How to Sculpt a Simple Skull in Clay

Lesson by

85K

Mark as Completed

Assignments 32Lesson NotesDownloads 1

How to Sculpt a Simple Skull in Clay

Lesson by

Andrew Joseph Keith

in Portrait Sculpting

85K

Mark as Completed

Assignments 32Lesson NotesDownloads 1

Your assignment is to sculpt a simplified skull. It doesn’t have to be done exactly the same and Andrew’s but it should be the right proportions and have an indication of the bony features covered in the video.

Some student work will be featured in critique videos so if you want your work featured, be sure to do the assignment and submit it.

JONGHAN PARK

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5mo

Cesar Barcenas

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5mo

Andrew Joseph Keith

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5mo

Nicely done! I like to see that you've done multiple of these to really familiarize yourself with the skull. I think that will help you a lot in the long run. Great job! Really impressed to see so many assignments you've finished and I hope you can keep going!

Cesar Barcenas

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5mo

My favorite part is the simplification of the skull and in this case studying the races and sex of my model. Personally, a scan of the skull helps me draw

Abi

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9mo

Decided to do the skull assignment again for more practice.

Andrew Joseph Keith

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9mo

Great job! You can never have too many skull studies.

Abi

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9mo

Andrew Joseph Keith

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9mo

Hey nicely done! great studies!

@justwings

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11mo

Andrew Joseph Keith

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11mo

Hey nicely done on the simplified head and simple skull. The main thing that stands out to me on the skull is the shape of the eye sockets. Remember that the outside corner of the eye sockets is pulled down slightly and are generally more boxy. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing your life size skull!

@justwings

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11mo

I took photos of the two block in methods and a simplified skull which has too many teeth. I’ll be more careful on the realistic life size skull

Bill Boyer

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1yr

Andrew Joseph Keith

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1yr

Nicely done! a great simplified skull. The eye sockets might be a bit small and could be more angled instead of round, also the mound of the mouth or tooth cylinder a bit large but it's definitely on the right track! well done and keep it up!

Dominique

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1yr

Hi Andrew, nice little project. Enjoyed to do it. Your idea? Thanks.

Andrew Joseph Keith

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1yr

Looking good! You might try overlaying images of this skull with images of the skull reference you're using just to double check the forms. Keep it up!

DANI DIKMAN

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1yr

Andrew Joseph Keith

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1yr

This is looking really cool! the black and white gives it such a serious feel. The back of the skull (cranial mass) might be able to use just a little more clay and the mound of the mouth might be a little large but it also depends on what the reference was you were using. Keep it up this is looking great!

SilverbackCT

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1yr

Andrew Joseph Keith

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1yr

Very cool! the skull might be a little wide in the face and flat on the facial mass. remember that the basic shape of the head is an egg which curves out. Keep up the good work!

@jowherr

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1yr

Andrew Joseph Keith

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1yr

Looking good! you might want to pull out some of the features like the jaw line a bit more to elongate the face. Pay attention to how the features relate to one another (for example the nose on yours looks a bit off compared to the cheekbones and eye sockets) Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing more of your work!

@gulnask

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2yr

@mdm206

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2yr

Moved the chin over the mouth when finishing because it looked like I sculpted the mouth way down. Any mistakes besides that?

Andrew Joseph Keith

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2yr

Looking good though I would add a bit more to the chin. there should be a mound for the mouth and a mound for the chin.

@sscottie

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3yr

Finally my attempt to do the skull. Did it from a small plastic skull I had purchased. Do think I could raise the forehead just a bit.

Andrew Joseph Keith

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3yr

It looks like the bottom of the jaw might also need to be angled more. The angle of the jaw looks to be too close to 90 degrees. In the latest video on 10 anatomical features of the skull for artists there’s some visuals that might help. Doing great! Keep it up!

Scott Camazine

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3yr

I thought I would try carving a skull rather using clay for this assignment. I found it quite a bit more difficult to sculpt using ONLY a subtractive process, rather than being able to add and subtract, correcting my mistakes. I laminated pieces of plywood and used their vertical orientation to help me maintain the bilateral symmetry of the skull. My piece is not as abstract as you suggested in the assignment, but I really enjoyed this exercise.

Andrew Joseph Keith

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3yr

nice! subtractive is definitely more difficult. I'll probably do a course on subtractive sculpture eventually. I would try to focus more on the primary form of the mound of the mouth and I would align a reference photo with the side profile of the sculpture. it looks like some other features might be a bit off like the back bottom plane of the skull. Keep it up! very cool take on the assignment!

Manthiravel M

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3yr

I'm neither beginner nor expert. I'm here to get better along with lessons. When I finished sculpting my models something seems off. Hardest part is, I don't even know what's wrong. Help me to find the odds (including this model and upcoming ones) and make me grow like you. I will try to keep up with the upcoming lessons. Thank you Andrew.

Andrew Joseph Keith

•

3yr

hey looking good! the mound of the mouth might be a bit large compared to the other features. the chin might have the same issue of being a bit large. but other than those minor issues it's looking awesome! keep it up!

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Andrew Joseph Keith

Proko sculpting instructor. Sculpting takes drawing to a whole new dimension.