Sculpting for an artist

I’ve recently made a portrait of Brownie (or House Spirit) for my brother’s family which located in Cambridge UK. He wears old fashion costume, holds an umbrella (he lives in UK 😉 and he will aid in tasks around they house.

At this time I decided to use my own plasticine (or oil-based modeling clay) model as reference. If you didn’t sculpt in plasticine yet, try it! This is the great pleasure for an artist 🙂

Here is my reference:

I used quite usual plasticine, which was easy for sculpting – to make and combine different shapes. At the same time it was very hard to make smooth surface. Anyway it was my first experience in sculpting. Now I’ve got special clay for artists, not just for kids as my previous one.

Here is a few tips from my experience:
– sketch the most important forms before start to sculpt;
– use big objects (balls, bolts or even stones)  for making big shapes;
– try to sculpt on a whirling base. Every time when you turn your model by hands you destroy some tiny details or even the whole shape, which is very hard to restore;
– you must have at least three light sources for photo shot;
– use water for making better reflection