Reborn as a great painter, with a system, you can be willful

Chapter 272: Clay Sculpting Techniques, Accumulation of Strengths and Degrees
Jiang Zhe placed the workbench and turntable he received in the selected position, picked up his backpack, and left the classroom studio with several classmates.

"Sculpture knives, support frames, base plates, iron wires... You can buy sculpture knives. Where can we find the other things?" Several classmates discussed as they walked.

The school provides students with turntables, workbenches and clay, but other tools for making clay sculptures have to be provided by themselves.

Some people suggested going to the building materials market, some suggested going to the recycling station, and some suggested going to the used furniture market and hardware market.

Several students had different opinions on the choice of carving knives. Some planned to buy a set together, while others disagreed.

A classmate: "The sculpture knives I bought are made of poor quality and break easily. There is a classmate in my dormitory who studies sculpture. Their teacher leads the students to make their own sculpture knives. I heard that a classmate in their class got a piece of boxwood, asked a carpenter to split it, and polished it themselves. It is said that this material is more durable."

After making an estimate, Jiang Zhe said, "We don't need so many tools. One knife for detailing and one knife for scraping surfaces are enough."

A classmate said: "Let's just use it once. The sculpture knife is easy to use, but what material should we use for the bracket? Can disposable chopsticks work?"

According to the teacher's explanation, to make clay sculptures, especially head portraits, you need to first erect an upright support on the base to ensure the stability of the clay sculpture. If you make a larger clay sculpture, you will need a more complex internal support.

Fu Min said: "I think an upright wooden frame may not be stable. I think the frame should be made of thicker wooden strips, and the head of the clay sculpture should also have lateral support inside."

"Oh, don't make it more difficult for yourself." A girl complained: "No wonder people say that students who do sculpture are like rag collectors, they have to collect all kinds of materials."

A student who has a roommate who is majoring in sculpture said, “My roommate has already planned to move out and rent a house next semester to avoid affecting each other.”

"Oh, by the way, I also heard that we can rent a house next semester. Do you want to move out?" a girl asked the girl next to her.

A boy said: "I can definitely guarantee your safety."

"I can too..." A few boys joined in the fun and quickly diverted the topic.

Jiang Zhe and his classmates went to the art supply store and bought a large sculpting knife, and then returned to their new home to look for usable materials.

Because of the renovation of the new house, a lot of materials were left over.

Jiang Zhe quickly collected everything he needed.

He bent a copper wire into a triangular frame.

There is a lot of excess copper wire at both ends, which is fixed to a handle, which is a knife that can be used for scraping.

Take your homemade scraper and use the bottom edge of the triangle frame to scrape it flat.

He used a file to file out some evenly spaced notches on the bottom edge of the triangular frame.

In this way, when the sculpture knife scrapes the clay, it will leave some parallel lines on the surface of the clay sculpture.

This is how the texture patterns on some sculptures by famous artists are created.

Jiang Zhe rushed back to the studio with the tools and materials he found.

Most of the students have returned.

Three plaster statues have been placed in the classroom.

The students were divided into three groups and arranged their workbenches in a circle around the plaster statue.

Jiang Zhe placed a piece of wood on the turntable.

This sculpture turntable can only be rotated manually.

He used two small pieces of wood to fix a wooden stick as high as the plaster statue vertically on the wooden board.

With a support frame, you don’t have to worry about the clay sculpture falling over.

Because the support frame needed to be fixed with nails, many students were busy working together, and the classroom was filled with the sound of tinkling. Jiang Zhe tested the support frame and found it was very stable, so he began to adjust the wetness of the clay.

Previously, the clay sculpture skills extracted from the system finally came in handy. Although they were only elementary skills, some basic knowledge was enough to support him in his preparations.

When everything was ready, Jiang Zhe looked around.

The original studio has been transformed into a sculpture workshop. Everyone is busy at their own workbench. Although it looks a bit messy, this environment, production method, and various tools seem to have a special appeal, making it easy for people to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of creating sculptures.

In the afternoon, Teacher Zhou came to the studio again and checked the materials prepared by the students one by one.

"The clay you prepared is too wet." He said as he pressed down with his hands on the clay prepared by several students.

“It looks good, but when you actually make it, you’ll find it’s too sticky.”

He pressed the clay that Jiang Zhe had prepared. "This clay is OK."

Teacher Zhou selected a piece of clay and said, "Everyone come and see how I prepare it."

The students gathered around.

Teacher Zhou began to pound the clay on a clean table until it felt right, and then asked the students to take turns to feel the moisture of the clay with their hands.

When the students prepared the clay, the teacher began to demonstrate the production: "To make clay sculptures, you must first prepare the materials, which means estimating the amount. Then, cut the whole piece of clay into slices...

The purpose of cutting is to make it easier to use. If you are making ceramics, you can use a clay plate or a clay board. "Teacher Zhou started to stack the clay while talking.

After the basic form of the clay sculpture appeared, he began to observe and adjust the clay sculpture.

Every time he turned the turntable, he would walk over to observe the corresponding angle of the plaster statue, observe it, and then come back to adjust it.

“When you draw and observe, you observe from a fixed angle, and the object has a relatively fixed outline. Sculptures are three-dimensional, and when you change the angle to observe, the outline changes.

Therefore, we need to use a turntable to rotate the sculpture to a certain angle, then observe the same angle of the model, remember the contour lines, and come back to adjust.

Simply put, every time you turn, you have to adjust the contour line. After one rotation, you can adjust the model's shape.

The process of sculpting is to adjust the shape over and over again.”

The teacher explained the key points clearly and asked the students to start practicing.

Jiang Zhe re-examined the plaster statue that he was already very familiar with.

The plaster statue he was going to copy was also called the Pirate and Seneca (which has been proven not to be the case). To this day, it is still unclear who the portrait is of.

The prototype of this plaster statue is a bronze statue, which was created in Herculaneum in the 1st century AD and is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy.

The statue has an unusual appearance, realistic depth and character description, which is of a very high level. The sunken cheeks, wrinkles on the face, and the big tendons on the neck all show the prominent characteristics of an old man. But more importantly, it is not the appearance, but the exploring eyes and tightly closed lips that deeply express the inner spiritual world and emotions of the character. It can be called a masterpiece of portrait sculpture and one of the objects that countless art students depict day and night.

Jiang Zhe first pasted almost the same amount of mud on the shelf according to the same height and volume.

At this time, just make a clay embryo.

He began to observe the difference between the outer contours of the clay and plaster statues.

If Jiang Zhe noticed that there was a lack of clay in a certain part, he would break off a piece with his hands and stick it there. If there was too much clay in a certain place, he would use a sculpting knife to trim it off.

During the production process, he recalled that he had once used the system to observe Michelangelo's creations, and began to imitate his methods, rhythms, and even movements.

From deliberate imitation in the beginning, as the production progressed, he became more and more proficient in mastering the clay sculpture techniques, and gradually matched the master's production rhythm.

(End of this chapter)