Making a modelling clay figure

Before Christmas I spent some time revamping a character in a book I wrote a few years back.  It occurred to me that to help me with the drawing it would be good if I could have a model to work from.  I always struggle with profiles and obscure angles of the head. 

Now my modelling skills do have a lot to be desired, I do like to give these things a go however, so here is my little tutorial for making a 3d figure.

So I'd like you to meet Pigley!  A cute toddler who is discovering new and exciting things about her world.

So how to start creating her???  Well first off I got some wire and bent it into a vaguely stick figure shape.  (really thought I had a pic of this ageist but apparently not.)  for the head I just made a loop shape.  Make sure your arms and legs are the same length as each other and that each end has a loop of metal. You can see the feet in this image are just loops.

Now get out the foil!  I found the heap foil I had was a bit useless... Actually it was very useless all round.  But I had some proper stuff and this worked far better.  You want to compactly wrap the wire structure to flesh out the bones as it were. 

Here you can see my little person now looks more person than stick!  Why bother?? Well if I made the head completely out of clay it would 1, be very very heavy and 2, very expensive!  This way you don't waste materials.

Next step was to get some flesh coloured clay and create the head shape. Because you make a loop in the wire at the beginning you will find the head should twist around or fall off!

Now bake you clay for about 15 minutes.  This is something I hadn't thought to do before but it made a huge difference.  The key thing to remember is to make sure you have all the facial features you want.  You don't even need to add hair.  If you wish to you could also add flesh to the hands and feet or anything else that will be exposed.

Once baked I allowed to cool and then started work on the rest of her, adding clothes and hair.  I also added a stand so she wouldn't fall over.

Lastly, into the oven she goes (I felt like the wicked witch then lol)

Baked on 130 for 25 minutes (from a cold oven)  In future I would pop a mug behind as she did tumble back at one point and the back of her hair caught slightly.

And here she is all finished.  There is lots I'm not that happy about but I still love her.  My first partially successful attempt at modelling a figure.

Why not have a go yourself!  I'd love to see what you create!

I am popping by Handmade Monday again, so why not pop by and say hi!

Jen xx

Being a little creative!

Well, I know it has been a while!  The last year really has been manic.  Juggling work and children (don't actually juggle children, it's very frowned on).

In order to escape a little from all the various pressures I have forced myself to get creative! 

I was finding it so hard to find time to just do.  So in order to try to retain what little sanity I had left (not a lot!) I got making and I thought you, or at least those that are still around to read my musings, would like to see what I have been up to!

So I have been working on a lot of illustrating projects recently and it reminded me that I had a book I had written but I wasn't at all happy with the illustrations.  I have drawn and redrawn this little character so many times and this is the latest version.  she has gone from a baby to a preschooler! Why? Well, apparently , you should use characters the same age as the audience you are targeting.  Makes a lot of sense, I mean no preschooler wants to be outdone by a baby do they!

This little girl is called Pigley. (we used to call my second little one Pigley when she was little).  Pigley is the perfect age to explore the world an in the first book she is learning all about apples and how trees grow. 

Here you can see various different versions I have tried in the past.

Once I had settled on a illustration for her I decided to give modelling a go.  Now this is not something I will be repeating, at least not commercially.  I have never been able to model very well but I have to say I am rather pleased with her.  What do you think?

I have also been working on a colouring book for children.  Once these are released they will actually be personlised to the child so they can in effect colour themselves in lots of different environments!  I will also be doing a generic one which will be cheaper. More about this in the new year but until then I thought you might like a sneaky peek at one of the illustrations.

In other illustration news I have nearly finished a really exciting project for a local poet! This image is for a poem all about the torture of car journeys with siblings!I really love this illustration and the whole book is coming along amazingly!  This book of nonsense poems will be available to buy after Christmas so I will keep you posted!  

Lastly, for now!  (don't want to bore you!) I have been brushing up on my illustrating skill with an online course and this is one of my pieces of homework!  I'm so thrilled with this one!  I wonder if I should make him into a greeting card?

So, for now, I will say byeeeeee.  

I will be stopping by Handmade Monday to say hi as it really is my fav bloggy place to hang out on a Monday!

Hope you have a fantastic week and fingers crossed I will have new and exciting things to sho you next time!  Maybe a tutorial of how I did the model?

Jen xx