Preparing to Sculpt a Bust

Series Summary

Working with clay is one of the most satisfying and relaxing hobbies. It is also the basis of one of the most ancient fine arts, sculpture. Ceramics can be produced on a large scale, making kitchen ware or kitsch, but it takes an artist to make a sculpture. Clay sculpting is a fantastic part of ceramic art. If you would like to learn how to design and create clay sculptures for free and online, you can learn from one of our experts.

In this free video series, expert Jorge Benlloch shows you how to sculpt a small bust or figurine. You will learn how to set up a base, how to shape the clay, and then how to sculpt from it the figure. Jorge will teach you how to sculpt the front and back, how to add texture, how to add details to hands and legs, and how to keep an eye on posture and form. Finishing up with enamel and paint, Jorge takes you one step closer to international fame as a sculptor.

Video Transcript

"JORGE BENLLOCH: I'm Jorge Benlloch from Expert Village. And now, we are going to try to do something quite interesting. We are going from one 2D image like a drawing, a picture or something where I'm going to try to construct a 3D one. We are going to make like a sculpture based on what is in there. We are going to use water-based clay, that is going to be self drying and self hardening. We are going to make a very simple structure just like a pin like that, in order to avoid that this figure collapse. We are going to make like a classic semi-nude torso, and we'll see. We are going to use gray clay. Red is a little bit too messy. They are the same then I prefer now to use the gray clay. We have Sculpey that always I say that, it's a very, very good stuff. But for the volumes that I'm using now, I prefer clay. You guys, you can use Sculpey at home and you can harden this one in your regular oven. And then you are going to have a really very hard sculpture. The models that I'm choosing they are very self contained in order to avoid chipping or cracking. Then, I think, they're going to last quite long period, just take the regular care. Okay. I hope you will enjoy."