Use of Maquettes or sketches

[oddist]

So, who out there makes a maquette, single or multiples, in preperation for the final accomplishment of a piece of sculpture?

Who just relies on sketches?

Or, is the "create as you go" the mode of the day? (spontaneity be the muse)

Is it necessary to do preliminaries, or is there not enough time in a day?

[fritchie]

Oddist - I always have just "run with the wind", doing the piece in one shot. Admittedly, each one takes quite awhile. (Less when I was working directly with the model, but much longer now than I am working strictly from imagination, with the aid of some photographs.)

Of course, my work is figurative, and the format is relatively fixed. People working completely at large may approach things differently.

Interesting question.

[sculptor]

Both, or all 3 or.....
sometimes the muse just runs, other times the macquettes and/or the sketches help to refine the concept---and sometimes I abandon the project after doing the macquette-----
the mermaid had a macquette, a portrait head, and sketches before I built the full size-----maybe 30% over life piece-----on the sketch sheet (http://www.sculpture.net/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=997) I also try out sketching in skelatal and muscular details---and sometimes just doodle

every action is unique----sometimes I have a clear vision of what I want and go straight to the end and sometimes I have to fight with every gram of clay to find a result that satisfies me

also, what looks great in macquette often needs refining in the larger piece to look well in it's size range----
-maybe why many great artists
eg: michaelangelo----made very rough macquettes and completed the details only in the final piece----but in his frescoes, he used cartoons which set the edges, and in sketching the cartoons(most of which he destroyed), he made lots of changes----one of his biographers said that he would occasionally go directly to the fresco sans cartoon-----(it's a vision thing?)

sometimes, while working with a model, I find it easier to let the model work through the refine the design part by just trying various poses

nothing is but what is not,
the only constant is change-------(such is the nature for h.s.s.)

rod

[ironman]

Hi, I make non-objective welded steel sculpture. I usually work from sketches but always leave everything open to change. Otherwise, I'm just a welder (how boring) and besides that things don't always work out well in 3D, even though the drawings look great. By leaving things open to change it also keeps the creative juices flowing.
I sometimes make maquettes, but not too often.
Sometimes I do found object pieces and naturally, for those there are no preliminary drawings.
There are no rules to any of this except the ones we impose on ourselves and what might work for one person wont work for another.
Different sculptural situations require different approaches, it's all creativity and problem solving so I try to keep an open mind about the whole thing.
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[anne (bxl)]

I don't make any sketches or maquettes, but I work very slowly, so having time to mature the piece. But I know that most of the pieces I realize, even in bronze, are pieces that I "think big". Probably due to my architecture background, I create table size hopefully as maquettes for further outdoor size.
Meanwhile I am convinced that free drawings (opposite to construction drawingss) are an absolute necessity to maintain a creative mood.

[ironman]

Hi, Art can be made from ANYTHING in ANYWAY. You are only limited by your own creativity and intelligence. Why limit yourself to certain methods of working when they'll only become roadblocks to greater creativity?
In the past I've used rubber balls, rubber duckies, plywood, fiberglass, steel wool, plexyglass, old shirts, barbie dolls, hardware store items, draw pulls, handles, hooks, chain, wire, chicken wire, tools, fans from cars, parts of car exhaust systems, coil springs, stone, wood, pillows, steel, garden hose, shoes, baseball bat, and, well I can't think of anything else, and they weren't all successful pieces either. My point being that one should not limit oneself to whatever they think art is, because it isn't, It can be anything!
I would venture to say that if I chose to, I could use a WALMART as my art supply store and find enough items there to keep me busy for years.
I know I've somewhat gone off the subject of this thread but whatever method works for you is fine, (you could make maquettes out of cream cheese), try any method, use any material that you like. You should have fun in your studio.
NO RULES!!!!!!!! (only the self imposed ones).
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[oddist]

Art history has shown the abundent use of maquettes and sketches by past masters. There usefulness to the individual artist can only be viewed as an advantage by virtue of the artist's success.

