Judith's Head

Here's my first head.

Apologies for the picture quality, I tried to take some with my good camera but it seems it has been a while since I last had it out and the battery was flat! As a result, this photo has colours which are a bit off and some weird distortion of the forehead and stuff but you get the idea.

(image: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text)

The brows are a bit full-on but they look better when she has some dark hair draped over her head! I may strip some of the paint off and start again but I was also using the older pic of the Afghan Girl as a reference and she is quite dark, her nose wasn't quite right though so I made it a little less hooked. Her mouth isn't quite so tight and mad either. Maybe I had too many different reference pics?

(I am so ashamed of the picture but you'll have to wait for another day for a better one)

The design (still!)

I've been grappling with the design of this one for a little while now, trying to get over the hump of how she will look in the end. I'm still a bit stuck with the final look of the sculpture but 'Brutal Sun' (Sara) http://brutalsunstudio.deviantart.com/ suggested that the first sketch is the most dramatic, reminding her of this picture which we have all seen before but is still so moving!:

So, I think to myself 'Dare I make Judith's face like this?' I would really like to but this child is too young to be Judith and I need a few more reference pictures to sculpt a 'portrait' face. I wracked my brain for something similar and came up with Jennifer Connelly! 

 

(image http://www.tobeyoung.org/showthread.php?t=25125)

Okay, so, she's not quite as intensely emotional looking as the Afghan child picture but she is the right looking age and has some similar features, I think.

Yesterday I began making eyes. I used some glass milky beads and painted them with the new Genesis I bought. I have never used Genesis and it behaves quite differently to what I expected. Well, I managed to paint some irises I was semi-happy with, baked them up but when I laid them over my proportions chart (I do eyes on a glass plate so I can just sit it over the picture to check how they might look), they were way too large. (Thankyou Mark Dennis for the proportion chart I'm using curently http://madsculptor.blogspot.com/2011/02/proportions-simple-guide.html ).

Today I'm having another go at them. I'm using a tutorial that Eneida Rosa created a while ago (I think that she is in the process of uploading it to her current website: http://www.fairiesndreams.com ). It involves rolling a thin sausage of clay, slicing off small bits to roll into eyeballs, slicing those in half, pressing the iris on and painting them, finally coating with Fimo gel. I used translucent Fimo to get that cloudy, translucent, eyeball look and am working on a technique to get some little tiny veins in the clay, just a few, it is all about the details! I'll let you know how it goes. Still not sure if I will use Genesis on these eyes as I am finding the learning curve for painting with it, quite difficult. Luckily I have about 100 little eyeballs sitting in the oven, ready to be experimented on!

Which pose?

Well, here are another two sketches. Between these two and the original sketch, I'm thinking I'll go with the one with her hair up and slightly bent body. Although, it is possible that I won't put her hair up in the final piece.

Design-Judith

I guess you all may have noticed by now but I haven't started the armature as promised.

I am unsure about the pose. I know I'd like Judith to be holding the basket, partially dressed and with a slightly twisted pose but I think I might need to make it more dynamic and interesting.

This indecision seems to strike me quite frequently. On Saturday, I started a poll on my Facebook page about the size of the sculpture. The options were 8, 10 and 12 inches. Interesting results, sculptors mostly chose 8" and people where were regular friends (not saying that sculptors are unusual at all!) chose 12". I've decided to go with 10" but I will probably change my mind 100 times before I begin.

So, I've not yet started my Judith but am definitely working on the logistics!

Sketch- Judith

I adore Artemisia Gentileschi's artwork and her 'self portrait' Judith slaying Holofernes is gruesomely gorgeous!

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi)

So, here is my sketch for a Judith sculpture I'd like to start next.
I have chosen to take the route that is almost as popular for artists as Judith in the act of slaying Holofernes... Judith sneaking back to her hometown with the severed head!

Now, there has been a little delay with the sculpting supplies that I ordered, however, I do have the armature building equipment so armature construction will probably begin tomorrow... unless I get a blog follower's comment with a really great way to improve my idea! (Hint, hint: Constructive criticism is appreciated here).

I'll be working with Mark Dennis' armature technique. This will be my first time using the technique, be prepared for  'customising' of it to suit my own needs and maybe a little frustrated swearing.
Mark Dennis' Blog.

Finally, a special call-out and THANKYOU to Natasha from Morezmore who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to make my shopping experience a pleasure even with the delay which was definitely caused through no fault of her own and probably due to gremlins in the Australian postal service).
Click here to go to the Morezmore eBay store.