How to Sculpt a Surprised Face

Would you like to learn how to sculpt a face with an expression? Has it been difficult for you to sculpt an

opened mouth? I hope with this tutorial you can learn some techniques on how to achieve the look

you’re after.

This tutorial is for the use of the members of the International Art Doll Registry. It is not to be shared,

republished or sold. © Amanda Day 2015 www.AmandaDayDolls.com

Before starting, I get everything I need to start a new sculpture. We will be creating the armature first. I

get some needle nose pliers (with a wire cutter), a couple thicknesses of galvanized steel wire,

aluminum foil paper and masking tape (paper tape).

The thickness of the wire will vary greatly depending on the size sculpture you want to make. I never

work with any particular thickness. I judge it all by eye. You basically want the wire to be as thick as you

can without seeing it through the clay (remember those small parts like the wrists and ankles). Keep in

mind that in areas like the neck and torso I will double the wire up, so allow for this.

The wire can be easily found at the gardening section of your local hardware store. I buy mine from

Bunnings Warehouse in Australia, but I’m sure there are similar department stores overseas. Buy it

locally as you will get much better prices. You will also be able to figure out what gauge you will need a

lot easier if you see it in person. Remember to get a wire that is flexible enough to bend into place, but

rigid enough so that the limbs of your doll don’t sag while it’s baking.

I have also downloaded some reference photos off the internet. Faces can be easily found by searching

Google.com images. This is where I got my face from. The other photos I paid for by being a member at

www.female-anatomy-for-artist.com. Please note that the photos on this site are not censored and

contain detailed nude photos.

I will go into sculpting the body in a future tutorial. But in this one we will focus on the face.

Start by snipping off a piece of your thicker wire. You want it fairly long. You’re going to double it over

and twist it so there’s a loop where the head is going to be. The twisted wire will form the neck, and the

long lengths of wire should be as long as the shoulder and arms will be. You don’t need to get these

measurements perfect, just make sure you have plenty there to work with. It’s better to have too much

than too little.

Creating a loop will give the bulking out something to hold onto, so your head doesn’t spin around on

the wire.

You don’t want the clay to be too thick or it will cause cracks. So to fix this, we’re going to bulk out the

head. Tear off a piece of aluminum foil and scrunch it onto the wire loop as tight as possible. Try to

retain an egg shape if you can as this will make sculpting the head a lot easier. This step looks easy, but

take your time as it can be tricky. Make sure the ball is solid. If it crushes inwards it will ruin your sculpt.

When you’re done, wrap it in masking tape so it doesn’t dirty the clay. This will also give the clay

something rougher to grip onto.

So many people ask about tools to use. The truth is, you can use any tool that you feel comfortable with.

You will need to look for certain qualities that will help you achieve certain things. First, you will need

something to cut the clay with. A pointed Xacto Knife or hobby knife is perfect for this, and by having

removable blades you’re able to swap them out when they get blunt. Second, you will need something

to blend the clay with. Something with a bit of a curved surface is good because it won’t leave hard tools

marks like a flat edge will. My tool looks like a little pointed spoon. This is just a dental tool and can be

found on www.eBay.com. Lastly I have a needle pointed tool. Something very pointy and small will allow

you to sculpt very fine features into the clay. I had the pictured tool manufactured specifically for me

(I’m sorry, I can’t currently have any more tools manufactured) but there are a lot of similar tools out

there.

I have many other tools such as embossing (dotting) tools etc. but these are the tools I use the most.

I will also be using FIMO Professional in the colour Beige. It’s slightly translucent, strong and easy to

knead.

Here is the face reference I used. Feel free to print this page out for your reference.

When I look at a face for a reference when I’m sculpting, I divide it up according to eye widths. The

width of the eye is very easy to keep consistent through your sculpting, so I measure the width of the

eye and use that measurement to measure out the rest of the face. I measure how wide the face is in

eye widths, then I measure out the length of the face in eye widths. This helps me get my proportions

right. Don’t use the height of the eye as your measurement though because this can change according

to how opened or closed the eye is.

This grid will help with the placement of the facial features. I know that the forehead is contained in the

top 3 sections, the nose in one section, the top half of the mouth in one section, bottom half in another,

and the chin in just over half a section.

Create some eyes out of clay. I just make two little flattened balls and bake it with a heat gun. Normally I

wouldn’t recommend curing the clay with a heat gun, but this will be baked again properly once it’s in

the head, so we don’t need to worry about it not curing properly. It just makes the sculpting a lot easier

when you have hard eyeballs, as they won’t distort when you’re sculpting the eyelids.

Once you have some eyes ready, you can start adding clay to your armature. Cover the egg-shaped ball

with a layer of clay that is at least a few millimeters thick. You want it thick enough that no masking tape

peeks through, but thin enough that it doesn’t add unnecessary bulk to the head.

Make a line halfway down the head. This will be where you place the eyes. Don’t worry too much if it’s

not perfect because this will be corrected in the next step.

Next, press the eyes into the clay so that they stay put. This is where you use your reference. Measure

the width of the eyes you have created. This is the measurement you will use to map out the face.

According to the reference, your eyes should be one eye width apart, and half and eye width on either

side of the face. The forehead should be three eye widths, and everything below that point between the

eyes should be three and a half eye widths.

