portrait-sculpture.com

[Amelia]

Yes, thanks Heidi for sharing your knowledge! This sculpture promises to be remarkable!

cheers, Leanne
_________________
Amelia

[Heidi Maiers]

I too thought the paint job looked a little cartoonish. It horrifies me to think of those beautiful marble statues as being painted in their original state. I think we think of classic look as being of all one color and unpainted – raw and natural looking - since that is how we are used to seeing them. I don’t even like to see modern bronzes or any other figure sculpture with various sections having different patina coloring on them. Well, in the right hands however, polychrome sculpture can be lovely, as in the case of Egyptian sculpture and todays waxwork figures. For the most part, I like to see ceramic, any stone, and bronze statues in monochrome, but there are always exceptions where color can enhance a particular piece or genre.

Since the greek and roman upper class at the time seems to have been rather indulgent, it was probably the popular thing to do (not necessarily the preference of the artists) to add such ornate detail - such as copper wire eyelashes and eyebrows, copper lips, and enamel eyes on bronze. Money can’t buy taste, after all. I would love to get a small glimpse of what Rome, and it’s plentiful sculpture, actually looked like in its prime. Far different than what any of us can imagine, I’m sure.

Here is an example of greek eyes in bronze (or in the first example, fell out of a bronze head) with metal lashes and coated with enamel:





Anyway, that is Greek and Roman. Now I am curious about ancient Italian art. Strike the thought of a beautiful Bernini coated with paint. Agh!

As far as the lashes on this bust goes, however, I think just adding a suggested form to cast a shadow and soften the eyes as the best option - somewhere in between Mark's example and what I have now. In the end, it really will be the choice of my client. If she likes the lash treatment I end up with, so be it. If she wants a more “classic” look and doesn’t want any lash suggestion at all, I’ll remove them. She’s coming by for a sitting next week, so I’ll find out her opinion/decision then.
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Roger Andrews]

Hello Heidi,

I hope you don't mind but I've taken a bit of a liberty with one of your pictures. I was wondering how the eye/lid would look if you shaved a bit off the lower edge of the eyeball and possibly made the iris slightly concave. This would give more depth to the lower eyelid and may accentuate the shape of her eyes from the front. The picture on the left is how I thought it might look.


Just an idle comment made without the benfit of seeing the subject in detail.

Best wishes
Roger

[Heidi Maiers]

Hi Roger!
Suggestions and ideas for improvements are always welcome and appreciated.
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Heidi Maiers]

Another update. Here I decided to go with the lashes shorter and more horizontal. Like I say, I'll get the clients final say about the lashes on Tuesday. Here is also the back again with the clip, etc. Not crazy about the hair fluff yet - will need to work on that. Notice my helper hiding in the background who has her own opinion about everything.




_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Tamara]

Hi Heidi-

Lookin' good! I like the changes that you made on the eyelashes. They look good to me. To add a few lines like the eyebrows have to give an indication of individual lashes might be nice too. Also, to give the slightest indication of lower lashes by having a very slight raised area of a line near the outside corner of the lower eyelid. It just seems that because the eyelashes on top are so apparant that something is missing underneath. I don't mean anything but a hint of them. I know nobody likes lower lashes to be sculpted, so just a .... hint

I really am liking that back and hair. Her shoulder blades look so feminine and pretty. And it's really neat how you have the hair going in the flip. Your client is going to love this when you get done! She's a beauty all right. I also love her lips and the way you gave an expression with the lower lip kind of sticking out a little bit more. It's just a masterful job. This is so fun to watch progress. Thank you!

~Tamara
_________________
Happy Sculpting!

[Mark Newman]

Heidi,
Those lashed are very tastfully done. It really relaxes the expression in her eyes. I might sharpen the top edge of the lashes at the ends a bit.
Taper them to a point.
I like the back of the hair treatment. Nice design.
Your clients gonna love this.
Mark.

