We just created a new YouTube channel called Proko 3D! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVJZ_7rNdX2NO2K8pG4uF5w We’re developing so much new content now that it makes sense to create a dedicated channel for traditional and digital sculpting. This Thursday, @Andrew Keith is releasing a course on the basics of figure sculpting in clay. The free content from that course will be available on that YouTube channel, published weekly :) We need your help to make this new channel thrive. If sculpting and 3D modeling interest you at all, please subscribe and share the channel with anyone else you think might benefit from some sculpting lessons. It would really help us out to bring you even more Proko content!

Hey I’m reaching out to ask for images of your first sculptures! If you are anything like me they were probably pretty terrible and you probably made some common mistakes that most beginners make. I need references for an upcoming lesson on “top 10 sculpting mistakes” so if you’d like your work featured submit it here! Don’t be self conscious and the worse the better! Haha whether its the face, a feature study, torso, or full figure. If it’s a sculpture and its terrible post images below! (If possible good quality, well lit images) I look forward to seeing your worst work!

Here’s a recent female torso study. A great exercise for sculptors at all levels! Be sure to check out the new figure sculpting fundamentals course!

Hey if you have any issues with building wire armatures let me know! If you have other methods for building wire armatures for sculpture I’d love to see them too! Post images of issues or other methods for building the armature. Just keep sculpting!

My assignments from the Sculpture Fundamentals Course by Andrew Joseph Keith. A progress journal for everyone's amusement.

Loomis head sculpture anyone? The loomis head isn’t just for draftsman. It can help establish the primary forms on a sculpture so the details can be built on top. Check out my new sculpture course where we’ll go over this and much much more!

If you can I highly recommend starting an artist’s group competition. I helped start the Intermountain Figure Sculpture Competition in Fall of 2020 in a private studio with several other professional sculptors. It was 3 days, 2x 3 hour sessions each day from a live model, and under $100 for the participation fee. As the youngest I was able to learn a lot from more experienced sculptors and it was just a great environment. These photos are from the second spring 2021 competition we just had.

People have asked for a list of materials to start collecting for the course. There will be a lesson on materials coming soon but this should be enough to get you started. I’ll be using Chavant medium NSP clay which is an oil based clay. You can use that or monster clay, or other types of plasteline clay also called non-dry modeling clay. (Even the dollar tree and Walmart have some non-drying modeling clay that’s not too bad) I recommend a reusable type of clay. I also recommend some soft aluminum wire that’s between 12-14 gauge of thickness. (For armatures) and some simple tools (a cheap set of wood tools and perhaps a loop tool) the first assignments are coming soon so get your clay, wire, and tools ready!

What would you like to see in a portrait sculpting course? While lessons are still coming out for the figure sculpting course I’m working hard on the upcoming Portrait Sculpting course! Here’s a look at one of the assignment demos, sculpting a realistic skull! I’m so pumped for this course!

If you’ve been doing the #cheapsculpturechallenge that is the first assignment for the new Proko sculpture course you might recognize this pose from the references provided for that. Remember that submissions for that assignment must be posted by June 30 which is coming right up so if you’d like a chance to win some of the prizes and be featured in a critique video be sure to get those submissions in!

in your opinion what makes a good figurative abstraction and what makes a bad one? Is it completely subjective?

I did this 45 min nose sculpt during an Instagram live video I recently posted. Fun little exercise. I’m thinking the next sculpting course will be on portraiture!

Here’s a fun small gesture study I did today, I love dramatic poses and trying to make sense of how the forms exist in space.

This was sculpted over 18 hours during the Figure Sculptors United competition that I co-founded in my home state of Utah USA. It was a 24 inch figure sculpted from a live model over three days. I love these types of competitions as it really pushes you to work at your best and it allows me to see how other professional sculptors work and how my work compares to theirs. I haven’t won the competition yet but I hope to one day! Check out the Proko Figure Sculpting Fundamentals if you’d like to learn figure sculpting! We’ll be releasing video lessons again weekly after the holidays.

Practicing digital sculpting with Zbrush as I am fairly new to 3d art work. My goal would be to export the sculpt to Maya to do the fur texture when I am satisfied with the sculpt process.

Here’s a look at this roughed out stage of this female figure sculpture that’s one of the demo sculptures for the Figure Sculpting Fundamentals Course! Come join the course and learn to sculpt the figure!

question! What is the worst smell in your opinion? I did a demo on texturing in my most recent Patreon video where I took this nose from the rough stage to a more finished stage. Here you can see where the nose started and 50 mins later. People often ask me about texturing and the way I achieve my finished look so that’s what this demo was about. On patreon I do more casual projects where I film the process without cuts and just talk through my approach as I’m working. We do 2 projects each month and the demos usually last around 1 hour. Obviously I recommend first getting the Proko figure sculpting fundamentals course! After you’ve got that if you want even more demos in a less structured environment you might like sculpting along with us on Patreon too. (Access to video demos at $10/month) https://www.patreon.com/Andrewjosephkeith

Hey here’s a look at a gesture study that I filmed for the VisionX live conference that’s available to watch on the Proko 3D YouTube channel. There will be some gesture study assignments coming up but that video should be able to get you started if you’d like to do some now! Focus on capturing the gesture and motion of the pose without worrying about the details too much.

On average, how many concept sketches do you typically do before you move to the final work of art? For a finished stone sculpture I’ll typically do around 3 sketches then a small maquette in clay, then transfer that maquette to the final piece of stone.

If you've benefitted from the Figure Sculpting Fundamentals course or the Portrait Sculpting course I'd love to hear about it! I'm looking for student reviews on the course to use in future marketing. Even if you've only been able to learn from the free lessons and would like to leave a review it would be greatly appreciated!