Perhapes the ability to compare "object" configurations, figurative or abstract, was necessary to reach the final composition. One might also concede that each evolutionary step in the development of a final piece of sculpture could be a sculpture unto itself. Possibly without this type of record works become more and more ephemeral.

Much of contemporary sculpture has leaned towards a "create as you go" methodology with possibly a few sketches to start things off. This is probably not an altogether new aspect of a sculptures development either...there is, for instance, a piece (unfinished) by Michelangelo, the Pieta Rondanini (http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo31.html), where there is an "unrelated" arm adjacent to the figure..the arm, in my view, a previous element of the originally conceived piece. Or maybe he just used an old piece of stone with an arm study (maquette?) carved into it...

As for sculpture out of anything..which definitly is a different discussion..the following is a quote from a piece on fragmentation by Guggenheim curator Nancy Spector that I find quite enlightening:

"Those artists involved with Dada [more], Pop, Nouveau Réalisme, Neo-Dada [more], and Neo-Conceptual strategies have increasingly utilized the flotsam of everyday existence by drawing formal elements and subject matter from mass culture, often emulating cinematic montage and advertising techniques. As a critical mirror to our society and its representations—mediated imagery, movie trailers, MTV, and the World Wide Web—contemporary art has embraced the fragment as an end in itself."

-----------------

I am revising this post with the following I just found on Michelangelos piece which speaks to the use of a maquette:

Here are Michelangelo's last words concerning his final masterpiece: "the course of my life has finally reached In its fragile boat, over stormy seas The common port where we must account For all our past actions. No painting or sculpture can quiet my soul, Now turned to the Divine Love that opens To embrace me in His arms." "For ten years of sleepless nights, I've been designing a Pieta. The body of our Lord was too heavy with death to be held up by his old Mother. His head...too earthy with matter, too real...so I cut away the Lord's head and shoulders, leaving only his arm as a model for a new one (emphasis mine), and carved a new head from the Virgin's shoulder. He backs inward to fuse with his Mother's body, as she bends forward to raise him up. Mother and Son, the Living and the Dead, become One - Death becomes a Resurrection."

[ironman]

Hi, Wow, Oddist, what a moving last paragraph by Michelangelo. I think sculpture has gone down hill since he was alive and working. But, he is history and although we can definitely learn from him, we live in such a different time that different measures are needed to achieve anything in art today.
That's not to say that you can't carve stone anymore or work with other traditional materials and methods but that in our modern world it's a whole new ball game. Or should I say, it can be.
I also think it's an exciting time to be an artist just because of what's available to us as raw material.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[sculptorsam]

I'm pretty fluid about it myself. I generally start with a tiny sketch, photograph it and enlarge it, then use a grid to bring it up to full size. One profile is usually enough to get me going. But just recently I've discovered how nice it is to work from a smaller prototype. I dug up some pictures to illustrate.

These two are of a work taken from a single sketch to full size with no model. There was a larger pattern created as well (in the original sketch pictured those are 1/4" grids).

[sculptorsam]

And this is a smaller 18" sculpture I made with no sketch in advance. I liked it so much, I enlarged it to 5 feet. I photographed the smaller one and used the profile to create a larger pattern in-between.

Sorry about the double posts, but that 3 attachment limit is unforgiving.

[fritchie]

....

Much of contemporary sculpture has leaned towards a "create as you go" methodology with possibly a few sketches to start things off. This is probably not an altogether new aspect of a sculptures development either...there is, for instance, a piece (unfinished) by Michelangelo, the Pieta Rondanini (http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo31.html), where there is an "unrelated" arm adjacent to the figure..the arm, in my view, a previous element of the originally conceived piece. Or maybe he just used an old piece of stone with an arm study (maquette?) carved into it...
.....
-----------------

I am revising this post with the following I just found on Michelangelos piece which speaks to the use of a maquette:

