Polymer Clay Fan

The top half of my back still needs some work but I want to move on to the lower back to try and pull all the shapes together. I’m going to need to start working on the right half of the back pretty soon to make sure that all the shapes are coming together correctly. Once I sculpt the right half I should get a good idea if any of the individual shapes need to be reworked.

For this step I’m sculpting the muscles and skin folds that make up the lower back. Again using a loop too I carve out the areas individual muscles. If I carve away too much I can always go back and add little bits of clay here and there but since the lower back already has too much clay I can carve away the shapes for the folds of skin (and muscles). Read the rest of this entry »

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We know how difficult it is to come up with new and yet inexpensive ideas for classroom art projects. Our staff is always on the alert for great new ideas (if you have any, let us know! We are always adding to our library of free downloadable lesson plans). Our art lesson plans are either in PDF format or PowerPoint presentations, and they can be downloaded absolutely free. For elementary school students there are easy-to-follow explanations of lithography; portrait sculpture in clay; dinosaur bone clay relief sculpture; polymer clay bead making; prehistoric cave art; and even making clay skulls to celebrate Mexico’s Day of the Dead. For high school students there are more advanced art projects such as multi-color printing; sculpting insects with polymer clay; relief sculpture; making reproductions of Chinese vessels in bronze; sculpting life sized heads and ceramic self-portraits. There is also an Introduction to Glass in the Classroom; making fused and slumped warm glass objects d’art; glass casting; and glass jewelry making. Read the rest of this entry »

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In the last tutorial I briefly went over how I like to draw out a rough outline of the different muscles. I use this trick on quite a few places on the body and it really helps be understand and build out the individual shapes. For example, I like to draw out the individual muscles when I sculpt muscular arms and very lean abs. The back also has a lot going on so even though my outline is pretty rough it still helps me break down the back into the individual muscles (or shapes).

The first step is to separate my back into two halves. Now you can’t just simply carve a line down the center of the back, otherwise your sculpture will look like it has a canon going down the center of it. To make the back look more natural I will blend the two halves of the large back muscles (latissimus dorsi) into the area of where the spine is located. This task is easily accomplished by carving the center edges of the back until it gently slopes to the spine. I keep working both halves of the back until I get a look that I am happy with. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sculpting a back can be a little tricky and I’ve always found it to be a bit challenging as well. There are a lot of different muscles and bones that make up the back and more importantly the shapes they create come and go into all different directions. Now sculpting a back with more body fat on it would decrease the difficulty but I prefer designs of a leaner physique. However, the key with this sculpture is to not go too lean on the back because it will not flow well with the rest of the design.

I have already sculpted a rough shape of the back when I blocked out the torso. Now I need to tie the individual muscles together while trying to make it look natural. Using a sharp sculpting tool I like to draw out some of the individual shapes. Basically I’m trying to break out the scapula, traps and lower lats into different basic shapes. Once this stage has been completed I will build out the individual forms. Read the rest of this entry »

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OK, for this lesson I will briefly cover the steps for blending the small round scars. I like to first layout my design before blending the shapes into the rest of the sculpture. The reason why is because if my spacing is off or I don’t like the way the design is taking shape I can easily make changes. Otherwise I would have to scrape away clay, smooth out the belly and start over.

Once I have everything where I want I just take a flat edge sculpting tool and blend the edges of my small ball shaped scars. The key is to make sure you blend all of the edges. To accomplish this I like to look at the sculpture from all kinds of angles. It is amazing how a sculpture changes when you look at it from a different angles, everything may like fine from one end while when you look at it from the other end all kinds of mistakes or imperfections appear. The same point holds true when painting a sculpture but that is another tutorial in itself. Read the rest of this entry »

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This past weekend I took my kids to see the movie 9.  For those that are not familiar with the movie it is a post apocalyptic story where the human race has been annihilated by machines.   The basis for the plot has been used over and over again for decades now but the story of 9 separates itself from the predecessors in that in a last effort to save humanity a brilliant scientist has given his own life to bring life to nine different rag dolls.

I personally would rate 9 as one of the best animated movies that I have ever seen.  I loved the way the story unfolded before my eyes and the quality of the animation was nothing less than superb.  The characters and the creatures in the movie were brilliantly designed.  It was no surprise finding out that Tim Burton was one of the producers of this movie and you could feel his presence in both the landscape and character designs.

For those of you that have little ones and are wondering if this movie is appropriate keep in mind that 9 is rated PG-13.  There is a reason for the PG-13 rating and the movie is very intense with some scary action sequences.   This movie was a little more intense than I expected and some of the scenes were pretty scary for my six-year-old (I guess I won’t be winning the “Dad of the Year” award this year).  Don’t get me wrong my son did enjoy the movie but if you also have little ones you may want to screen the movie first a then decide if your own kids are up to it. Read the rest of this entry »

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Clayburn Moore has to be one of the most talented artist for sculpting the human form that I have ever seen. The level of detail, the shape and the accuracy of the individual muscles are truly amazing. As impressive as Clay’s sculptures are of the male form, it is probably his sculptures of the female physique that really grabs my attention. I personally find that sculpting females is a lot harder than sculpting males. It may be that I’m just more familiar with the male physique or that I have a lot more experience sculpting the male form. It’s a common issue with a lot of sculptors and one that I just have to continue working at to improve.

However Clayburn Moore is unique in that he is capable of masterfully sculpting both the male and female forms. I do not know if he finds one form more difficult to sculpt than the other but his end results are truly amazing. Oh, and before I forget to mention it a lot of Clay’s detailed and impressive sculptures are created in polymer clay. Living proof that it is possible to sculpt highly detailed and complex sculptures in polymer clay. Read the rest of this entry »

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Now that the sculpting for the belly button and the stomach are now complete I can move on and start adding back the scars to the front of my torso. Keep in mind that I still need to work on sculpting the back and the sides of the torso but the front part is pretty much complete. Some people may advise that you wait until the entire torso is completed before adding the details like the scars but I like to work a little differently. Adding the scars now helps give me an overall feel for the piece and the patterns that I use for the torso will help me come up with the designs I end up deciding to use o the rest of the body.

Once the scars have been added back I will start working on sculpting the back and then add scars to there as well. From there I’ll move onto finishing the arms and hands. I’ll save the textures for the skin details towards the end since I want it to be consistent over the entire sculpture. Read the rest of this entry »

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The next phase in this project is to start fixing some minor issues that I had with the original belly. Basically the main issue is that in some parts the torso was too flat and needed to be pulled out more. I’ve already sculpted my belly button so I want to be careful that I do not mess up any of the details in that area.

I’ve broken down my steps below.

1. Draw a line outlining the location of the sternum and the center line for the belly.
2. Add small balls of clay to bulk out the areas that need to be pulled out more. In this case I need to pull out the skin over the sternum, the portion of the belly above the belly button and the sides of my figure.
3. Blend the balls of clay into the base of the belly
4. Smooth out with my finger Read the rest of this entry »

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In this next tutorial I will walk you through the steps for sculpting a belly button. Belly buttons are actually made up of interesting shapes and there really is a lot more to sculpting them then just creating a hole inserted into the clay. Now belly buttons come in all types of shapes and designs but there are some traits that are common in most belly buttons. For instance there are small folds of skin in and around the belly button. Also, if you look closely the design and shape of the stomach also changes around belly buttons as well.

Because belly buttons come in all kinds of shapes and sizes there are many different types of belly buttons that you can sculpt. Keep in mind that this tutorial is just one example of how a belly button can look. So use this tutorial as one option for sculpting a belly button and see what designs you can come up with. Read the rest of this entry »

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