stuart · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 527

He's coming along well Heidi

One thing jumped out at me
The eyes.............the forms around the eyes would benefit from more building forward (while leaving the depths as they are) ..........to get more of a feel of the eyeball beneath. 'Lusciousness in the forms' is a phrase a friend of mine used to use.....................

stu

Heidi Maiers · Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:02 pm Post subject:

Thanks Stuart - that's a great phrase to keep in mind and always glad to receive tips on achieving that elusive"voluptuous fleshiness" and depths of form with clay.
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Tamara · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:26 am Post subject:

Wonderful work. Hard to believe you did this in plastilene. It has the smooth flowingness that makes me think of waterclay. I like how you rendered the hair with the patterns of lines. Kinda does indicate lighter (white) hair because of the darkness of the lines versus the lightness of the smooth areas of the hair. Neck looks wonderful.

~Tamara
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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject:

Well, found another day to spend on this thing. Even though I keep setting it aside, I still wish I had used water clay. This hard plasteline is just too hard and sticky to flow properly and seems to take forever.
Anyway, after seeing Stuart's video, I got inspired to try to get more depth and gravity on this guy. Next weekend I am starting a new one, and WILL use water clay. I may never finish this one at this rate, but it was just a study, so no big deal. On the other hand, just about there, so might as well finish it, mold it, and get it out of the way.

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Tamara · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:13 am Post subject:

Hi Heidi,

Wonderful portrait. Smile

Something poppped out at me but I'm not sure if it's just my eyes or if others have the same impression. With some of the changes in the flesh underneath the neck it gives me the look that he's stretching his head foreward a bit and sucking up air and holding his breath. I know that sometimes when I get the rib cage too pulled in on my figures they have the same look of holding their breath. It's just a thought and maybe it's only my eyes seeing it that way. Thought I'd mention it anyway.

~Tamara
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Paula Slater · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:25 pm Post subject:

Heidi, This looks so cool, it is definitely worth finishing and making a mold! That last 5 percent of finishing of a sculpture is always the hardest for me, but worth it to push through it.

The portrait would make a wonderful bronze. I hope a customer puts up the money to get it in bronze or you give yourself the gift of getting it in bronze. Or at the very least, it would look very impressive as a plaster casting, leaving it white or off white with just a wax finish.

Have a great week,
Paula

Heidi Maiers · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks you two. I agree with you Tamara, the neck is whacked and I am in the process of doing some correction there. Part of the problem is that I let this piece grow on me - literally. Started at about 50% and ended up at about 75 or 80% while I was working away on the head before I realized it. The neck area didn't quite keep up with the scale, so now it is too short and far back and hard to read, so more work to do there.

This is a good example of how getting an initial set of measurements can be of real help in keeping your scale. Since I didn't have a set scale in mind, I neglected taking any measurements and in hind sight, that was a bad choice and a good reminder to me to at least get some basic measurements from the model when you get the chance.

Trouble is, the more I look at it, the more problems I see - so in that regard, it is a good study piece and it's a good thing I have no pressure to finish it.
Paula, I did promise my friend who modeled for me that I'd give him a plaster copy of it to thank him. He also wanted it plain white with just a wax or light antique finish.
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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:42 am Post subject:

Seems I only get to this thing about 1 day per month so am considering it a continual study piece. Someday maybe I'll even finish it.
I have seen others use this technique, but in case you haven't seen it, here's an example. In looking at the profile, I noticed that the entire lower half of the face (nose, mouth, chin) had gotten too far out in front. The white line below shows where in profile, the corner of a persons' mouth (that isn't smiling) should line up about with the surface of the eye if you were to draw a straight line.
As you see, I'm out in front here - and another reason Tamara, why he looks like he's sticking is face out and straining his neck.
I could either:
1. Move the forhead and eyes out (requires resculpting and making the head even bigger and would still be too far out in front of the neck)
2. Move the nose/mouth/chin back (requires resculpting of the entire lower part of the face
3. Cut off the lower half of the face, remove a wedge, and reattach the face.

I chose #3 as the best and easiest solution. Not much resculpting involved and solves the problem of getting everything back in place without making the head any bigger or off balance.

The red line indicates where I cut off the face with a wire.

The blue line indicates where I removed a clay wedge from the remaining head, then reattached the face.

The white line now shows that the mouth corner and eye now line up correctly. Notice that the neck to edge of chin is now shorter, so he doesn't look like he's sticking his chin out.

Overall, good improvement I think.

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Bob Botha · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Posts: 63 Location: San Jose, CA

Wow, amazing what a little wedge will do! Did you cut the face with a wire cutter? Took some guts, I bet!

Bob

Heidi Maiers · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:01 am Post subject:

Yes, just a plain wire cutter that you use to slice of slabs of ceramic. A hot wire would have been easier to use on plasteline, but I muscled it through this hard stuff ok. Never afraid to make major adjustments and it's always a time saver to be able to cut and move than it is to resculpt when you can.
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Tamara · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:25 am Post subject:

He looks much better! Big improvement. Smile

Gutsy move but it paid off and without a lot of rework to the detail areas of the face. Drawing lines on the face sometimes is tricky for me because with the slightest angle change of the photo, things will line up differently. I know that you just have to pick what you think is level and then make sure to use that same angle to compare with the redo pic. Still, I've made mistakes trying to calculate with lines and make changes.

The slicing out a portion has worked for me too. On my Indian woman I cut her in half and her head off to lengthen her. I sliced out a portion under the armpit to pivot and pull out the arm to widen her shoulder area. I just squished in some more clay and didn't have to resculpt the arm.

He sure does look like a Roman emperor. I would think this one would be a good seller. He's got very nice appeal. Have you thought of doing a push mold with this a seeing about firing him in ceramic? The fabric parts wouldn't pull out perfectly but that part could be resculpted in water clay fairly easily (as compared to oil clay).

Thanks for sharing the process with us.

~Tamara
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