Sculpting from a Photograph
Simon Kogan is here to tell you: Trick Question! There is no such thing as a disadvantage when it comes to extra information, even if it’s from a photograph, note, or sketch. Sculpting or painting from life or a model can be richer, more informational, and more pleasant to sculpt when you first start out. But, in Simon’s experience, there are cases where you have to do a sculpture of a photo. For example, a figurative sculpture for someone from the past who does not exist anymore.
You can see Simon’s reference photos in the background here.
Simon teaches his students that they need to learn how to read a photograph. Read it like a map: How do I get from the nose to the shoulder? How does this person hold his head? The only reason you are sculpting a certain person or thing is that it inspires you, so why shut that down just because you can only use a photograph as a reference? If Simon has to use a photograph for a portrait, he will use photoshop to manipulate the lights and arks to exaggerate the pronunciation of the structure (the bones, size, scale). Then, he prints the images out and he glues them all around himself when he is ready to sculpt. This way, he is living with those images until he knows the person or structure in the photo.
You can see Simon’s reference photos in the background here.
In sculpting, just like painting, you are celebrating a certain thing in your work. This could be the structure or certain value you see in that person or thing you are sculpting. The key is to focus on what makes a photograph different and special to you. If you have photographs of people, they are all in different environments, holding themselves differently and behaving differently. The notable differences are all there, you just have to look. Simon sees this material as priceless. Certain photos have been shot and frozen in time, and that is not something you can get when you sculpt from life.
“Having any extra information, like a photograph, is like extra tastebuds you can tingle.” - Simon Kogan
Want more tips like this from Simon?
Join Simon’s mentoring course, “Figuratively Speaking,” with open enrollment three times a year. Spaces are Limited. Click to find out more:
If you aren’t quite ready for the mentoring course, check out Simon’s video download package, “Discover Hidden Treasures of the Portrait” to start off:
To learn more about Sculpting from Life Versus Photographs, listen to Gabor and Simon on the Paint & Clay podcast here.