Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sculpting a hand


(Video link) This seven minute video shows the process for sculpting a hand in water-based clay by Philippe Faraut.

The general thought process is very similar to painting in opaque oils. You first establish the big forms, then carve them down to smaller planes and finally blend and refine the surface and the small details.

The artist's website, with more info on his materials and tools
Mr. Faraut's books:
Mastering Portraiture- Advanced Analyses of the Face Sculpted in Clay
Portrait Sculpting: Anatomy and Expressions in Clay
Via Best of YouTube

More on highlights and specularity tomorrow.

3 comments:

F. Emmanuel Laverde said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric Scales said...

This is really fascinating to watch. My instinct with water based clay is just to push it around, like a child does with play-doh, and it's interesting to see how the sculpture uses both building and removal to get the shape he wants.

Amber said...

I agree with Eric. The combination of additive and subtractive techniques is great. My favorite example was when he curled the fingers. I would've bent/mushed them, he cut the joint and added a wedge of clay. An "ah-ha!" moment for me!