5 Reasons To Try Clay Sculpting

Clay sculpting is a fun and creative activity that has many benefits for children and adults alike. And here are some of the top reasons to try clay sculpting. It improves your hand-eye coordination. As we're sculpting we're learning how to interact with forms. Clay sculpting requires you to use your eyes and use your hands to sculpt the clay into different forms. This can help you develop your spatial awareness and visual motor skills. So being able to think of something or see something and then replicate that using your hands. It's a very beneficial and immersive process. And related to that is that it helps you develop your fine motor skills. Sculpting involves using your hands, your fingers, your wrists, and any tools that you're using to shape and form the clay. This strengthens the muscles that have to do with those movements. Muscles in your hands and forearms and arms. And with that strength also comes muscle control. Being able to do things with the clay that you want. And so visualizing something or wanting the clay to be formed in such a way. And then being able to use your hands to actually manipulate something in space. That's something that really helps develop those fine motor skills. It encourages trial and error. Sculpting allows you to experiment with different ideas and techniques without the fear of making mistakes. This is especially true if you're using an oil-based clay that doesn't dry out. The clay I really like, this is Chavann Medium NSP clay. But I've also used a lot of this brown clay which is a lot cheaper. This is a non-dry modeling clay that I got from the Dollar Tree. It came in a packet with a bunch of different colors. I took out the darkest four colors and then mixed the other eight colors together. And that gave me this reddish brown. And I actually like this clay quite a bit. It's a little bit softer than the Chavann clay. I prefer a little bit firmer of a clay. But it's inexpensive. About half the price. And both of these clays can be worked on for hours or weeks or months. And you can start a project. You can work on it. You can come back to it and it'll never dry out. So that's why for most students I recommend some type of reusable clay like this so that you can practice developing those techniques. And with this type of clay you can easily correct or change the model by adding or removing pieces of clay. That's why it's called additive sculpture. Because you build out the sculpture by adding little pieces of clay. All of this helps you learn from your errors and improve your problem-solving skills. It teaches creativity. Traditional sculpting gives you the freedom to express yourself and create unique sculptures. You can use your imagination and inspiration to make anything you want out of the clay. I prefer sculpting people. People are the most interesting thing I think. So that's why I'm a figurative artist. I like the figure. I like the portrait or the full figure. But if you're interested in anything from animals to product designs or abstract forms or landscapes, all of these things can be done in clay sculpting. Another reason to try it is it's therapeutic. Clay sculpting can help you relax and unwind from stress and anxiety. It can also help you improve your mood, your self-confidence, and your concentration. I think a lot of us like to turn our brains off while we're doing something. A lot of us might be doing that by scrolling through social media. In a similar way, it allows you to turn off those stressful things that can be going through your mind. But you do it in a way that's creative. Instead of consuming all of this creativity by other people, you're able to create something yourself. And I think it's a healthier way and a better way of relaxing and unwinding from that stress and anxiety that we all feel from just being living human beings. Working with clay can be a meditative, enjoyable experience that calms your mind and body. I hope this motivates you to try clay sculpting. Ever since I can remember, I loved drawing and painting. But when I took my first sculpting class in college, I really connected with working in 3D. Even though I've been drawing basically my whole life, I was better at sculpting than I was at drawing. And I think some people are just wired to work in 3D. So if you're a creative person, if you want an outlet for that creativity, then I would try to dedicate some time to sculpting in clay. If you'd like to learn the fundamentals of figure sculpting, then I recommend the Proko Figure Sculpting Fundamentals course over at proko.com slash sculpture. And that is like a beginner level course. It's everything that I wish I knew when I started sculpting. If you're more interested in portrait sculpting, then there's also a portrait sculpting course over at proko.com slash portrait sculpt. And so if you're more interested in portraiture, then you might want to get that course. Even if you don't have the resources to purchase the full courses, you can create a free account over at proko.com and watch all of the free lessons over there. There's many free lessons for each of the courses. Those lessons are also up on the Proko 3D YouTube channel. So there's really no excuse not to grab some clay and try it out. If you like this type of content, like the video, subscribe to the channel, stay creative, stay productive, and hopefully I'll see you in next week's video.