We just created a new YouTube channel called Proko 3D! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVJZ_7rNdX2NO2K8pG4uF5w We’re developing so much new content now that it makes sense to create a dedicated channel for traditional and digital sculpting. This Thursday, @Andrew Keith is releasing a course on the basics of figure sculpting in clay. The free content from that course will be available on that YouTube channel, published weekly :) We need your help to make this new channel thrive. If sculpting and 3D modeling interest you at all, please subscribe and share the channel with anyone else you think might benefit from some sculpting lessons. It would really help us out to bring you even more Proko content!

I learn from videos, but a bibliography for all community, what's the books are "must have" , before practice? there are some difference from russian school, american school and italian school or other country sculpture school?

Been studying some new 3D modeling tools, any suggestions?critiques? what can i do to improve it? i havent put any texture since im just tring to adjust the model and get some shadow and lighting studies.I took the opportunity to study a little bit of Maya,Inca and Aztec archtecture, could add more details later.

Hello Everybody! How are you guys doing? Recently I've been trying to learn 3D in order to deepen my spatial knowledge on drawing, as well as aplying my drawing skills on different medium. and I stumble upon a very educational Youtube Video on how to sculpt a head on Zbrush for begginers, I find it really helpful, and has a lot of the principles that has been taught by Proko in his videos on drawing a head. I'll put the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1uy8hF5UNE here are some images of the final result of the head I did , I hope you guys like it :) thank you for your time and Happy Hollidays XD

I've just gotten into sculpting and would like some criticism for my first tries to know what to work on. Be as harsh as you like!

I'm in my second in-person Sculpting class ever and loving working on my female torso 50% scale sculpture here in Australia. The sculpture is using White Sun Clay which our instructor says dries in about 3 weeks and then can be finished with 'paint/spray paint whatever...' Does anyone have images of different finishes they've tried on this kind of clay? We still have 3 sessions to do to finish her but I don't want to paint her in something that looks awful and regret as I don't have the $ to invest in moulding it right now.

Hi everyone, I made this sculpture with Giotto brand plasticine which was also used in elementary school so to speak. Now I would like to know from the more experts if there is a way to make it harden, and if I have to color it, what kind of colors do you recommend? Thank you all so much and I know that there are better materials for doing these things but my creative and experimental streak started once I saw plasticine XDXDXDXDXDXD

Must master sculpture

Recently got it so new to the program and sculpting. Any thoughts?

Hi all, can anyone guide where could I get human portrait references in all angles to keep as reference for Clay portrait sculpture. Please suggest. I asked Andrew but no answer till now.

If you've benefitted from the Figure Sculpting Fundamentals course or the Portrait Sculpting course I'd love to hear about it! I'm looking for student reviews on the course to use in future marketing. Even if you've only been able to learn from the free lessons and would like to leave a review it would be greatly appreciated!

I created a DnD inspired Troll from the 1st and second edition tabletop RPG illustrations (Monster Manual). I figured I needed something to add to my portfolio that would be fun to sculpt.

Caricature Sculpture Challenge Submissions HERE! I did this challenge through my Patreon where you can subscribe if you'd like to be a part of future sculpture challenges.

Hello friends! I have a challenge to teach 400 people at a plastic surgery congress to create a sculpture of the trunk, abs and pecs in clay/putty; could you give me suggestions on how to do this in 20 steps? I thank everyone for the help

https://youtu.be/dJykVZlzJ74?si=JeUVwZKJgmjujrGf Here's a video where some professional sculptors give thoughts and advice on sculpting. Taken during the Figure Sculptors United competitions.

Hello Wai here from Malaysia. My very first wire armature. Took me an hour plus to make it. I know it is not even close to 'good'. Far from it. I do not have anything but 18 gauge to work on. It is 1 1/2 inch to one cranial unit. It is about 17 inch. Have been around most of the hardware stores here at my home city IPOH. Most of the people thought I must be crazy. They only have steel wires. I have long way to go before I start applying the clay. I do not have enough clay to work on either so I will reinforce the armature with aluminum foil. Guess lots of but not too much aluminum foil.

