KS4 Art and Design: Sculpture tools and techniques

Right we're going to go into my studio now.

All my techniques have been learnt through my career because I'm self-taught, but I, and I study all the time. I still study all the time.

Well there's two different types of callipers that I use - the metal one, which I use for life sized figures. It’s very easy to use, and I use it on the face, everywhere.

And the other type are ones that convert to the larger sizes. It’s the type of thing that's been around for centuries you know, for sculptors.

I start with this side here. This is the life size. And this converts to life and a quarter, life and a half - whatever I want it to be. And then I would go to the sculpture and you've got to make sure you keep it steady and it stays in place, because if it’s a fraction out it doesn’t work properly. The whole face just doesn't look right. Every little bit is vital, and is moving, so each time, every 10 minutes you're re-measuring again and again, because it changes all the time. It’s very important.

The eyes are the windows of the soul. They make the face into a real person. If they had pale eyes, I would leave a lot of the clay in because it would catch the light. If they had very dark eyes, I would take this out, and It would be dark.

Everybody's eyes have got, they catch the light, and this to me makes it much more lifelike when it’s finished.

So, I have to have this tiny piece of clay… you have to mess around with it but when it’s cast, basically that will catch the light with the bronze.

When somebody's looking up, their eye changes shape completely. You know the eye's looking up, but the whole lid is much more interesting than staring straight on. So that, that makes a more interesting feature.