2 Dec 2011 09:57
2 Dec 2011 14:20
Re: The carving of hair strands
Andrei I know nothing about carving hair, but I would think you have to carve the form first, then work on texture. Robin Antar > >could anyone point me to a visual tutorial on carving hair? I'm looking >and looking at what the old masters did, but I'm wondering about the >sequence of steps to be taken. >
2 Dec 2011 15:48
Re: The carving of hair strands
Hey Andrei, Though I can't point you in the direction of any specific visual tutorials about hair, if you can find any images of Emilio Greco's works - especially his life-size figures - I think you would find them to be well worth the study. He worked primarily in ceramic and bronze, but his shadows and highlights of the hair mass on the head are amazingly successful in their suggestive properties rather than their meticulous rendering. For instance, where the hair is thin (at the temples or along the edge of the forehead) instead of treating the mass of hair as a protrusion from the flesh/skull contour, he actually hollows the contour slightly before bringing it up to be proud of the contour of the flesh/skull. The 'texture' representing the hair begins lightly in the hollow and then rises up with greater emphasis as the mass becomes more-proud of the surface of the skull contour. This results in the shadows and highlights suggestive of the hair making a much more believable 'fool-the-eye' transition in a solid/opaque material between the no-hair / thin or sparse hair / and fully-rich and thick hair areas which are being represented. Though I am rarely a fully-figurative sculptor in my own efforts (more abstracted! <grin>), I would agree with Robin that the mass must come first, and then rather than trying to meticulously render the strands on the surfaces you would be better to find textural tool markings which would 'suggest' the complexity of the multiple strands -- such as scratches from a rasp or riffle, or strokes from a thin-bladed abrasive wheel/blade. I have found that in examining 19th century figurative carvings (which I repair for collectors, galleries, museums) that the 19th century carvers were masters of rendering suggestion rather than rendering perfect copies of anatomy. By the way, there is a museum of Emilio Greco in a de-consecrated church his hometown of Orvieto, Italy which has some great examples of the technique I described above. Unfortunately the museum does not allow(Continue reading)
2 Dec 2011 16:08
Re: carving strands of hair
I’ve got a piece on the go currently that has a few trellises(?) falling down the front of the brow on a face an,d to be honest, I have no idea how or if I’ll take it too much further. The main goal for me was to get that brow where I wanted it and as tidy as possible first, leaving the trellises roughed in with enough to spare to keep my options open. I could probably sneak some air under them if I really tried, but given that it’s somewhat of a surreal rendition anyway, I may just leave them flat against the brow and vary the depth from the surface. I’d love to hear more from anyone or see a link to a photo or video. I’d also love to know the process behind the lovely gossamer-like veils that show faces, knees etc...under them. HOW D’YOU DO DAT??? marg
2 Dec 2011 17:01
Re: carving hair
Don, good to hear from you on this one, thanks. Jane and I were just discussing the merits of tricking the eye by using the same technique you’ve described for things such as eyebrows. I like the notion of recessing as a means of launching into the full mass. This whole play of expectation vs reality/outcome can be so clever and compelling. Actually, what initiated our discussion was looking at some of Peter Callesen’s work with paper cuts. For those who haven’t seen this, it’s well worth a google all on it’s own, but I found it particularly interesting from a sculptural perspective in terms of creating work that is ultimately defined by aspects of the creation that are somehow removed from the central piece or disguised within it. marg
2 Dec 2011 22:39
Re: The carving of hair strands
Hi Andrei, I do hair quite a bit, but in a way I don't do it at all, I kind of rely on the fact that the viewer imagines that they are looking at hair. In truth its very like drawing the more you try to make it look like hair the less it actually does. http://murray-white.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html Most of the old sculptors found ways of making convincing looking patterns that approximated hair (and that is by far the easiest way to do it - but I find it too predictable and boring), I'm with Don here, go check out the old sculptures in your nearest museum and you'll start to get a feel for it - king of hair in my book is Bernini. The guys that carved all of Rodin's sculpture were pretty good too. I think the main trick is seeing it as light and shade. Clive
2 Dec 2011 23:54
Two videos on creating a large sculpture
I have just uploaded another video - decidedly amateur since it was filmed by me and my spouse - of the making of my sculpture at the Art Centre of Kamouraska, Québec. The movie lasts 15 minutes and covers the time from delivery of the stone (two tons) to installation in front of the Art Centre. Clive will be shocked by the amateurish way in which the sculpture was handled for the installation. Not exactly the safest way to do things, but it was all somewhat out of my control. Anyway, the sculpture is solidly mounted on an anorthosite stone (two thirds of which is solidly buried in concrete) from part of the Appalachian chain which passes by Kamouraska (another two ton hard, hard stone - drilling 3 holes took almost a day). The maximum height is 3 metres. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mToXzCpOIBo&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL The second video, some of you may have already seen. It is on my website and has been on You tube for a while. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvV6FhpndpQ&feature=BFa&list=ULmToXzCpOIBo&lf=mfu_in_order Cheers, Jeff Jeffrey Watson, 150 Bord de l 'Eau Est, Longueuil, QC. J4H 1A1 (450) 674-6222 Phone (514) 755-9476 Cell jeff.watson@... www.sculpturejeffwatson.com(Continue reading)
3 Dec 2011 09:47
Re: carving strands of hair
Andrei, I share your desire to get better at this! I'm still trying to clamber up the learning curve too, but, in response to Marg, I've posted a few pictures on Facebook. To share a couple of things: choose a fine grained marble that is supple enough. The Maenad was carved in a rush for exhibition and I had to use Naxos marble, which gave me big problems with its coarse grains and sugary nature and meant I couldn't get the wispiness I was after. Something I'm telling myself in carving hair is to allow for the loose locks and stray curls when blocking out the shapes - the tendency is to go for the main shapes and not leave any material for these. The problem is that, at an early stage, a solitary floating stray wisp of hair needs a disproportionately large lump of marble to be left to allow for it. Finally, I think it's important to study the behaviour of real hair - where it's growing from etc - treating it like anatomy. I didn't do enough of that for the maenad carving!.I share Clive's admiration for Bernini - the hair, for example, on Constanza Bonarelli portrait! And that faint wispy moustache on Francis d'Este! .Here's the Facebook link..http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.301547449867044.67895.100000353732897&type=1&l/1318f2ee . .Nigel.
3 Dec 2011 09:45
Carving hair
Many thanks, Don, Robin, Clive, Marg! I understand now the principle of first carving the masses and then the detail into them. I imagine heaps of very thick ropes draped around a shape, and then working detail into them. The Greeks and Romans did something like overlapping fish scales and then composed individual strands into them, very manieristic. To me it would seem that Emilio Greco uses very unconventional approaches, I think they work best in bronze, although this here is really cool: http://art.findartinfo.com/images/artwork/2006/2/a000733004-001.jpg Finally, I second Marg in wondering how on earth do you do something like a wet look in marble... This is so good talking to you guys! Thanks, Andrei
4 Dec 2011 00:03
Re: this has been your time to shine...
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