As you can see by the photo, we don’t have enough clay on the top and bottom of the head, so we’ll

need to add this.

Here I have added clay to the forehead, the chin, the sides of the head and the cheeks. Once we blend

this all in, we have more of a face structure to work with. Add clay to the face you’re working on

according to your measurements. Your face may need more or less work than what I’ve done here.

Blend the clay using a curved tool and your fingers. You want to push out any air pockets and smooth

out all the seam lines.

I’m going to start working on the eye area, so I build up the brow. I knead the clay so it’s very soft and

malleable and place it just above the eyes. Ensuring that the clay is soft will make it easier to blend. You

should be able to blend out all the seam lines with your fingers and the tools.

I’ve checked my reference photo and her brow bones are a little less defined in the center than what I

have, so I’m just going to add a little clay there to the middle. I blend this in with my tools and fingers.

Then I define the top eyelids. This is done by gently pressing in an arched line with my needle tool in the

soft clay just above the eyes. Be sure not to carve the line, dragging it across or you will make a mess.

Use a pressing motion.

Then I add some extra snakes of clay to form the lower lids. When you’re blending it in, keep in mind the

bottom lids never extend further than the top lids. Define the shape with your needle tool. Looking at

the reference photo you can see that her eyes are quite round because they’re opened so wide. Try to

emulate this shape with your sculpting.

Measure the width of the eye again and mark where the nose needs to be. Remember the nose is just

over one eye width long. Knead a piece of clay and place it on the face for the nose. Then, use your tools

to blend it in. Be careful not to ruin the eyes.

Use the needle tool to poke in some holes for the nose. Then you can define the crease around the

nostrils. Use an embossing/dotting tool to shape the nose and brow area if you need to. The round ball

on the end of the tool will help prevent any carved lines.

Measure out where the top lip needs to be. According to the reference, it’s only a fraction wider than

the nose, and is contained within on eye width down from the nose. Knead and place a snake of clay on

the face where the top lip should be. Notice I have it curved. This is so it’s easier to create the opened

mouth shape I’m after. Then, blend the top of that snake of clay all the way up to the nose so it’s

completely seamless. There should be a gradual slope going from the bottom edge of the piece you just

attached to the nose. If the clay looks like you’ve pasted some lips on you need to try again. This is not

just about the top lip, but also the muscle structure that helps the top lip to move. We will define the

top lip in the next step.

Using a tool, wipe the bottom edge of the piece of clay you added to create a lip line. This should be

done with a very gentle touch so as not to distort the overall shape. You can also add a “cupid’s bow”

just above the center of the lip by wiping your tool downwards. Next you want to define the tongue

because this will be hard to reach once the teeth are in.

Apply a small piece of white colored clay under the top lip. Make sure it’s brought fairly close to the

front otherwise the top lip will look like it’s really thick. You can use your normal clay and paint it white

later if you don’t have white clay. Use your needle tool to press in some tiny teeth. Remember not all of

them are visible in the front so don’t add too many.

Knead and apply a small piece of clay for the bottom lip. Then, blend out the bottom of the piece until

the lip is the size and shape you want. You don’t have to keep the whole piece you’ve added as the lip.

Notice I have a photo of the lips halfway through the blending process. I have pressed into the clay fairly

high up so the bottom lip wasn’t too big. This also makes it easier to blend. You can adjust and refine the

lip using this process. Smooth it all the way out so there are no seams.

Once the bottom lip is blended, I look at the tongue to make sure it still looks the way I want it. I chose

to define it just a little more with my needle tool. Then I repeated the process I did with the top teeth

with the bottom ones.

Now I check over the face. Is there anything that needs changing? Her cheeks looked a little flat so I

chose to add some more clay to the cheeks and the corners of the mouth. Don’t forget about those

muscles at the corner of the mouth. I see a lot of people add the cheekbones but then leave a huge

hollow besides the corners of the mouth. Look at the muscle reference picture above. There are a lot of

muscles on the face, so don’t forget to bulk it up. Smooth it all out and bake the head according to the

directions on the packet of clay you’re using.

Once the head has been baked and completely cooled, you can start working on the ears. Knead a piece

of clay and press it to the side of the head. The ears should be positioned half way back on the head,

just behind the jaw. Blend in the clay so it is seamlessly joined to the head, but be sure to maintain that

overall ear shape.

Here’s where it can get tricky. The photos explain it better than I can. Work in stages and be sure to use

a reference for the ear. You can get images of ears easily on the Google image search. Using a needle

tool, a spoon tool and in some cases an embossing tool (dotting tool) I press in the details of the ear. I

start with halfway down the ear, then go upwards create the line at the top of the ear. Then I use my

spoon tool and embossing tool to press in the cavities of the ear and define the little indentations of the

ear lobe. Finally I refine and smooth all the work I’ve done so it looks as polished as possible. Repeat the

process for the other ear then bake the head again.

Here the face is baked and painted. Notice that the iris on the eyes have a little white still showing

above them. How you paint the eyes is going to help make her look surprised. Face painting will be

illustrated in a future tutorial.

I hope you enjoyed this sculpting tutorial.

Sincerely,

Amanda Day