Sculpting Tutorials To Prepare Your Mind

This page is part of the Sculpting Tutorials section and is for more advanced techniques. The advanced techniques in these Tutorials are mostly about refining and fine tuning (with ceramic clay rather than oil-based clays). Refining and fine tuning are mostly about tools.

Oh.... and one other quite important thing I nearly forgot - the 'mind set' of the person doing the work.

What You Need More Than Anything = 'Mind Set'.

Strangely, the least patient people can possess the patience of a saint when it comes to fulfilling their creative urges.

That's a good thing.

Patience and determination rank much more highly than gifted artistic ability when it comes to advanced techniques. That is the most important message of these Tutorials.

Other than the correct mental approach, what you need are three main things:

A picture in your mind of what you want to make. This comes under the heading of positive visualization - a learned skill which can be drilled by using the techniques in this ebook about positive visualization.

The Essential 2 Stage Preparation For Advanced Sculpting Tutorials:

Stage 1 Prep

Follow the instructions in part 1 (Basic Sculpture Technique).

The difference here in the advanced section of the Sculpting Tutorials is you may need a specialist modeling clay if you are doing very fine detailed ceramic clay models, and also a few specialist tools.

I use a UK clay by Potclays called 1150 Modeling/Throwing Clay which is highly plastic and excellent for detailed models, sculpting, throwing and burnishing and excellent for firing. The same can be said for several Amaco clays (US equivalent) reviewed in full here.

The other difference is you may need some specialist tools.

Your starter tool set has got you to a certain point, but won't get you any further. From now on its all about the tool techniques you need to advance and finesse your sculpt.

If you have looked at the basic techniques section, you should now have the ability to produce a base or background on which to work in order to progress with these sculpting tutorials.

Stage 2 Prep

Now you need to be able to measure accurately (I use dividers like these) in order to start to fine tune your sculpt. If you are sculpting the human form, find some way of measuring your subject and then scaling down to your chosen scale.

Yes, a bit of back to school maths I'm afraid (at least, that's how I tackle it). Other people may recommend the use of string and comparison scaling (e.g. the length of your forearm is the same as the distance from your chin to the top of your forehead etc etc) in their sculpting tutorials. This system is fine to a point, depending on how precise you want to be in your work.

Personally I don't like to leave room for unnecessary error, so I prefer to be very precise with properly scaled measurements, which I record in neatly kept notebooks.

These are the advanced Sculpting Tutorials after all!

My point is, to get to the upper levels of clay sculpting and to be considered a top artist is not about your training, or your artistic ability. It is about the ability to prepare you mind properly to take on the mountain ahead of you.

Break it down into bite sized pieces and above all don't rush.

You can work quickly once you are in the zone, but that comes from a place of relaxation and a peaceful centre.