Thursday, July 12, 2012

July Fairy Baby Part 1

It's been a while since I've sculpted a fairy baby. Looking back at some of my original sculptures I can proudly say that my skill has progressed, but there is always room for improvement.

Even between the 2 fairies pictured above, sculpted about a year apart from each other, there are significant differences. It's the minor details really, that come from practice, practice, practice.
And so I set out to practice. I hope to sculpt a number of fairy babies, and post my progress here, in the hopes that you, the reader, will be generous with your comments and critiques, so that I can hone and improve my skill.

July Fairy Baby

I set about this sculpture without a real vision or plan. My only goal for this baby is to improve my fairy baby sculpting skills. Particularly the facial details and feature placement
(notice the above fairy baby has a very small forehead)
My only 'planning' step was finding a baby reference model from Magic Sculpture I may follow the model loosely, but it does give a basic idea for baby feature placement

Sculpting the Face - Part 1

I created a very basic wire armature covered in foil

I sculpted the face using a new method of adding on small bits of clay to build up the features. Perhaps I mixed a bit too much liquid sculpey into my clay giving me somewhat of a sticky soft mixture. The effects were two-fold. On the one hand, the soft clay is very easy to disfigure, and a slight touch leaves a huge fingerprint indentation.
On the other hand, I love how easy the soft clay manipulates. I can build up and move around features with a few simple tool strokes.
I spent alot of time, perhaps too much, building and placing the features

I got so carried away, I forgot to look at the time, and nearly forgot to prepare for my students arrival (My alter-ego Leah4sci does in-home Private Education)
I normally rest half-finished sculptures on my sculpting glass, however I was afraid the soft clay would flatten my half-finished head. Instead I stood it up with forceps and covered with saran wrap.

To Be Continued...

5 comments:

  1. Cool 'in progress' pics Leah! I'm glad your fairies turn out a whole lot prettier than these first steps lol!

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  2. I love your fairy baby! I can't wait to see how it turns out.

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  3. Too soft is wonderful for blending and sculpting but only if you're fearless and have very steady hands. LOL Any 'Whoopsie' is a potential disaster. Can hardly wait to see the finished Baby Fairy.

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  4. Love seeing other's processes! I can't wait to see the finished product.

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