Welcome back to this nine-part series exploring how I sculpt a relief. I use the same methods and materials for every relief piece I sculpt and hopefully you’ll find some of what I share helpful for your own work. So in Part VII, we rough-smoothed our relief so where do we go from here? Let’s find out!…
Fussing, Futzing, and Fiddling — The Fun Part
So let your piece rest from the GooGone for about an hour or two then now is the time to go back in with your tools to create detail, fleshy textures, and to define and refine stuff. Don’t use any solvents at this step, just your tools. And you can get as fussy as you want to work in as much detail and stuff as your references indicate. And don’t be timid, really get in there. At the same time though, don’t go too crazy. Again, there’s a Goldilock’s Zone with pressure and harshness that details and defines without being too aggressive. But even if you do unintentionally get too crazy with something, that’s okay. You can futz with it again and again when we smooth over it. But learning that Goldilock’s Zone sooner rather than later is useful to avoid this extra work later on.
So here on Meddur you can see what I mean and how bold you can get with all this fussy stuff. So in your references look for things like wrinkling, bumps, crinkling, stretches, and other fleshy textures and striations, inputting what you See into your clay best you can. Here chaos is your friend, or rather the “organic chaos” of fleshiness so try not to sculpt in a regimented way but try to be as random and organic as possible with your tool strokes. This stage is all by feel, by the way. You can do as much or as little as you want to do, it’s your preference. As for the mane, tail, or feathers you can go over those areas with delicate striations to define and refine the hair as you wish, which is what I’ve done here with Meddur (I also did the same with Nashat, but forgot to snap a photo of his striations "in the raw").
And again, trust the process! Yes, you’re carving up your nicely smoothed areas, but there’s a method to the madness here — it’ll all make sense in the end. And on a personal note, I find this fussy stage to be so satisfying. You really start to see your piece come alive and come together, and it’s also quite meditative to boot. So have some fun with it and take your time. Definitely don’t rush this step, really finesse that fiddling and get lost in the Groove.
Trouble Shooting
If you’ve goofed up, no big whoop. Just add more clay if needed, resculpt, resmooth, and then try again. Oil clay gives you many times to get it right.
If your grooves and definitions and whatnot are too aggressive, that’s okay. You can tame them down with your tools with some tinkering plus we have one more round of smoothing that’ll make short order of that.
Unless it’s your style, try to avoid defining the muscles like an anatomy chart with a neat formulaic approach. Living flesh really looks quite different than an anatomy diagram. (I recommend my 2011 posts, Now About Those Anatomy Charts Parts I and II.) Really study your references to see where hints at muscles are more effective and realistic and where sharply defining your muscles is called for…the living body is a mix of those two and everything in between, a spectrum of fleshy expression.
Keep your tools and your relief cleaned of pilled clay bits and other relics generated by this stage. Just use your tool to carefully remove them and wipe them on a shop towel. I clean my tool often, for instance, often between each tool stroke if clay builds up on it.
Conclusion to Part VIII
Believe it or not, we’re almost done! It’s been quite the creative adventure so far but we’re coming to the end of it. What could possibly be next though? How do we fix all these squiggles we’ve just cut into our relief? Easy! A second smoothing session, something we’ll get to in Part IX. Stay tuned!
“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”