Sculpture eyes

Remember the lizard eyes I posted a while ago?  Today I’m going to talk about putting them in a sculpture. 

Taxidermists use glass eyes when they stuff animals - you can get a wide variety of different animal eyes for taxidermy purposes, and they’re also useful for sculpture.  Forensic artists also use artificial eyes when they reconstruct faces.  You can use doll eyes, and they’re a great option if you can’t be bothered making your own eyes or don’t trust your ability to make suitably realistic eyes.

My technique for building up the face is actually quite similar to what forensic artists do.  I build up soft tissue in layers until I'm happy with the result.  For more photos and a description of the process, see after the jump.

 

I could begin by sketching designs for the face, but personally I prefer to do very little, if any, planning and just see how the project turns out.  I like watching the head grow without really knowing what its face will look like.  It's a nice surprise. 

Where a forensic artist starts with a replica of the deceased's skull, I start by sticking the eyes and jaw to a base of balled up waste paper.

Then, it's simply a matter of smoothing paper pulp around the eyes and forming the contours of the face.

This shot was taken with a flash, and while you can't see much of the face's detail you can see how shiny and glittery the lizard eyes are in real life.

In my next post on this project, I'll talk about skin, including lips and eyelids.