Hey I’m reaching out to ask for images of your first sculptures! If you are anything like me they were probably pretty terrible and you probably made some common mistakes that most beginners make. I need references for an upcoming lesson on “top 10 sculpting mistakes” so if you’d like your work featured submit it here! Don’t be self conscious and the worse the better! Haha whether its the face, a feature study, torso, or full figure. If it’s a sculpture and its terrible post images below! (If possible good quality, well lit images) I look forward to seeing your worst work!

When I was a child I play with clay, but now I really wont working marble and woods, in future there are some videocourse about this materials?

Hi, I have this school assignment but the teacher is negligent, so I have no clue if I'm doing it right. Can you give me feedback? Thanks! Carlos.

I did a digital sculpture portrait of my dog disguised as a robot.

People have asked for a list of materials to start collecting for the course. There will be a lesson on materials coming soon but this should be enough to get you started. I’ll be using Chavant medium NSP clay which is an oil based clay. You can use that or monster clay, or other types of plasteline clay also called non-dry modeling clay. (Even the dollar tree and Walmart have some non-drying modeling clay that’s not too bad) I recommend a reusable type of clay. I also recommend some soft aluminum wire that’s between 12-14 gauge of thickness. (For armatures) and some simple tools (a cheap set of wood tools and perhaps a loop tool) the first assignments are coming soon so get your clay, wire, and tools ready!

Hello, so recently I bought some clay, but the seller just said that I needed to warm it once at a high temperature but didn't tell me the details, so I don't really know the exact temperature to warm it up and for how long should I heat it? Thanks!

As you can see, the hair looks a mess. this is a life sized sculpt using monsterclay and bits of plastic toys etc. for some of the mech parts. Can anyone suggest how I should tackle this? Terminator 2 has short hair, and I've searched how other sculptors have managed short hair, and they usually tackle it by creating hair in a more stylized manner. Should I just stylize the hair? The problem is, the face is not stylized, so may look off. Thanks community

Just did this two hour portrait sculpture study of Queen Elizabeth II. This is a great exercise to try to capture a likeness in a short amount of time. I uploaded a video of the process to my personal YouTube channel if you're interested. https://youtube.com/shorts/jw53To2oSsE?feature=share Join the Portrait Sculpting course if you'd like to learn the ins and outs of portrait sculpture!

Hello everyone! These are some of the Voxel Sculptures I do on Magicavoxel.

The torso is always a great exercise. I added on the head to this torso because something that's tricky to get right is the size and shape of the head correct in relationship to the neck and torso. If you do any torso sculptures post them below!

I have tried to sculpt a gesture from this picture. I really miss to have the picture in 3 d. But have done my best.

Some diagrams and stuff from my ebook as well as from the portrait sculpting course. Anatomy is interesting and great to learn but knowledge of anatomy won’t make you a great artist. The fundamentals are more important than memorizing muscles.

Here's some images of the simplified head that I sculpted for the upcoming Portrait Sculpting course! Feel free to use these as references for drawing, painting or sculpture. No need for attribution! This was also the donated reward for the Proko Ukraine Fundraiser but it looks like those are out of stock. If you'd like a limited edition cast of this sculpture I did a little kickstarter to make it available. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pentamantis/simplified-head-sculpture-cast?ref=project_build Or better yet sign up for the portrait sculpting course so that you can sculpt your own simplified head sculpture! I hope to see you in the course! (presale ends soon!)

If you missed it the portrait sculpting course is on presale now. This is going to be a very in depth course that will cover everything from how to block in the Primary forms to anatomy of the head and neck to the facial features and more! You can watch the intro video for the course and download the assignment document for more info! hope to see you in the course!

