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

I feel like I got a college textbook and not a craft book. I say that with absolutely positive feelings! I mean, if this were some college course, the book would have been $75.00 and I'd feel like I'd finally gotten a book I was going to keep.

I couldn't even describe how detailed this book is. I feel like I can actually do this figure thing. I mean, every step is laid out for you. Every SINGLE step. There is nothing left to the imagination, no question left unanswered. I mean, there are instructions within instructions within variations of instructions... How to sculpt different ethnic groups, the male figure, the female figure, the musculature, the hands--how to make your own eyeballs, for heaven's sake! Katherine Dewey shows that you can make every single tool you'll use, which I still haven't done yet, but need to do since I think most of her handmade tools are better than the ones I could buy.

I don't think I could really adequately express my excitement over having this book. I have so desired for so long to be able to sculpt figures that were beautiful and believable, and I feel like I can finally do it!

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!

I had this book on my radar because I had recently began to ply my hand at polymer clay in the hopes of being able to produce epic maquettes of fantasy, comic and mythic origins.

Unlike many of the similarly priced art books, this one isn't a coffee table display of the author's best works, but rather, a real instruction manual on her technique. Another review here that convinced me to purchase stated that it's laid out more like a college course textbook.

Since I'm a neophyte when it comes to polymer clay, I cannot say if it holds value for anyone other than a newbie looking for techniques and tips. Intermediate and advanced sculptors may not find anything they didn't already know. But, for me as an artist new to polymer clay, this book is amazing. Exactly what I was looking for. I highly recommend it.

I wanted a book that best described on making poly dolls that were very lifelike. This book explains this very easily with excellent step by step directions and photography. I recommend this to anybody who is learning or wants to learn polymer clay doll making.

I have been trying to pick up figure sculpting, so I decided to give this book a try after reading some of the reviews of it. For me, this book is mostly a success, with the exception of a few issues which kept me from giving this book 5 stars.

- It follows conventions that don't seem very common to sculpting, so I found it difficult to combine the techniques found in this book with other sculpting techniques I've learned.
- It asks you to make some of the tools you'll need to use ( carving and sculpting unique handles, etc) and then requires you to use them to complete some of the books projects.
- most directions tell you to use aluminum foil as a core instead of armature wire, which I found to be more difficult.

Otherwise, I felt it explained it's techniques very clearly and, with practice, I found that it was possible to achieve results similar to the author's finished figures.

This book is almost an exact duplication of her 2003 book published by Elvenworks Publications. I already had the Elvenwork book and I thought after five years this "new" Watson-Guptil publication would have something new and improved. It was nothing of the kind. I felt no need to have two books virtually the same so I returned the "newest" duplicate version. I was truly disappointed.

I have been drawing, painting, knitting, playing with all sorts of clay, pretty much any trip of art or craft for 60 years. I've taught others techniques. I love all types of hand work. In all of my years of creating I have never found a book that explains every single step in creating a person. Ok, fantasy people, but people all the same. I read the book from cover to cover, went back and started over. Outstanding layout of technique, materials, shapes, color ideas and facial expressions. This book left me in awe. I learned something every page. I will be attempting some of the techniques offered in this book in addition to what I already know works. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to build or paint people. Young artists could benefit from having this book as an addition to their regular art books or program to show them more and easier possibilities. I wish I'd found this book when I was in college art.

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.

This is an amazing book. Katherine Dewey did a great job writing an all-inclusive, clear, detailed, informative book about sculpting polymer clay - which is very difficult to do. She goes to great lengths to demonstrate the necessary tools - and more than that, she shows (in detail) how to make those tools. What a reference book!

The only thing that disappoints me about this book? By reading it, I will not be as talented as Katherine is. I've clayed for years - and I cannot create anything remotely as fantastic as this author does. She makes it look so easy - but don't be fooled. Katherine Dewey is clearly an exceptionally talented clay artist. Although she does her best to share her techniques and tools with the audience, simply buying this book will not make you better with clay. Sorry. I was somewhat deluded by that, I think. I purchased this book thinking I could some how absorb some of the talent and raw skill of Ms Dewey - don't make that mistake. There are definitely many things to learn in this book - and they are laid out in a patient, concise method. However, if you have no skill or talent to begin with, buying this book isn't going to help you. I have practiced several of the techniques laid out in the book - and I'm still just as crummy at clay as I was before. This is not the author's fault - but it's daunting.

As far as claying books go, this is one of the best I have. It covers a vast amount of knowledge and contains technique explanations like crazy. I suppose what keeps me from giving this book "5 stars" is my own disillusionment. Katherine Dewey's skill is a little intimidating - and it is frustrating to follow her direction and not have your piece resemble her final product. If buying a wonderful book like this doesn't help, I should probably give up on clay...but I can't. I love it too much.

Bottom line: you will learn many techniques in this book, from the necessary tools (and how to construct them) to sculpting methods, to finishing to how different brands of clay behave. Reviewer Katherine Canuel made a great point - the amount of information contained in this book is similar to what you would find in a college textbook - it's that good. If you don't have clay talent and natural skill before buying this book, you won't magically gain those qualities. You will get ideas and instruction on how to improve - but then it's up to you to practice, practice, practice. I would say this is book is for intermediate clayers and above - beginners will be frustrated, but advanced clayers will most likely learn a great deal. I would buy this for a friend interested in claying - although the book centers around creating lifelike creations, there are solid lessons to be learned no matter what sort of creations you are interested in making.

If you haven't made a lifelike figure before instructions for each phase of the project are needed because it can be daunting to attempt. This paperback is very well written and the pictures of each step are perfect for even a novice to complete a figurine that makes you look like a pro. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to create a figure that looks anatomically correct. Showing what tool is needed is an important part of creating your figurine. The author did a great job at helping a first time modeler create a project successfully. Explaining anatomy and how to achieve it were essential in creating my figure.