Life Drawing - Week 5

Life Drawing - Week 5 - Clay!!

We were warned that this week's session would involve clay so I wore very old clothes as clay stains everything brown-red! I was a bit unsure about this session because I've not really had much success with clay before (although I haven't actually used it that much). However, I was determined to give it my best shot and see it as a learning experience.


We began to make a whole figure in a reclining pose. We started with a very basic lumps of clay to represent the torso and pelvis joined together with a ball of clay to allow movement. Then we added long rolls of clay for arms and legs. This was our base to add onto and shape and mold into a figure. We moved around the donkey stools placed in a circle around the model to get the whole perspective every few minutes which was good but frustrating if you were really into a your work at the particular view. I'm quite pleased with how I got on because I think I got the basic figure and proportions right; however, I would have liked to have got a bit more detail in.

After three hours or so, we stopped the figures and started focusing in on the head and face. I found this much harder and I did get quite frustrated. However, I did find working with the clay therapeutic. I felt like I was working really slowly and even though we had a long time to work on the face, I hardly managed to get anywhere.

What I really liked about this session was that we were able to do some sustained work. I've really enjoyed doing the quick sketches in the other weeks because it was a really good learning experience for me, but it has been really nice to focus my attention on a longer task where I could have time to think about what I was doing. And believe me I needed the time! I was quite pleased with my full figure clay model because I think I managed to get the proportions in correctly and I liked the curves of the clay. I was a bit disappointed with the head because I felt like I'd spent a lot of time on it but I couldn't get the clay to move where I wanted it too. I think I was working too small; if I was to do it again I would definitely work in a bigger scale because the detail wouldn't have to be as fine.