Clay modelling and workshops

After discussing with my tutors about my 3D sculpting topic, they suggested me to give it a go and try real sculpting so...why not!? 

I went down to the ceramic workshops a few times to get inducted on health & safety, tools and materials that I have access to. Despite the looks of other people studying fine art when I said I came from Games and Animation, I got quite a lot of good feedback and tips from both professors and other people using the facilities. 

On the fist quick attempt I literally just played for a bit trying to quickly get a face out and try different tools at the same time as I got familiar with the white clay. It didn't turned out well; the clay was far too dry towards the end, the size was too small to get any details in and I couldn't get symmetry in the eyes, but at least I knew what I needed to fix next time.

        

For my second attempt I went for something a lot larger just to manage to get details in. By this point I already watched some tutorials about the anatomy of the face, and even though I haven't mastered it yet it gave me a good idea of where to start. 

I used a base this time that was attached to another rotating base making it a lot easier to work with. I also used brushes and water to keep the clay to a good level of moisture. I brought with me a copy of the concept to help me get the right stylised proportions, although at the end I thing the width of the face was a bit thinner than it should. 

The hair was definitely something that it's hard to model and still get the filling of it being thin and floaty, so at least I know that for the 3D version I will make it with planes instead of model it on Zbrush. 

At the end I did my best to get a smooth skin. The eyes weren't necessarily symmetrical and I don't even know how to describe how awful the ears where, but for my second attempt I was quite pleased with it. 

To wrap it up, because I didn't follow any professional sculpting technique of making it hollow, I had no chance to fire it, so I opted for the option of applying a coat of PVA to give it a glossy look and help to preserve it as much as possible. 

I still haven't come up with a name for the character, but either way I'm happy to have tried this and get a grip on how some sculpting before jumping to the digital one.