Philippe Faraut, a phenomenal sculptor, has just released a new book called Mastering Portraiture. He has released a video showing the process of sculpting one of the pieces used in the book:

Click to watch in full size
I'm lucky enough to have had Philippe as a teacher and also consider him my friend. As a result I was given an early look at the new book being advertised by that video.

Now, I was already quite a big fan of Philippe's first book. I read it regularly and often recommend it to others. But, I was a little nervous when Philippe asked me to give him my honest opinion on his new book. As an author, I understand the value of that kind of feedback, however, so I was determined to be critical and give him the harsh feedback he wanted.

I completely and utterly failed to find any flaw in the book other than a few easily corrected typos. Mastering Portraiture, completely and absolutely floored me. I stayed up into the early morning hours reading it on the day it came in the mail because I just couldn't put it down. Philippe has pulled together and distilled down the most important things that he's learned from his years of sculpting experience, his extensive research into the anatomy and psychology of facial expression, and his keen observations on the affects of aging and the characteristics of race. The result is just unbelievably good.

It's a book that would be worth buying just for the privilege of looking at the pictures. The sculptures that Philippe created for the book are phenomenal and the photography and printing are gorgeous. But all those lovely pictures are accompanied by words, and those words tell a story that will both help you and inspire you to take your sculpting to a new level.

You should know that this is not a beginner's book, however. If you don't have some experience and haven't ever touched hands to clay, then buy Philippe's first book and put some time in sculpting first, But if you've got some experience and want to become better, then you absolutely should check Mastering Portraiture out. It covers things I've never seen covered in a sculpting book and the information is easy to digest and understand. There's no unnecessary jargon, it just reads like the words of a patient teacher. Despite having sculpted for years and having taken several classes with Philippe, every chapter held new information and inspired me to want to try new things.

I don't often gush over products, even those created by people I like, but this is a book that's really worth checking out. It's truly extraordinary; a beautiful book that I will cherish for years and recommend without reservation.

Since I've been focusing on miniature sculptors lately - a class of sculptors that I feel are greatly undervalued and often underpaid - I would be remiss if I didn't mention Tom Meier, one of the founders, and for many years the main sculptor at Ral Partha, and founder of Thunderbolt Mountain. His blog is a fascinating read, though it's intended for miniature sculptors working in putty, there's a lot of great information in there for all sculptors regardless of scale or medium. Tom is widely regarded as one of the best miniature sculptors in the world. A not inconsiderable number consider him to be hands-down THE best miniature sculptor, and not without good reason.

If you have any doubts about Tom's phenomenal ability, check out this 4mm Napoleon sculpt over at the KraftMark (makers of the fine ProCreate sculpting putty) website. Yes, that's 4 millimeters.

After my previous post, I've been searching the web for more good mini sculptors, and boy, I've found a few. There really are a number of very, very talented and very under-appreciated sculptors working in the gaming and collectibles industries doing amazing work in tiny scale using a difficult medium (epoxy putty). Today, I want to focus on another mini sculptor... Check out this sculpt of Shakespeare's Oberon King of Shadows and Fairies and Leader of the Wild Hunt, by Kevin White of Hasslefree Miniatures (male nudity warning).

I find the detail in the muscles of the legs and torso to be particularly impressive, but the whole sculpt is great. It also features one of the best transitions from human to goat anatomy I've ever seen in any scale, which may not sound like much of a compliment at first, but think of all the fauns that have been sculpted over the millenia. Now, after spending a few minutes looking at the picture, take a look to the right side . That white thing is a ruler, and those lines are millimeters. This would be an impressive sculpt if it were a foot tall. At a little over an inch, it's downright amazing.

Another interesting tidbit: Oberon was sculpted on a wine bottle cork. No, I am most definitely not kidding. Check out Kev's workbench to see his works in progress. While you're over there, you should browse their catalogs and buy some stuff. Seriously... I'm going to. I mean, you can get limited edition works of art cast in metal for only a few dollars each. You don't need to game or paint to appreciate them.

Stefan Nieheus, the fine sculptor behind Masq Minis, has a YouTube channel with some awesome videos and video tutorials. I'm always amazed at what some people can do at this scale. I love working in putty, but it's dang hard...

Stefan Nieheus, the fine sculptor behind Masq Minis, has a YouTube channel with some awesome videos and video tutorials. I'm always amazed at what some people can do at this scale. I love working in putty, but it's dang hard...