Clay course: Modeling Figures

Model figures with clay

“Congratulations! You have now reached the end of this Domestika course. I would like to thank you for your participation and hope you had fun. You have learned how to model a figure out of clay and how to develop your very own design language and implement your ideas. My project should only serve as inspiration for you. Because it is important to find your own inspiration and let your creativity run wild. I look forward to seeing what you've created! As a reminder, I have summarized the most important steps as briefly as possible: Inspiration and sketch Find images that inspire you and create a mood board. If you want to work from a sketch, use your mood board to create a sketch of your character from four different perspectives: front, back, and both sides.

Modeling the figure Think about how big you want your figure to be, calculate the shrinkage and prepare a piece of clay of the appropriate size. Transfer your sketch from the paper to the clay and now begin to gradually remove the excess clay along the traced lines. You can model your figure from all sides on an edge disc until a harmonious shape is created. First start with a rough modeling. Once this is complete, go into detail and refine your figure and the surface until you are happy with all views. Hollow out the parts Divide your figure horizontally into three parts and hollow out the parts so that the figure can be fired in the ceramic kiln. Always pay attention to the wall and floor thickness of 5-8 mm. Putting the pieces together After the three parts have been hollowed out, use slip, clay and water to put your figure back together so that the dividing lines are no longer visible. Revise the final details. Transport your figure safely packaged to a ceramicist so that it can be fired raw. Glaze and raw firing After the raw firing you can glaze your figure. Remember to clean the bottom of glaze so that the figure doesn't stick during the final firing. Then it can be fired one last time by the ceramist. Your figure will then be waterproof and your course project will be complete! Once you're done, upload your project to the forum. To do this, simply click on “Create your project”. Remember to add photos of the different stages to show the entire process. You can also write a short explanation about this. The forum gives you the opportunity to not only present your projects, but also to exchange ideas with the community and find more inspiration. Of course, I will stop by as often as possible and provide you with advice and feedback. Thank you and see you soon! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“final project Thank you for taking my Domestika course. I will now summarize the most important steps again for you and tell you my best tips and tricks. I have you in the course given an overview of the material clay and introduced you to my favorite materials to work with. I showed you my mood board and explained why I love working with mood boards. Then I'll give you an overview given about basic knowledge of artist anatomy and we have a sketch together created from four different views. After that we started working straight away. I have shown you the easiest way to start. We first roug...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Clay course: Modeling Figures

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (19)
• 1142 students
• 4 units
• 15 lessons (2h 48m)
• 3 downloads

• Category

  Craft

• Areas

  Arts & Crafts, Ceramics, Decoration, DIY, Figure Drawing, Fine Arts