Sculpting likeness

[Andy558]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum, and I started making sculpture of human face , I know the basic proportion for a face and I know how to sculpt in clay , but I am unable to making the likeness of the face, so can anyone guide me about the key points which I can follow so my clay portrait look like the person.
Thanks

 

[chefhawk]

https://www.figurines-sculpture.com/to-sculpt-faces.html


Hope that helps

 

[Andy558]

Thank you chefhawk, is there any detail video tutorial available on that?

 

[chefhawk]

I know you can sign up for Stan Winston studios tutorials
There are others available ..look out for jordu schell. You might find some YouTube videos for free as well

 

[chefhawk]

http://www.make-up-fx-forum.com/index.php/board,5.0.html?PHPSESSID=31nmmlkffnq3dop9hm4lc77c86


Might be of interest as well

 

[powder monkey]

I don't know if you can really teach getting a likeness, sadly. I find it's just a matter of finding what it is about that face that makes it recognisable. It's a combination of things usually, just lots and lots of little observations you make while sculpting. One important factor people often neglect is hairline.

It helps if you start out with someone with really bold features like Arnie or Liam Neeson. Lots of character actors have very bold, recognisable features. If you start out with people with very subtle, generic faces it's going to be a lot harder to nail down. Practice is very important. Try and get a likeness a day. And revisit the same person from scratch too. You'll be surprised how much you can miss.

 

[Predatoj]

I've yet to do a human form sculpt but in my experience the key is in the blocking stage. A common trap people fall into is detailing and texturing too early in the sculpt and fail to get accurate proportion and likeness. Some hobbyists have a habit of churning out pieces quickly so they can move on to the next one. Ask yourself how much time are you prepared to spend on it? There's a special word - patience.

 

[jarvis]

When sculpting a likeness, reference is key.
Gather as many photos of the person you can, taken around the same time period you're trying to portray. I like to bring all of the pictures into a photo editing program, line them up and scale them to the same size, I also convert them to black and white so the forms are easier to see.
The most important shots initially are going to be the profile and front views when you are laying out the basic forms.
Many people start a portrait sculpt with what is referred to as a profile wall, that is they make an egg shape for the head, then turn it and work on it from the side adding clay to the center to build out a silhouette of the person's profile. If you can get that as exact as possible, you are already off to a good start.
Next work on it from the front, going off the profile you've established to work out where the eyes, the corners of the mouth and nose, the jawline and ears lie in relation to each other and the profile you've created. Once you've established where those landmarks are, you can start in on the smaller forms in between. From there it's just a matter of going back and forth to reference and painstakingly tweaking of the forms until it looks like the person.

 

[bhsfx]

I would agree with (jarvis), you can never have enough reference material. I would also suggest getting your hands on a pair of sculpting calipers. This will allow you to set the size of a particular feature, and translate that to the clay. It also helps when trying to work out the symmetry of the facial features, ears, jaw line, etc.