Modelling, besides its own worth, is of value as an aid to drawing, for it teaches form, and the shadows on an object can be drawn more intelligently and correctly when it is known just what formations produce them.
A great deal can be done in modelling without the aid of a teacher. So, not waiting to look up a professor, suppose we commence by ourselves and see what we can do. It is very fascinating work, and if a few failures are the result of our first attempt, we need not be discouraged, for what others can do, we also can accomplish.
The writer has lately been initiated into the mysteries of this art, and since, as they say, the person just graduated from a primary department is best fitted to teach in that department, perhaps the hints given here may be better suited to the understanding of beginners than if they were written by a great sculptor, who might forget that everyone does not know, as well as he does himself, the preliminary steps necessary even in accomplishing the grandest results.
Modelling Tools
Instead of entering into the later and more artistically finished processes we will confine ourselves to the prelude or introduction to modelling; and then, girls, with the object before you, your only guide and instructor, you must work out the rest for yourselves.
The first thing to do is to provide your
Materials,
and here is a list of all you will need:
1. Clay, such as is used by potters, perfectly free from grit.