This story could start back in the mid nineties when I was customizing Star Wars Power Of The Force (POTF) action figures but thats not as important as what happened just about a year ago.
Ditching Sculpey And Apoxie for A Cleaner, Quicker Paced Life
Less than a year ago I began to explore digital sculpting. And since I already had a Wacom drawing tablet for graphic design work, I knew learning this new medium was going to feel a lot better than without. But this transition was not going to be easy. See, working with fingers and tangible materials theres a primal connection that makes sense from an artists perspective. Fingers push this and pinch that; tools, poke here and scrape there. A simple mechanic that over time just took too long for me. Too long to catch up with how quick my imagination was refreshing. So, I began to creatively and emotionally distanced myself from picking up clay tools again.
Melting And Squishing Rayvon Avian
I've always been fascinated by bird skulls and my early attempts to sculpt them in clay was a disaster. The heat from my fingers would melt and squish my sculpts causing much frustration. I clearly wasn't a pro and to get really good at it my passion for clay would have to be great. But it wasn't. The very first clay concept of my current Rayvon Avian head was a flop. I quit before it could take a shape. SQUAWK!
Gathered My Creative Ingredients and Tossed Them Into The Blender
Now moonlighting over in the digital space I found a powerful and free software called Blender. With the software installed I immediately hit YouTube to see what in the world I got myself into. And after a few tutorials I was up and running making my first 3D scene and animation. I was absolutely hooked! Later I transitioned over to ZBrush and haven't looked back at clay sculpting since.
Going Back To Clay
Digital sculpting has allowed me to sprout wings and soar. A freedom that has truly elevated my creative craft ten fold. Will I ever be going back to clay sculpting? Not sure. One thing for sure is after writing this blog post, my itch to do the primal thing is definitely there. What do you think? Are you a proficient clay sculptor? Did you make the jump to digital? I want to know. Leave a comment below. Cheers!