Hi all! I'm new to sculpting and my first prompt of curiosity is the topic of clay 'hardness' in relation to body (hand) temperature. I bought some NSP Medium clay and I'm finding it nicer than the Sculpey Premo to smooth and shape, but quite sticky and soft. Now I'm wondering if I'm finding the clay sticky more-so because I have a quite warm natural body temp (e.g. my hands feel warm most of the time, even on cold days etc)? I'm not in a hot climate either, so I'm wondering what others' experience is with clay and hand temperature. Is it a factor in choosing clay? I couldn't find anything specific about this searching the web... I'm wondering whether I order some NSP hard or try a different clay?

Hey all! I've just picked up sculpting and I'm quite keen to see where this rabbit hole goes! I already love drawing and painting insects, but I realised there is a somewhat limited range of insect sculptures and 3D around. Ideally I'd like to be able to sculpt fairly accurate wasp sculptures to paint and maybe one day make available for educational use (as wasps are often so small as to not be able to understand their anatomy well with the naked eye). Anyway, here's my first go after signing up for Andrew's course. Used some tie wire I had lying around (I've ordered some aluminium) for the armature and got some Sculpey primo to start with (I've also ordered some NSP medium). I hope to eventually build insect/wasp armatures to sculpt onto. I like to work small, this figure uses a 1cm cranial unit size. I find the primo polymer clay a bit soft, it's hard to just wrap onto the wire. That's the first lesson I've learned, get harder clay... Feedback appreciated, I'd also like any good info or courses on sculpting small creatures (aside general tabletop miniature sculpting with 'green stuff' I see a lot of - which I'll also probably be interested in)? I'm also maybe picking up 3D with Blender too to help plan sculptures, I really like Eric Keller's work as an (ideal) example! Ref photo: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e0/70/89/e07089ff4a92275dd3df5074965297e2--dance-poses-people.jpg

Hi community! Anyone here know about using waterbased clay that can help me? This bust I've used waterbased clay and I've never used it before. I want to fire this, but I have noticed due to shrinkage there are little gaps in the ear and a few uneven surfaces. This is not completely dry, however is very powdery and no longer cold to the touch, so probably close to be ready to fire. Can this be sanded or slightly tooled? or could I potentially ruin it by doing this? It may be hard to match the surface finish if I sand it as i did lightly sponge the surface while it was wet to give a nice finish. What are your thoughts. Thanks

What would you like to see in a portrait sculpting course? While lessons are still coming out for the figure sculpting course I’m working hard on the upcoming Portrait Sculpting course! Here’s a look at one of the assignment demos, sculpting a realistic skull! I’m so pumped for this course!

Can anyone recommend a good technique to create facial stubble? I have tried a few different ways. One, just scraping various lines using a fine tool, however it just looks like I've scraped the face. So I tried using a fan rake tool thing, seen here. However I think it looks like sort of tight curly African American stubble, and not the Anglo Saxon stubble I'm going for. HELP!

Hello This is my first attempt at sculpting the head. It would be great to have feedback on proportions. I used air dry clay. I think I’ll use oil based clay next time, as I got dust everywhere.

Little sneak peek at an upcoming project for a NEW PORTRAIT SCULPTING course! I’ve already started filming and hoping to release the course for presale in April and start releasing lessons in May! SUPER EXCITED!

Hey guys, I don't know anything about 3D but I saw an artist use a 3D figure model for his artwork, and he could rotate any joint he wanted (I attached some pics so you get the idea), including fingers and so on. Do you know where I can get one? Preferably of a woman, thank guys

Here's some close ups of a male figure sculpture sculpted from life during a recent Figure Sculptors United competition. There may be some opportunities to come sculpt in person in some sculpture workshops so if you're interested in that let me know! and of course if you haven't gotten the figure sculpting fundamentals course yet now is a great time! new lessons will be coming out soon after the holidays!

Hi! I'm interested in getting into sculpting soon and there's just one thing I'm curious about -- what do you guys do with your gesture studies? Is it possible to reuse the clay and armatures from your studies? This is probably a very obvious question but I honestly have no clue about any of this stuff so I'd really appreciate an answer!