[Heidi Maiers]

Thanks guys! If I add any more detail to them, it will be at the carving stage. Right now, she is still pretty wet. Was hoping for a live sitting tonight, but she had to reschedule. Hopefully this weekend then.
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Suzy]

Hi- i am new here and just starting out so i hope i don't step on any toes-
I think the work so far is quite beautiful- you have a sensitive attention to detail- her mouth is georgous!--but i am really bothered by the back of the hair- i think the clip is really cheasy and dates the piece- i think your client 20 years down the line will wonder what they were thinking with that clip! (as all fashion styles seem ridiculous 20 years down the line )
IMO i think you should deviate from that part of the photo and disguise the clip as a classic "bun" or something- i think your client will thank you in the end
thanks for listening!
Suzy

[Heidi Maiers]

Hi Suzy,
Thanks for your feedback and welcome! I didn't like that hair fluff either and have already removed that and am redoing it. My client and I are OK with the clip though and she specifically asked for the clip and "peacock feathers" because that's how she usually wears her hair and her fiance (who the bust is for) likes the fluffs.
It's true that a hairstyle and accessories can certainly date a person, but I don't consider that to be a negative thing at all.
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Donna Cale]

Hi Heidi,

I have just joined and have been checking out the various threads. Thanks for posting your work in progress here! Its exciting to see a creative work evolving. Please allow me to cheer you on in your endeavour.

Regards,
Donna

[Heidi Maiers]

I'm experiencing a delay right now with this piece trying to schedule a time for a sitting with my client, who had to cancel the last meeting and is now doing some traveling in Europe. In the meantime, I am just trying to keep the bust hydrated by wrapping it in wet towels and plastic until I can proceed.

On another note, I was asked for some instructions on building that large turntable shown at the beginning of this demo. My husband is pretty clever about building stuff and I asked him to write up some instructions for how he made it. Here is his reply:


1. I used .75-inch plywood and cut the top 34-inches square and the base is 28-inches square. You can make it almost any size you want.

2. Cut two pieces of each size.

3. Take one of the top pieces and figure out where the center is. Drill four holes for the bolts to hold the swivel.

4. Using a heavy duty swivel that is about 7 inches square (can be found at http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=1065) and using carriage bolts, put a washer and a nut on the opposite side of the top and suck them down so the heads are flush with the top.

5. Take the second part of the top and run it through the router to smooth off the top edges.

6. Using wood screws, attach the second part of the top to the first so that the tops of the carriage bolts are no longer showing.

7. Counter sink the bolt holes for the bottom piece of the base and drill four corresponding holes for the swivel.

8. Using a .75 – inch drill bit, drill another hole in line with the bolts to have access to the nuts on the top piece.

9. After attaching the base pieces together with wood screws, bolt the swivel to the bottom.

10. Line up the top bolts with the swivel. With the top upside down on the floor, lay the bottom onto the bolts and using the .75-inch access hole, tighten the lock nuts to the top bolts using a nut driver. You need to be careful and get the correct length of bolts or they will hit each other as the unit turns.

11. The spider web pattern drawn on the top is so you can turn the table in even amount for each picture.
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Heidi Maiers]

Sitting scheduled for tomorrow, so it's back to work on this little lady.
This morning, I made some test samples on 10 slabs of clay for the patina to use on the bust that she can select from. These samples were all made by spraying the ceramic with metalic engine block paint (which withstands temperatures to 600 degrees), heating the clay with a heat gun, and applying translucent layers of diluted dye oxides in different colors. Using a heat gun limits what you can do with a hot patina since it doesn't get quite hot enough to do the really cool patterns you see on metals.
You can view the samples on this topic in the forum:

http://portrait-sculpture.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=94
_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Heidi Maiers]

You always hear that doing a portrait from life is really the best way to go, although not always possible. You can see so much more with the 3D person sitting in front of you than looking at flattened out forms of a photograph. I finally had a sitting and practically reworked the entire bust with major and minor changes here and there.

If you can get a sitting in the first week, that will save a lot of rework. If it comes later, however, don't be afraid to make changes. Even on ceramic clay, if major changes are needed and the clay seems too dry, wrap the piece in very wet towels and seal the bust in a plasic bag for a couple of days. The clay will become very soft again.

A lot of sculptors are reluctant to make changes after they have spent so much time working on a feature, etc. Throw that mentality right out the window if you want to improve your sculpture! It is time consuming, but really the only difference between a good likeness and a bad likeness is that the artist making the good likeness wasn't afraid to make changes until it actually looked like the person.

Here are the latest updates from yesterday. Changes I made were - made the eyes bigger, chin smaller, bangs shorter, cheekbones bigger, jawline shaped different, nose ridge more pronounced, forhead slanted different, added earrings, changed the clip on the back, refined the hair some more, ears shaped different, and so on.




_________________
Heidi Maiers
Forum Owner
If you learned something here, consider donating to the COFFEE FUND!
http://portrait-sculpture.com/CoffeeFund.htm

[Tamara]

All the little subtle changes I'm sure are helping to make it really look like her. Looking very pretty! What did she think of the eyelashes?

-Tamara
_________________
Happy Sculpting!