Animal Project
Goals:
1. At least 10”/25cm in one dimension and not a flat cookie-cutter cutout.
2. Hand built using pinching, coiling, soft slab, and/or sculpting techniques.
3. The piece is a realistic, fantastic or stylized representation of a specific animal species, or an
interesting mutation – not cartoony or clichéd. Must demonstrate knowledge of the subject
animal/s.
4. Represents three or more solid weeks of working with clay.
Figure 1 – example sketches.
Figure 2.
Preliminary work – do it! For many beginners, the hardest part of this assignment is getting over the
conceit that they know what an animal looks like, well enough that they can make it in three dimensions
without looking at any pictures. Use photos for reference while working. At a minimum (depending upon
your animal) you should get:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Full front view, full side view, full back view, full top and bottom view.
Close-up front and side views of the head.
Close-up views of claws, feet, and any other details.
Views of different poses.
Process Notes:
In general, start by roughing out the form of the main body, then adding the head, then the limbs or other
major parts. Save details and getting things just right for later; at first you are just trying to get basic
masses into place and establish correct proportions. Continually check what you are working on against
your pictures to determine:
• Proportion
• Angle
• Placement
For example:
• How thick or tall is the body compared to it’s length?
• How large is the head compared to the body? How long are the legs compared to the body?
•
•
•
What angle does the shoulder, back, forehead, eyelid, etc. slope at?
Where are the eyes, ears and nose in relation to one another and to the rest of the head?
And seriously, what the heck is happening with the creature’s butt? How do the legs join the
body?
Don’t be afraid to cut into parts, mash them around, add clay to them, or cut them off completely and redo
them in order to get things right. As long as you keep the clay from drying out, you can rework things
indefinitely until you get them right.
Once you’ve got the basic form, add material and carve material away to refine the form and create detail
and texture.
Twelve Tips:
1. ALWAYS HAVE YOUR PICTURES OUT AND ALWAYS BE LOOKING AT THEM
FOR REFERENCE AS YOU MAKE YOUR ANIMAL! YES, ALWAYS! YES, REALLY!
If you do not have your pictures out while you are working, it is the equivalent of having a big
sign taped on your forehead reading, “I AM AN IDIOT.”
2. When rolling out clay, put a sheet of canvas under it so it does not stick to the tabletop.
3. When wrapping clay around something or draping it over something (a plastic pipe or a bowl),
make sure there is plastic sheet or paper between the clay and the object so the clay does not
stick. As soon as the clay is firm enough to hold its form, remove any inside support. If the clay is
left to dry out too much (when wrapped around a pipe, for example), the clay will shrink tight to
the pipe and crack.
4. Modify basic forms by cutting out darts of material or adding clay – think of folding paper
models.
5. Use form, not lines, to create features – sculpt in 3D rather than draw in 2D.
6. Build supports for your animal as necessary to help you work. Make large supports hollow so
they may be fired with the piece if necessary.
7. Until you have all the parts joined on, keep your piece as moist as possible while still firm enough
to hold its shape! Keep parts you are not working on wrapped up, especially if they stick out and
want to dry faster than the rest of the piece. After a couple days, you will probably have to start
spraying your piece with water to keep it from getting too dry. If you let your piece get hard and
dry before everything is attached, re-wet it before attaching anything more – otherwise, in the
end, it will not stick.
8. Anything used for support inside the clay (wadded-up paper, sticks, wire armatures) must either
be able to shrink with the clay or be removed before the clay dries beyond leather hard.
9. Do not have any clay pieces thicker than 1” (25mm). Pieces made thicker must be hollowed out
in some way before being fired.
10. Add any protruding appendages (legs, horns, etc.) at the end of the forming stage, otherwise they
get knocked off or dry too quickly and fall off.
11. Don’t join large areas of clay together – you’re likely to trap air and have the pieces pop apart
when firing. In figure 2, air has been trapped under the left leg and it will come off. Even worse,
the clay is thicker there and more likely to not dry out enough, leading to the chance of a steam
explosion. On the right side, a hole has been cut in the torso so that the leg joins it only around
the edge of the hole – this keeps the clay thinner and prevents air pockets.
12. Make sure to vent any air cavities! A needle hole is all it takes for each separate one. If the head
and body and legs are all hollow, and all the hollow spaces connect, you only need one hole to
vent all of them.