Here are Michelangelo's last words concerning his final masterpiece: "the course of my life has finally reached In its fragile boat, over stormy seas The common port where we must account For all our past actions. No painting or sculpture can quiet my soul, Now turned to the Divine Love that opens To embrace me in His arms." "For ten years of sleepless nights, I've been designing a Pieta. The body of our Lord was too heavy with death to be held up by his old Mother. His head...too earthy with matter, too real...so I cut away the Lord's head and shoulders, leaving only his arm as a model for a new one (emphasis mine), and carved a new head from the Virgin's shoulder. He backs inward to fuse with his Mother's body, as she bends forward to raise him up. Mother and Son, the Living and the Dead, become One - Death becomes a Resurrection."

Oddist - About the first book I bought more or less for my personal library some 45 years ago, in graduate school, was an encyclopedic review of Michelangelo’s work in sculpture, painting, and architecture.

It’s been a while since I looked back, but my recollection is that he was near the end of his life, in his eighties, and probably less than a year from death, when he began that work in the larger version, and then hacked away much of the Christ figure and carved the smaller version. The author, as I recall, took the view that his capacities were diminishing, and perhaps he was less able to plan such a piece. Your quote partly confirms this, but also sheds different light in a way.

[Araich]

I make maquettes all the time. For large work I find it worthwhile to play on a smaller scale where radical changes take just moments not days. For commissions it is a great advantage to be able to sign off on a maquette. Everyone then knows where they stand.
That said, changes can be negotiated.

I also work directly.

[oddist]

Well...we've heard from additive sculptors (welders, modelers, and assemblers) but no reductive sculptors (carvers).

I wonder if the skill of pointing a model -- small or life-size -- and transferring to stone or wood by drilling to a depth for material removal has been lost? Has it become economically impracticale to work this way? Is there no demand for large stone works requiring a maquette? Has modern technology taken over this task (laser scan, robot controlled diamond grinder)?

Where are you carvers???

[Julianna]

This carver moved into a new house/studio recently, and has finally been reconnected to the internet!

I don't work with sketches or maquettes, but that's largely because I don't work in figurative sculpture (of course, that's merely me...I'm sure there are figurative carvers who don't work with maquettes or sketches either).

I usually choose a stone in which I can "see" a sculpture already, and work from that. I merely have a very general idea of what I want to do, and it often changes. In the end, the sculpture still bears an overall resemblance to the original stone.

[GaryR52]

Sorry to resucitate such an ancient thread, but it came up in a forum search and, well, I couldn't resist posting something. ;)

What I was searching for was some guidance on the use of maquettes for securing larger scale commissions. I know the usual process is to create a maquette as a preliminary to a large scale piece, but, I'm also aware that some sculptors create small sculptures as maquettes for monumental sculptures that haven't been commissioned by anyone. It is this latter scenario I'm curious about, as (correct me if I'm wrong) I see a possible avenue to getting large scale commissions via showing maquettes in the hopes of attracting a patron who will order an enlargement. I know this is roughly how Araich works. Are there any others out there who do this and, if so, what pointers can you give me on securing commissioned work from smaller pieces?

Gary

[underachiever]

I sketch alot, occasionally fleshing out one or two in the form of drawings, but I tend to just work out how one side looks, then leave the rest to work itself out on it's own. I haven't done maquettes yet, but that's probably because I haven't worked on a piece that's large enough.

Sometimes, it just comes down the medium I'm working with. Sketching is almost certainly a must when I work with clay, but when I carve, half the time it depends largely on how the material works for me. If I can see something I want to carve out of it, I just start straight away and throw caution to the wind. :P Same goes for welding as well. I just play around till it "looks right".

In regards to Gary. Well, I do know of sculptors that make marquettes that never get fabricated, Isamu Noguchi and Joan Miro, notably, but it seems to be made in the proccess of a commission.

So I dunno.

