Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay: Tools and Techniques for Sculpting Realistic Figures

I only recently discovered polymer clay, and had so far only made a few beads, and a few failed attempts at simple animal sculptures. I wanted to attempt figure sculptures, but I had absolutely no experience with anything like that. After looking through all the books available, I chose this one, primarily because the figures were more realistic and life-like than some of the other books available.Choosing this book was one of the best decisions I've ever made.I got the book on a Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday sat down with it and began working on my first face. In a few hours I had a figure head completed that amazed me - it was incredibly realistic and life-like. It looked like a real person. Even I hadn't expected such advanced results on my first project.Don't get me wrong - it's not perfect, and I still have a lot to learn and practice. I expected that - but what I didn't expect was for my very first piece to be that good. While it's possible I have some previously unknown skill for sculpting (though it's certainly never shown up before this), I give most of the credit to this book - because the instructions are so incredibly detailed that if you pay attention, do what it says, and take your time, you can't go wrong. You CAN learn to make beautiful, life-like figures in clay.The book starts out with a good overview of different clays, so you can make an informed choice in that regard.Then the author shows you how to make every tool you'll need to complete a figure as she describes the process. You would need to buy only a few simple and inexpensive things, some of which you might already have on hand. It's wonderful to be able to create such beautiful things without having to spend a fortune on specialized tools.I was too impatient to make all the tools before I dived into attempting the sculpting, so I made my first head and face sculpture with nothing but a couple of knitting needles, a craft knife, and a needle which I already had on hand. Astounding what you can do with clay using a knitting needle. But having gotten that out of my system, I do intend to make the simple tools she describes, as I can see how valuable they will be.After those chapters, the author gets right into the meat of the book - teaching you how to make the figures. The instructions are incredibly detailed and precise, even down to measuring exactly how much clay to use for each part - which may seem tedious at first, but getting proportions right is one of the hardest parts of creating a realistic figure, and this takes the guesswork out of that, until you build your skill enough to be able to 'eyeball' proportions on your own.But none of that means you're going to turn out cookie cutter figures that all look alike. The author also gives you the information you need to customize and personalize each figure you create. She gives a lot of information about the differences in sculpting male and female figures, and different ethnic features, creating figures at different ages, and giving the face different expressions, from happy to sad or angry. This combined with your own creativity and willingness to experiment would enable you to make any type of figure you could imagine.The book is filled with detailed pictures and diagrams, so you don't have to guess at what you need to do for a particular step. The background information on anatomy is just enough to make sense and help you, without getting so detailed your eyes glaze over and you give up.The book also provides detailed information to make figures in 4 different sizes, and plenty of information on clothing your figure, adding hair, and other embellishments for a beautiful, complete finished figure.To sum up: Sculpting is a skill that takes time to learn, but with your own patience and willingness to work at it, this book will give you all of the foundation information you could ever need to make beautiful figure sculptures.

Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay is one of the best how-to sculpting books I've ever read.Chapter 1 covers the various polymer clays available, how to work with the clay, safety considerations, and includes formulas to blend colors for various ethnic skin tones.Chapter 2 describes working with basic shapes and Ms Dewey's technique of modelling units, which is to roll out a log shape of clay at a certain thickness and cut off units of equal lengths. A great technique for a beginner to ensure equal amounts of clay are used. Who wants two disproportionate arms or legs simply because you eyeballed how much clay to use?Chapter 3 covers making your own tools with the clay. If you are a novice who has never used polymer clay, this chapter gets you familiar with the feel, texture, and baking methods needed as you sculpt your figures.Chapters 4-7 cover the modelling of the figure from face, torso, arms, and legs. In the face chapter, Ms Dewey shows you how to model a basic face but doesn't just move on from there; she expounds on it. She shows you how to sculpt the differences of gender. She shows how to sculpt ethnic faces. She shows you how to add expression to your figure with the shift of the clay here or there. She shows you how to add age to your character.Similarly with the torso chapter, she shows you how to sculpt the male torso and the female variation. She also gives you techniques for sculpting the "heroic" or well-muscled male torso as well as adding realistic "fat" pads for the overweight figure.Her arms and legs chapter are very detailed and you do get the development of the "heroic" arms and legs if you want to pursue that type of figure.Chapter 8 details how to sculpt in smaller scales. Most of the book prior concerns 1/6 scale. In chapter 8, she gives formulas for the "base units" that enable you to sculpt in 1/8, 1/10, and 1/12 scale. She also demonstrates techniques for sculpting in these smaller scales.Chapter 9 shows you how to make costumes in clay, which is truly amazing and almost worth the price of the book alone. Her figures look like they were dressed in fabric instead of clay. So if you can't or don't want to sew for a figure you sculpt, you can dress them in "fabric" as textured, with draping and folds as real as the real thing.Chapter 10 demonstrates "finishing touches" which is the painting and wigging of your figure.The instructions are exceptionally detailed and EXTREMELY well photographed. The photos and descriptions are why this book gets a 5-star rating. It's as if the author really cared that you do well with your sculpting and wanted to give you enough photos and description to do it.The only "negative" I would give this book is that it needs to be spiral bound. I own the original self-published book- and yes, this is a reprint of Ms Dewey's original which has a different cover - but I bought this copy to take apart and put into a binder so I could lay it flat to reference while I sculpt.Overall excellent and highly recommended!