This was sculpted over 18 hours during the Figure Sculptors United competition that I co-founded in my home state of Utah USA. It was a 24 inch figure sculpted from a live model over three days. I love these types of competitions as it really pushes you to work at your best and it allows me to see how other professional sculptors work and how my work compares to theirs. I haven’t won the competition yet but I hope to one day! Check out the Proko Figure Sculpting Fundamentals if you’d like to learn figure sculpting! We’ll be releasing video lessons again weekly after the holidays.

Does anybody know where this distance comes from?

My assignments from the Sculpture Fundamentals Course by Andrew Joseph Keith. A progress journal for everyone's amusement.

I want to practice sculpting heads, and I was hoping to find some good references of the same person from multiple angles. Do any of you have recommendations? Posespace seems to work okay, but seems geared more toward figurative work. I just wondered if there were some options that I was missing. In the past I have tried to use celebrities, since it is easy to find lots of photos of them, but something with all the photos gathered together, with photos from all angles would be great. Any thoughts? It seems to me that there could be room for a crowd-sourced collection of free artist reference here (especially if we are just looking at portraits, since people would be more willing to put up their face online than nudes), but I don't know of anything like this. If 20 sculptors took photos of three friends each, we would have a nice start to a collection.

Hey if you have any issues with building wire armatures let me know! If you have other methods for building wire armatures for sculpture I’d love to see them too! Post images of issues or other methods for building the armature. Just keep sculpting!

Hey here’s a look at a gesture study that I filmed for the VisionX live conference that’s available to watch on the Proko 3D YouTube channel. There will be some gesture study assignments coming up but that video should be able to get you started if you’d like to do some now! Focus on capturing the gesture and motion of the pose without worrying about the details too much.

Hello you wonderful people. Here is my gesture study from the Proko 3D tutorial. Comments and suggestions welcome. Post yours too. I want to see those as well.

Well, I had every intention is doing the $5 challenge and could not break myself away from the digital (you know...less mess). So, here is the sketch made in Zbrush from the male reclining reference provided for the challenge

Some people have asked about getting sculpture references of things like the facial features or torso sculptures so I decided to make that happen with this Kickstarter project! The project is to raise funds for a local art school/studio space to film more online lessons too! If you’d like to get some of these sculptures and support the project here’s the link. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pentamantis/adam-and-eve-sculptures-to-inspire?ref=user_menu Discount early bird prices for the first items sold so act soon if you’d like to take advantage of that! Stay creative!

1:Is it necessary to make a back support for a 12 inch clay sculpture? 2: how thick should the wire be for making a 12 inch clay sculpture?

He some people asked about what lessons will be covered in the course and a release schedule. Here are the upcoming topics, some will have multiple lessons or demos so the release dates may depend on that but we will release at least one video per week. This list doesn’t include all of the demo videos and is subject to change but it should give you an idea of what projects and videos are coming down the pipeline! Let me know if you have any questions. Figure sculpting fundamentals course intro (may 27 2021)  Supplies $5 sculpture assignment one sculpture example (Wednesday June 9) Demo male torso Jesse (Wed June 16)  Basic sculpting supplies (free video) Types of clay (premium video) Tools for sculpture making tools (free video) How to build a wire armature for sculpture   (Free video) Building an Armature (Premium Demo) Armature hacks, ways to customize your wire armature (premium lesson) Building Adjustable Armatures Premium Demo How to Build Wire Armature for Hands (free lesson) Wire Armature for Hands, AJK Method (premium lesson) How to build an adjustable stand for your armature Capturing gesture with a wire armature (Free video) Gestures done from master drawings (premium) D Common poses throughout art history (Premium lesson) How to take your own references for sculpture. (Free video) Modifying the sculpture from your references (premium lesson)  Modifying sculpture 12 inch sculpture demo  Sculpture techniques Building out the sculpture (part 1) (Free video) Building out the sculpture (part 2) (premium lesson)  Building figure demo male (Ben 04) Building figure demo videos female (evae 04) How to sculpt the loomis head (Free video) Turning the Loomis head to simplified skill (premium lesson How to sculpt the rib cage (simple egg) (Free video) More accurate rib cage (premium lesson) How to sculpt the pelvis (box of the pelvis) (Free video) How to sculpt the Bucket of the pelvis (anatomy bucket) (premium) Top Ten sculpting mistakes (free)  6 additional mistakes (premium)  Mannequinization (free) Purpose of abstraction (premium)  Study Board for Sculpture (free) Principles of bas relief (premium) Texturing and surface details (free)  How to make texture stamps (premium lesson)  Sculpture exercises to help you master the medium. (Free)  Sculpting drapery (premium lesson)  cheap Mold making technique (2 part torso mold) Relief mold demo (premium) Long sculpture process demo  Closing remarks (premium) 

