Modelling the Head in Clay Part 3 – Skull

By Melissa Pierce Murray

In the previous two posts, we concentrated on creating a solid armature and clay foundation for our clay heads. In this post we concentrate on developing the shape of the cranium and forehead, the structure of the eye sockets, cheekbones, jaws and teeth.

Referring to anatomical drawings or to a model of a skull will help students begin to see this bony underpinning to the skin and muscles of the head. The angular solidity of the bone structure will add dynamism to the fluid forms of the final clay head.

The tendency when making a clay head is to go right to the features of the face, and to concentrate on that which we know or what is familiar.  With this class, I encouraged the teens to slow down, to try to learn about the bony structure of the skull by using a rigorous and methodical methodology.  Of course, this isn’t the only way to approach learning, but it was an opportunity to explore and apply a different set of skills.

See all resources in this series here: Modelling the Head in Clay

---

	Please log in here to access full content.
Username
Password
	Remember me
	Forgot Password

 

To access all content, I would like to join as…

---