I created this tutorial during the lockdown in March/April 2020. It was initially intended to be a teaching aid for my regular students who wished to carry on working from home. I designed the structure of the actual armature to be as simple as possible with materials that would be readily available from any supermarket, as hardware stores were closed at the time.
My style of teaching is a deliberately slow and thorough and step-by-step instruction to help anyone get started in portrait sculpture, without being overwhelmed by technicalities.
I always encourage my students to sculpt someone they know or did know, such as a family member. It is easier to sculpt an older person, especially older male, as they generally have a defined bone structure and enlarged features such as their nose and ears, which gives them character. A young woman is generally the hardest subject to sculpt, but a lovely challenge, nevertheless.
Please note that the skull proportions of anyone under the age of 18 are different from those of an adult.
I do put a lot of emphasis on considering the final composition of the sculpture and this should be considered upfront.
Mounting a sculpture is as important as framing a picture and I recommend a square block of wood or piece of cut stone, no less than 4cm thick that is 2 to 3 cm wider than the widest diameter of the sculpture.
I use a 3-step patina on all my clay sculptures which I will be demonstrating in my next tutorial. I hope that you find the slow, gentle pace of my tutorial soothing and mesmerizing and therefore easy to follow. You are welcome to contact me via email, to be found on my website at the end of the video.
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Marina Walsh is a Johannesburg based, internationally recognised sculptor. She teaches clay and portrait sculpting for beginners, intermediate and advanced artists.
We answer the follow questions:
- How to sculpt a head
- How to sculpt a portrait
- How to sculpt a portrait in clay
- How to sculpt a head in clay
- How to go about sculpting a head in clay
- Helping you with your sculpting of head out of clay