Welcome to the Journey of Make Clay Figures.
What's a Clay Figure?
A clay figure is a type of handicraft usually made using clay or other malleable materials. The process involves shaping and detailing the clay to achieve the desired form, followed by air-drying or firing to set the shape.
Clay figures can be characters from anime, games, movies, or they can be original creations designed by the artist. They can even be real-life people. Making clay figures requires patience and skill, but it can also be a fun hobby.
Why Teach How to Make Clay Figures?
PicoDIY Studio was founded in September 2018, and over the years, we have trained many skilled clay artists who excel in air-dry clay and polymer clay arts. You can see more of our work on our social media platforms.
Through sharing and promoting clay art, we have learned that many people who love clay art want to learn how to make what they want. To help those who want to try clay art get started quickly, we have decided to write an introductory guide for beginners. We are happy to share the warmth of clay art with you here.
This guide includes six different character designs, from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, showcasing various techniques and skills.
We hope this guide can help those who are passionate about clay sculpture and love making clay figures to improve their skills and make unique works of clay art.
If you have strong execution ability and dexterity, you will gain the most from this guide.
Overview
This guide mainly explains the basics of make clay figures.
Chapters 1-2 introduce clay materials and tools, as well as basic knowledge, while chapters 3-8 showcase six selected character creation examples.
The guide not only provides an analysis of the difficult points in the case-making, but also explains the small techniques and provides clear graphic step-by-step instructions, as well as video tutorials.
Using this beginner's guide, you can learn the following:
- Selection and use of clay and tools
- Color mixing
- Techniques for creating basic shapes
- Mastery of body proportions for different styles of characters
- Drawing faces
- Creating body parts
- Making character costumes
- Crafting other props
- Creating clay paintings
We'll spend time on each of these areas throughout this guide, but we wanted to introduce it here because it offers a look at how we structured the guide as a whole.
Explore the chapters:
Chapter 1: Getting to Know Clay Materials and Tools
In this chapter, you will discover the tools commonly used in clay art creation, as well as the differences between various clay materials. This knowledge is invaluable for beginners, so let's get started!
Chapter 2: Essential Skills and Tricks for Clay Art
We'll cover the basics of choosing the right clay and tools, as well as step-by-step instructions for creating your own figures. We'll also provide tips and tricks for adding intricate details and bringing your characters to life.
So, grab your clay and tools, and let's get started on this exciting journey of handcrafting clay figures!
Chapter 3: Chibi Boy
This chapter focuses on the proportion and two-color splicing of chibi-style anime figures. Excluding the hair, this chibi-style boy has a 3-to-1 proportion, with the head, torso, and legs being roughly equal in length. You can measure the size on the mat when making it. As can be seen from the finished product picture, the highlight of this case is the splicing of red and white. Let's learn this technique from the case study.
Chapter 4: Chibi Girl
This chapter focuses on the production of Chinese Tang-style clothing and floral element decorations. The feature of this chibi-style girl is her costume, which is a Tang-style dress with Chinese characteristics, matched with a lotus flower hair accessory, giving her a strong ancient charm. Lotus patterns are used as embellishments on the clothing, and lotus flowers and tassels are used as hair accessories and decorations on the costume.
Chapter 5: Aesthetic Ancient Style Clay Art
This chapter focuses on the production of semi-three-dimensional Chinese-style characters using clay. Clay paintings are semi-three-dimensional works, and before making the characters, the placement and composition within the frame need to be considered. However, the production of characters in clay paintings is slightly simpler than that of life-size clay figures. This clay painting is a Chinese-style beauty, with classical makeup, elegant hairstyle, and diverse clothing styles.
Chapter 6: Cute Schoolgirl
This chapter focuses on the production of cute 5-head style girls. There are two options for making life-size figurines: one is a cute 5-head style character, and the other is a beautiful 7-head style character. Here we use a Japanese-style middle school student as an example to make a cute style figurine.
The character has a cute appearance, and the clothing is based on Japanese school uniform styles. The difficulty of making the clothing lies in creating the folds of the skirt and shirt, and the key is to create the effect of the skirt flowing.
Chapter 7: Kneeling Girl in White Dress
This chapter focuses on the production of the kneeling posture and lace decoration of the clothing. The girl in a white dress is overall elegant and simple in color. The difficulty in making this girl lies in the kneeling posture, and the focus is on making the legs in the kneeling position.
The girl's dress is very fresh and uses a light-colored dress. The lace decoration on the skirt is the highlight of the clothing.
Chapter 8: Formal Dress Girl.
This chapter focuses on the production of curly hair and dress costumes. The difficulty in making this life-size figurine of an elegant girl in a dress lies in the production of the dress. The top is tight-fitting, and the folds and patterns of the dress are the highlights. The bottom is a fluffy skirt, which gives the skirt a full and fluffy feeling.