This sculpture was made for my universities sculpting class. Took be about 8 hours.

Here’s a look at this roughed out stage of this female figure sculpture that’s one of the demo sculptures for the Figure Sculpting Fundamentals Course! Come join the course and learn to sculpt the figure!

Should we make an armature for a 2 inch clay sculpture? When should we not make armature?

question! What is the worst smell in your opinion? I did a demo on texturing in my most recent Patreon video where I took this nose from the rough stage to a more finished stage. Here you can see where the nose started and 50 mins later. People often ask me about texturing and the way I achieve my finished look so that’s what this demo was about. On patreon I do more casual projects where I film the process without cuts and just talk through my approach as I’m working. We do 2 projects each month and the demos usually last around 1 hour. Obviously I recommend first getting the Proko figure sculpting fundamentals course! After you’ve got that if you want even more demos in a less structured environment you might like sculpting along with us on Patreon too. (Access to video demos at $10/month) https://www.patreon.com/Andrewjosephkeith

in your opinion what makes a good figurative abstraction and what makes a bad one? Is it completely subjective?

If you’ve been doing the #cheapsculpturechallenge that is the first assignment for the new Proko sculpture course you might recognize this pose from the references provided for that. Remember that submissions for that assignment must be posted by June 30 which is coming right up so if you’d like a chance to win some of the prizes and be featured in a critique video be sure to get those submissions in!

Hey guys! I've been learning the Zbrush software for two weeks now and I was able to come up with my first bust. In this case, it's my own version of Gandalf. I attached some of the concepts I did as a first aproach to what I wanted to do. Since it was me who sculpted and did the concept I felt free to not stick to any version in particular and I ended up with a slightly different version (Altough I was kind of aiming for bottom right design and hat number 5). All the painting was also done in Zbrush. Any critique, comment or tip is more than welcome!

One in Castilene & other in Cx5

This year I signed up to participate in the Canadian carving festival. It was long overdue. I had been thinking about it for years and I finally took the plunge. Knowing that I would eventually do this I watched many of Stan's videos to help me better understand the construction of the head. Needless to say I also watched Zoe's demo. It was very helpful. I am very happy with the results of my hard work. I made mistakes and I wish I took better pictures of the process and the final result. A rookie mistake. But ultimately It was a great experience that taught me a lot.

Hi everyone, I have no artistic training, but I like to sculpt, and I am trying to improve my skills. I am far more interested in hearing suggestions about how to improve my skills rather than comments that might apply only to this piece, but I imagine my errors in this piece are representative. In any case, I would be happy to hear any comments you have. I would also be interested in hearing what sorts of practices I might take up to improve. Should I just try to sculpt as much as I can? Should I try to watch as many videos by sculptors (or perhaps draftspeople) as I can? Should I seek out regular critiques by sculptors and art teachers? The sculpture in the pictures is in water-based clay and is a little larger than 3/4 of life size.

Here’s a fun little hand ✋ sculpture I did for a in person class a while back. There’s still a 20% presale discount for the figure sculpting fundamentals course if you’d like to learn sculpture! Hope to see you over there!

Be sure to order the course today and use discount code “sculpture” for 20% off! Tomorrow the first lesson/assignment/sculpture challenge comes out! If you missed the sale it’s still a great deal with tons of info.

