My Sculptures...

 Hello hello hello!

I thought I would put together a post about something a little different, to entertain you while I drown in boxes. XD
This will also give you an insight into my other artistic interests, and a sneak-peak of what I would like to include more of in my work in the future...:)

I have not done much sculpting in my life, but from the little I have done, I can tell with absolute certainty that I absolutely LOVE sculpting. 

I initially started sculpting 8 years ago, while I was working on putting together a portfolio to start applying for make-up work.
Sculpting is one of the most prized (and difficult) skills in Prosthetic Make-up, and I was determined to  find some work as a sculptor, or at least as an all-rounder SFX artist. Prosthetic make-up involves a lot of different skills, among which mould-making, casting, painting, applying and, of course, sculpting.  
(Btw, just out of interest, would you guys be interested in a post about my make-up career?)

Being a sculptor for the film industry requires a lot of knowledge of anatomy (human and animal), and a keen eye for detail, since, especially if you are asked to sculpt prosthetics, such as an old age make-up for example (prosthetics that will be applied to an actor's face to make them look older), the sculptor will need to be able to replicate pores, wrinkles...etc...to a painstakingly realistic extent. And that idea really appealed (still does) to me. I LOVE tiny details, and hyper-realism in sculpture (not so much my thing in fine art, but in 3D I adore it).  

Anyway, that got me into trying out sculpting. 

Sculpting prosthetics is unfortunately quite tricky, not only skill wise, but time, materials, and money wise too, since, in order to display the finished product at its best, one ideally needs a real human model to apply the finished piece to. That demands so much resources, that it simply wasn't the most efficient way for me to learn sculpting.  The best way to practice (I reckoned) was to create small maquettes (small sculptures). That way, finished pieces didn't take too much room, were reasonably quick to complete, and would still allow me to practice efficiently, as well as display my skills in a professional way.  
Plus, my mind had always been teeming with creatures and characters I was dying to bring to life, so the idea of creating them in 3D really excited me. 

Materials : 

I initially tried sculpting with WED Clay (basically wet clay, similar to potter's clay. You can soften it with water, and it air-dries, albeit delicately), and it definitely is an enjoyable material to work with, fast, easy, and malleable, great for big volumes.
However, it isn't ideal for high levels of detail (skin texture and the like). It also requires that the artist work fast, lest it dry out and crack and shrink.

Make-up then introduced me to oil-based clays and wax-based clays, and it is what I have been using ever since!
Those clays don't dry out, are a lot harder (and therefore hold more detail and require less armature), and can be re-used over and over again. They are more expensive than water-based clays, and not great for big sculptures, but they are perfect for maquettes!  
My favourite brand is Monster Clay (wax-based I believe).
It's a chocolate coloured clay that is microwaveable (to soften it), and very hard (awesome for detail and holds its structure beautifully!). I love it.
This is what most of the the sculptures in this post are made of.
My main issue with oil and wax-based clay, is that you can't paint them or use them for pieces you want to exhibit, or sell, since, well...they are still malleable clay pieces, and the clay will never dry or harden enough for the sculpture to be viable in the long-term.  The only way to make a finished paintable/sellable/exhibit-worthy piece would be to make a mould of the clay sculpture. (Which I know how to do, and have done, but again...very time consuming, expensive materials, and requires good facilities. Or money to pay someone else to do it for you.)

Another cool type of clay is polymer clay. You may be familiar with Super Sculpey? Or Fimo? Those are clays you can bake to harden. In my opinion, they are harder to work with than oil-based, but they do have the amazing advantage of offering the possibility of creating a fully finished paintable piece at the end. I have a bunch of Sculpey, and I have grand plans for it. :D

Anyway, I am babbling because I am excited to talk about this, but I bet this all looks like the visual version of white noise to your uninterested eyes, hahaha!

All this to say, these are my favourite sculptures (and most of them. I haven't done many. Maybe...10...in my whole life, haha).  
These are all about 20 to 30cm in height.
Forgive the terrible picture quality, I had to use old photographs from when I had even less of an idea of what I was doing than I do now. Most of these have now been destroyed and melted!  

Amphibian Bat

The ugly little guy was one of my first creature maquettes, and I think my second time using Super Sculpey!
I still have him, and even though he's slowly crumbling to bits from my man-handling and regular moving, I'm rather impressed with how well the paintjob and sculpey have held up!

Lady

This lovely lady was an exercise in human anatomy. I had a reference, but it was only one picture, so I had to patchwork the different angled from other images. One of my very first attempts at sculpting a human. Twas damn hard!
She was done in Monster Clay.

Envy

I once had a nightmare in which I saw this creature that couldn't help but bite its lower lip with its teeth. So here it... I briefly pondered doing a series based of the 7 sins...Maybe one day...

Sitting

A personal favourite. Creeps even me out, but I can't help but be vaguely proud of its hands, haha. I almost regret melting this little guy down...

Cocoonier

This guy is the only one I moulded and cast. The last two pictures are of the painted resin cast. I am not happy with the paintjob, but I have the mould, so I could always revisit it in the future if I really want to. :)

And here you go! Most of my sculpture so far...

Basically, my conclusion to all these words is.... I really. Really. Really. want to do some more sculpting. 

I think some of my concepts could be really cool as sculptures....We'll see.....I'm excited.....:)

Anywho, I hope this post wasn't so random that it was of no interest to you, haha!
I thought you might enjoy a little insight into some alternative art forms I like to experiment with.
Let me know what you think!

Love you all, 

M