New School. More Art. Head Study

I am fortunate enough to be able to attend Utah State University and I was accepted into the Caine College of the Arts. For my first semester I had two art classes: Basic Sculpture and Introduction to Graphic Design. I struggled a bunch in each class, but I learned so much as well. (You don't learn anything unless you struggle, right?) Both classes were subjects that I didn't have much experience in.

Basic Sculpture: Heady Study
Terracotta clay
3/4 actual size

First of all, I don't study portraits. I don't even draw people very often, and yet, the first project we had to do was a head study-self portrait. I definitely was intimidated by the project...pretty much the whole time. But, that being said, I loved studying the muscle placement, imagining which muscles were pulling where to create a facial expression. I just love anatomy! 

In the class, everything is taken step by step. We were given information a piece at a time, given time to work on that step, then added more information, and then given more time to work on it. Each step building on the last. Simple steps. Building blocks. Helpful hints and tips. One-on-one feedback. The head study may not look like me, but I am definitely proud of how it turned out for never having done this before.

 

Obviously, portraying a sculpture on a blog isn't the same as seeing the sculpture in person, but hopefully the large number of images do it justice. I don't have any final pictures of my head study, as it is being displayed in the art building on campus with other head studies, but I will post final pictures when I get it back.

My favorite part of the study was the hair and the headband. The hair I think turned out excellent with the texture that I put on it, and adding the headband added a good contrast and interest in the piece.

I snapped a couple of pictures after it was fired, before the display.

Here are some progress pictures of the alien...