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Lesson 3 Making Figures

I find all children wish to make human figures and, as we humans are bipedal, we are tough to make!

 

This is a great opportunity to further the idea of making as much as possible out of one piece of clay and then to add skills in molding small features as well as having a discussion about proportion and correct  location of limbs, etc. Everyone can look at their neighbour for reference.

Start by showing them that the shoulders are generally the widest part of the body.  They should make a rather thick, very slightly flattened carrot shape. (We will add the head later).

Draw first,  then cut a slit about halfway up  the narrow end to delineate the legs.

The feet will be the bottoms of these bent up.

You have the option of doing the same on the sides of the carrot for arms but if you want to pose the arms I find it helpful to put holes into the shoulders  and add the arms as coils.

I usually only cut a small notch to make a thumb. Fingers are much too small and complicated for a simple figure.

Then comes the tricky part, pinching out “neck post” – the head will be affixed to this.After I have the arms and neck post, I ask the kids what’s missing?

To make the head, roll a ball (remember, proportion!) I usually have the kids choose the right size. It really helps them have a better idea of the size their head should be. They tend to make them too large as the head is so important and then it is too heavy and the neck can’t support it.

and make it a bit elongated – oval- and make a hole in the base that will fit over the neck post. Before affixing it, make the features.        (We had some of this when we made T-Rex’s face.) To make eye sockets and the nose all at once pinch the ball, squeezing up a nose-sized amount of clay,

If it’s too long, you can always cut some off or push it back into the head.

the mouth can simply be drawn or pressed in-we can talk about how our person is feeling and make a corresponding expression.  Don’t forget ears and eyeballs. hair can be added or simply drawn on as a texture.

At this point I still recommend most have the pancake base unless the student wants more of a doll than a statue

What should your figure be doing? Sitting? Running? Holding something? These are all options.

The most common mistakes students make are:

Eyes at the top of the head- instead of 1/3 down.

Arms coming out of the side of the body instead of the shoulders.

Another mistake students often make is to try to work on their person while it standing- or rather, while they are attempting to keep it standing upright.  Explain that when you have an operation, you are lying down. We can stand them up or sit them up when they are finished.

For one class I neglected to point out that our shoulders are the widest part of us and the result was quite a few students cut the slit for the legs at the wide end of the carrot and then we got the long spindly neck too. 

Also, just as when they are trying to roll the “yam” shape,  they roll the middle and the the body thins out and becomes too weak.

My big favourite, a HOLE for a nose. I call this guy “bowling ball Bob” as he has 3 holes in his head like a bowling ball.

And then some students inevitably make their person quite flat (2-D) I call that guy “Steam roller Bob” and usually hold him up to show how floppy he is and talk about his sad accident with a steam roller.

Lesson 2 Ball and Socket

 

Now that we have got pancakes, snakes and balls down,

let’s work on putting them together into slightly more horizontal forms. We can keep them on the pancake base but eventually, as the students get better at technique, some things won’t have to be on that.

 

Dinosaurs, Dragons and other Four-legged beasts

It’s always good to start with animals with naturally thick legs like dinosaurs, elephants, hippos and rhinos  ( as opposed to horses, camels and giraffes –I usually encourage the kids to make those last 3  “lying down”–kind of kneeling with their legs tucked under, as animals do)

For Dinosaurs and dragons and other small-headed, long-necked animals:

The first thing to convince the students of is to make the head, body and tail all one piece.  This is that “yam” shape that is really just a snake that ate an antelope! it is pointy on the ends and fat in the middle.

It helps to pinch it into the general shape firstthen roll it smooth

show the kids through example and then by placing your hand over theirs that they can hold their hand at a low angle to the table to achieve that point at the end.

Once you have a good strong yam, poke 4 holes into it

Roll 4 fat short coils or 2 coils that you then cut in half. Put those points on one end and tap the coil on the table to make the other end flat and wide just like a dinosaur or elephant foot.

Make sure they understand scale- that is, tiny skinny legs won’t hold up a big fat dinosaur, nor will giant tree trunk legs go into the holes you poked in the body.

Once the legs are firmly in there, encourage smearing- I say “erase the lines” but still, the concept of bonding the clay together is often difficult for them to grasp. As it is a key part of making the piece strong, it is worthwhile to spend a little time on it. I’ve tried saying “smooth the skin” and pointing out they don’t have lines on their skin.

You can even take their finger and use it as a smearing tool and they get a better understanding of the sensation and result.

Now you may turn your dinosaur right side up and bend the neck and tail to look more realistic. 

NOTE: I highly recommend curving the tail and especially back toward the body. This will make it stronger. Any time you curve the clay, it is stronger.

They can poke holes for the eyes- I always show eye sockets and I achieve those by facing the head away from me and pushing the clay back towards me with my finger.(sorry, a bit out of focus)

You can also “open” the mouth with a plastic knife or skewer.

At this point, more slots or holes can be made in the back and even tail to add spines or plates (as in the case of a stegosaurus)

a spike should look like this:

 

If you feel the legs are not well attached or the tail is too thin, or even that the head won’t stay up, it is time again, for the pancake. The dinosaur can “graze” or check a nest of eggs and therefore have its head down and touching the pancake and the tail also should touch down and end within the boundaries of the pancake.

special problems:

too dry:

You can take the “old” clay, dip it in a water and stick it in a sealed plastic bag. It should absorb the water it collected on its surface and that should be sufficient to re-hydrate it overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For short tails, they should always be pressed against the body so they will not break off.

REMEMBER: Any thin clay sticking out, especially straight out, is very vulnerable to breaking off and should be avoided.

T-REX

T-Rex is a special case. It is an immensely popular dino and as such, deserves special attention.

He is a tricky beast as he is much more upright and his big, toothsome head  makes him top heavy.

This time your yam should end bluntly at one end. 

You must “choke” him a little to define his head.

Then make two “ice cream cones” and flatten them somewhat.Now here is the tricky part, you must actually pinch out a kind of peg from the side of the fattest part- this is the upper thigh.

 Make holes on either side of the yam and stick those pegs in

bend the ends of the legs into feet and curve the tail so he can stand up. (I’ve started on his face here- 

But take the time to  smear part of the thigh into the body to keep him strong.

For the feet, cut a notch in the pointy end- this gives you your two toes. Don’t make them too delicate. 

Now you may make the face, make nostrils and  eye sockets as described above and put little balls in and poke a hole in the center. To make him look angry, you can push the brow down a little, this also holds the ball in better.

Now, open a large mouth. It’s good to have a pretty fat head so the lower jaw is quite thick. Now you can poke holes around the entire perimeter and insert tiny tiny pointy coils for teeth

. The danger here is that the kids spend too long rolling these and they dry out quickly and crumble. Encourage them to roll them quickly between their fingers and also you can put a little water to soak into the canvas mat and then the mat will absorb less water from the clay.

the mouth can actually be opened wider to accept the teeth and then closed to interlock the teeth- again, this makes them stronger. The teeth will poke out every which way giving him a snaggle toothed look. The students love this!

Now you can poke two holes in the chest,

make two thin snakes, cut the notches again for the toes and insert them for the T-Rex’s tiny front legs.and voila! 

Mr. T-Rex