If you can I highly recommend starting an artist’s group competition. I helped start the Intermountain Figure Sculpture Competition in Fall of 2020 in a private studio with several other professional sculptors. It was 3 days, 2x 3 hour sessions each day from a live model, and under $100 for the participation fee. As the youngest I was able to learn a lot from more experienced sculptors and it was just a great environment. These photos are from the second spring 2021 competition we just had.

I did this 45 min nose sculpt during an Instagram live video I recently posted. Fun little exercise. I’m thinking the next sculpting course will be on portraiture!

Loomis head sculpture anyone? The loomis head isn’t just for draftsman. It can help establish the primary forms on a sculpture so the details can be built on top. Check out my new sculpture course where we’ll go over this and much much more!

Just as previous post, I may have boo boo'd posting elsewhere on sight. Sorry, to duplicate here, but it's, seemingly, more relevant with-in this forum.

Here’s a 3hr gesture study I did from a live modeling session with some other sculptors. Working from photos is sometimes the only option but whenever possible it’s great to work from life. Have you ever done a live modeling session for sculptors?

It is never easy to draw the head before I learned how to head sculpture. Now with the skills I have more confidence and understand where I need the land mark to put in. I learned sculpture because I love art and at the same time I was attending 3d modelling and animation school. For those wanting to be a better artist, sculpture is a way to go! Bruce Willis is my first sculpture 20 years ago and the drawings were done this week. I putted in my color painting which I have always been struggling with color for years. Glad I came across Marco Bucci color theory and that I never looked back! I don't get paid to promote his work but great artist and teacher are hard to find!

Dark clay is great for focusing on the silhouette or outline or contours (which are much more important than the inside information). A lighter clay is good for seeing delicate surface details. Something to keep in mind when deciding on clay or the finish color for a resin cast. Here’s a gesture study I did today for my patreon patrons. If you’d like to join us over there I do a project twice a month where I record the sculpting process without cuts and I talk you through my thought process. (But of course get the Proko figure sculpting fundamentals course first to support all the great work Stan and his team are doing!) https://www.patreon.com/Andrewjosephkeith

Here’s a recent female torso study. A great exercise for sculptors at all levels! Be sure to check out the new figure sculpting fundamentals course!

I recently did a 30 day challenge where I sculpted something for an hour a day based on a concept or photo. Decided to take one to a finish. I have most of the process recorded so planning to share that soon. You can check out the 30 day challenge here: https://www.instagram.com/p/COnLGvVpEhY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Original design by Carlos Huante: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLboDO4ggX4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This a sculpt that I created in VR using Oculus Medium. I further refined it in Zbrush and have now also 3D printed it.

Sculpted this in polymer clay, and painted it to look like a bronze.

I posted this elsewhere on the sight, but looks like I should have made this the home for this topic. Thoughts welcome and appreciated.

Here’s a fun small gesture study I did today, I love dramatic poses and trying to make sense of how the forms exist in space.

Practicing digital sculpting with Zbrush as I am fairly new to 3d art work. My goal would be to export the sculpt to Maya to do the fur texture when I am satisfied with the sculpt process.

Hey there fellow aspiring artists! Just wanted to jump into the mix here and simply share what I’m working on this morning. Up until this project I’ve merely been dabbling at sculpting here and there not really knowing what to make. Last night I decided to start this bust of an alien creature I found on Pinterest. The original artwork this creature is based on was created by an artist that goes by Pascal Sguera on art station. Ive never watched any content on sculpting or how to sculpt yet but definitely will be diving into what’s available on this site to learn more. As the title of the post says I feel like this is my first real attempt and sculpting. It should be fun to see how it turns out! Here’s a link to the original artwork and artist https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l4b4z

Created using Blender, Zbrush and Substance Painter

On average, how many concept sketches do you typically do before you move to the final work of art? For a finished stone sculpture I’ll typically do around 3 sketches then a small maquette in clay, then transfer that maquette to the final piece of stone.