On the subject of figure drawing, I practiced to try and make similar shapes of bones from just looking at a model skeleton.
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I then put wires into both of them so they wouldn't fall apart, the ulna having a much thicker one then the radius.
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The second attempt was to make the bottom part of a skeleton jaw, the mandible. I did find it more difficult to sculpt and make into the shape I wanted, but I did help me try different ways of sculpting the clay, smoothing it out, joining separate pieces of clay together but making them look like one piece etc.
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My third attempt was at the vertebra which belongs in the spine of a skeleton, it was defiantly more difficult to make then my previous attempt of different bones since it was smaller and had a more complicated shape.
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I took a handful of clay and made a ball shape out of it before pushing my thumb into the middle but not all the way through it, then making the hole made by my thumb bigger to make a bowl shape. I made two of these bowls before joining them together, using a bit of water on the rim of them, so they made a bigger ball but with trapped air inside.
I proceeded to then shape the ball into the shape of a skull, adding on extra bits of clay to help make a head shape and the top part of the jaw, the maxilla. I also removed bits of clay and shaped them to make the eye sockets, nasal hole etc.
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I tried to make sure it looked semi-accurate all over, with a good size and good proportions. |
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I first dug out some clay where the eye sockets were going to be and then used my thumbs to shape them a lot more and in my opinion a lot better then if I had used a piece of equipment. |
I smoothed out the clay all over, including underneath the skull, in and around the eye sockets so the brow of them leaned forward a little, making them pop out in a way. I also smoothed out the shaw of where the cheekbones would be o the skull and did some quick lines with a small piece of wire to make the shapes of teeth.
Overall I am happy yet surprised how my clay model of a skull turned out, it looks a lot smoother and a lot closer to resemble the real shape of a skull than I had expected.