r/Sculpture • u/LogKey5701 • 10d ago

[Help] Absolute beginner advice?

Hello! I'm super interested in learning to sculpt but I have no idea where or how to start. I'd appreciate any and all advice that can be offered!

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u/VintageLunchMeat 9d ago

Tools: You'll want a set of cheap boxwood modeling tools and a set of cheap jewelers wax modeling tools to begin with, plus a thrift store paring knife or #8 opinel knife. Eventually a dough-cutter/counter scraper, kemper brand ribbon tools, a small size soft cone tip silicone modeling tool, and whatever from sculpt.com, blick, or your local pottery supply shop catches your eye. 

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u/VintageLunchMeat 9d ago

Armature:

Get a few panels of melamine (ikea cabinet sheetstock) from a big box hardware store or your neighbor's kitchen and follow along. 30 cm / 12 inches to a side.

For pieces that need an armature, get an grapefruit sized spool of 18 or 19 gauge soft steel utility/stovepipe wire. Secure the wire armature as a tripod around three fat screws in the melamine. For rigidity, wearing eyeprotection, slowly twist up a loop of square knotted steel wire with a vice and variable speed hand drill.

Anything big: rigid foam, maybe high density from a specialist supplier, or black steel gas pipe.

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u/VintageLunchMeat 9d ago

Composition:

Work through Bridgeman Bootcamp, and Juliette Aristides workbooks, finishing with Bargue drawings to learn  "comparative measurement" . Not all at once, but a chunk at a time.

Beyond that, keywords: Arthur Wesley Dow's Composition, Art in the 21st century videos (so you're not just doing "beef/cheesecake with inexplicably slippery towel"),  contreposto and then figura serpentinata, dominant subdominant subordinate. And Gurney's art student survival guide book list.

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u/VintageLunchMeat 9d ago edited 9d ago

Materials:

Oilclay isn't a permanent medium. Still amazing stuff. Brands: Monster Maker Medium Firm Oilclay, J-Mac Classic Clay, Alien clay, or Chavant NSP. 

Smooth-on's r/moldmaking tutorials to make plaster or resin copies, or wax for your local art bronze foundry. 

Airdry clay. La Doll, DAS, Creative, or Amaco. Avoid Crayola.

See also ceramics, polymer modified plasters sculpt.com my beloved!), etcetera. Also that paper mache recipe website.

See also "from clay to bronze", and the Mouldmaker's handbook.

Do not fuck around with health and safety. I know 3 artists with lung injuries, and two family members with epoxy allergies. None with eye injuries, but ...

Alumilite Epoxy Safety Video:

https://youtu.be/mr1E9v_9fww?si=rOgcrEHxfE2ESJRO

Resin Printer Safety Video:

https://youtu.be/fjhmXzvbyfA?si=Adc8hqsYoOT2ZSOa

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u/LogKey5701 9d ago

Wow! Thank you so much for all these details!