Understanding the 'Complete Portrait' - Gabrielle Trom
Course Overview - Portrait Sculpture
Understanding Portraiture: Intensive Workshop in Sculpture
4 weekends, 3 hours a day
Instructor: Gabrielle Trom
The goal of this course is to provide you with the tools to draw in space, construct a portrait, navigate the team-oriented environment in the studio, and understand design in sculpture.
We will work with a model for the last 4 sessions
Course overview:
- Understanding the Features of the Face.
- A look at Anatomy
- Building the Profile
- Sculpting in an Additive Method
- Introduction to Design and Texture in Sculpture
- The Art of Observation in Clay
How we will accomplish this:
- Discovering our preconceptions about the features of the face.
- Constructing cast copies will introduce you to the key concepts of measuring in sculpture, the additive method, and the planes of the features.
- A drawing study of the profile will give you time to understand the proportions and angles that allow us to recognize the model.
- As we put our clay bases on the armatures, we will cover the point of truth, studio etiquette, and what it means to work from life.
- After we have constructed the profile and added key widths to our portraits, we will begin building up the flesh, reviewing the centerline, outlining our compositions, and practicing note-taking in sculpture.
- When all our features and key boney points have been set, you will begin to make decisions about the finished texture and composition of your sculpture.
The concepts we will cover:
- Anatomy
- Skull
- How the muscles function
- How expressions work
- Measuring in sculpture
- How to use a calipers
- Touching the surface
- Scaling math
- Recording measurements
- Comparative measuring
- Taking measurements from a model
- Reliable measurements on the face
- The point of measurements (to be used to check
- The Point-of-Truth
- How it works
- Why it matters for you
- How to communicate your Point-of-Truth to instructors.
- Drawing
- Consider the methods available to you (Constructive and Comparative—NOT sight-size)
- The plumb line
- Developing your eye
- How to improve your drawing skills.
- How drawing effects sculpture
- Why sculpture improves your drawing and painting skills
- Additive Method
- How it works
- Considering textures
- As an exercise
- Regarding the Studio
- Lighting in sculpture
- Turning the model
- Sharing space (where the student stands and where the tripods go)
- Changing location at the end of each day. (Different lighting scenario)
- Cleaning your space
- Put the clay away
- Communication
- The Art of Sculpture
- Design decisions (eyes and hair)
- Composition
- Texture
- Storytelling
- Recognizability (when is it important)
- Working in Water-based Clay
- Wetting your sculpture
- Covering the project
- Compared to bag clay
- Why we use this clay
- Working from Life
- Communication
- Understanding movement
- Choosing a pose
- Tools and Recommendations
- Calipers
- Piece of wood
- Thumb tools
- Spatula
- Reduction tools
- Rake tool
- Drawing tool
- Texture tools
- Casting Considerations
- How the consistency of your clay will affect your casting options
- How the consistency of your clay will affect your casting options
- Efficiency in Sculpture
- Your Point-of-Truth
- Your concept
- Your flexibility
- Your decisions
