Sculpting the head - Part 1 (BJD Blog #05)

Yeah, here's the progress of scultping the head for ya'll :) Slowly but surely it's assuming a form I'm pleased with. Forgot how much work it is until you get the proportions, symmetry and stuff right, though ^^

I started with a styrofoam egg and drew a basic draft of a face on it, to be able to visualize better what will go where and so on. I stuck a knitting needle and later a triangular rasp into the base of the head where the neck would go, to be able to hold the head better during sculpting. That looked like this:

 (Excuse the poor quality, forgot to take extra pictures of the styrofoam core ^^')

After my clay arrived here I applied some basic layers of it onto the styrofoam core until it looked like a basic shape of a face I could work with later on. Of course I inserted beads where the eyes and joints of the ears would go. For doing so, I cut some of the styrofoam away, so I could insert the beads with a bit of putty.

I let everything dry over night, sanded away some dents and bumps and added more clay to get a more realistic back of the head and skull shape overall. Again, I let it dry over night.

Then it was time to define the face a bit more, because the final size of the face will define the overall size of the skull/back of the head and everything else.
I added eyelids to the beads and then noticed, that the nose was a obstacle rather than of any help, so I removed it and decided to draw aid lines all over the head. This is supposed to help me get the symmetry right, because symmetry is a hard thing to achieve, but it's crucial for sculpting. Also, symmetry = beauty. :)

This stage reminds me a bit of Voldemort, hrh.

While the eyelids are drying, I'm trying to think of a good way to protect the joints and the paint there from abrasion later on. I guess just varnish won't help, so I'll maybe add blue, thin felt to the joints?

Once the eyelids are cured, I'll add the brows, epicanthal fold and pica semilunaris/lacrimal caruncle.

Image source: http://www.isec.my/

Once that is cured, I'll add the nose, then the mouth and afterwards I'll adjust the chin, cheecks, forehead and so on. So, stay tuned for Part 2! :)