[Louie Arce]

Tip for all that use sheet metal to make sculpture. I start with sketches then build a small model with thick paper or cardboard.Note:do not use corrugated cardboard. It can be of a closed or open form sculpture. Use tape to join edges not hot glue.All of the adjustments are made in the model.Dont be afraid to cut and paste the curves and lines of the piece, It will look ugly. Before you cut appart make sure to use registration marks on the model. You can roll the paper as you would sheel metal. Use projector to enlarge the paper model after you cut it apart and project on wall to desired size for pattern.Transfer the registration to each pattern, layout on metal.Transfer the registration on metal and weld together at the registration points.If the metel has a roll in it it will follow the curve as long as you keep the registration points correct. The roll of the metal does not need to be exact just close and pinch and clamp the metal to meet the points. Good luck....Louie.....Metal_sculpt@hotmail.com
PS: I have work for two sculptors in there studio and have used this tech with great results

[JamesDFarrow]

I am just starting so I am learning as I go. I have started using drawings. That is I draw out what I want to sculpt first and then try to imagine it in 3D stone. And decide if it will work or not. Of course since I can't draw for beans I usually have to draw it, re-draw, touch-up, draw again, re-draw, etc... LOL! But eventually I get a drawing I like. Then I glue it to heavy card stock, cut it out, and sort of use it like a template. Of course the drawing is not witten in stone (no pun intended) and the sculpt may not turn out to be exactly like the drawing. Sometimes you decide to alter it as you go. I think they call that last bit "artistic license" or something. LOL!

James :)

[GaryR52]

Louie, though I'm not a metal sculptor, I've used shirt cardboard, years ago, to make small maquettes of geometric forms. I used to then cover the cardboard with a coat of something called "Liquid Metal," which was a polymer solder substitute sold in hardware stores. It's kind of silver in color and makes a good stand-in for metal. I then buffed it with a Dremel Mototool.

James, I used to draw hand sketches for sculpture, but I now use 3D software, instead. It's much quicker, more precise, and it allows me to see my ideas in the round, from any angle. When I'm ready to start sculpting them, I can just print out several views and use them as reference, though I never expect to literally copy what I see, of course. It's just a rough guide.

Gary

[bluedogshuz]

Oddist: I do both reductive and constructivist. Funny you ask because I see it as totally different approaches.
1. Like Julliana I carve in stone and because of its inherent limitation ie. size I kind of mentally visualize what cuold be made out of say a block and then draw directly on the piece, eventually the lines start coming together. I may have a vague sketch but the stone carving is so intuitive. Besides a hairline crack can change your mind.
2. Constructive: I used to work from drawings, transfering a sketch onto grid paper to get the absolute inches/feet worked out. Then cut the armature (wood) surface design is again intuitive. I have begun doing maquettes primarily because I have two objects interacting with each other on one piece. I check shadow/views this way to make sure it "lives". I highly recommend maquettes as it adds to the excitement!
3. I have morning drawing sessions and sometimes if Im not in the studio, I draw for days on lined note book paper working and reworking designs. I then come back to the studio with a new perspective and new ideas.

[bottegin]

I have been carving for quite (mainly in wood) some time now. On my first projects I used to work directly in the wood. however the process was very long and laborious and sometimes I noticed too late that I was removing some of the wood that I actually needed. When carving wood or stone there is usually no going back.
I learnt with experience that it is much quicker if I make a maquette. I usually make it in clay and fire it so that in the end I can sell this too.
I must say that sometimes I still work intuitively.
I suppose that it all depends on what I am carving. Abstract work doesn't usually need a maquette. It is not the first time that I start working intuitivly and make a maquette to solve problems that occur half way through the project.
When carving from a maquette I still do not copy the shape in a mechanical fashion. I use the maquette as part of the development of the idea.

[Stevan]

Hi all.
I'm a carver I and agree pretty much with all except that I believe there are some works which benifit from careful sketching and others that don't. I guess it's all relative to artistic process and interpretation.
below are a sketch and the finished work

[wolff]

I`m a woodcarver, but was bored stiff by small work and 20,000 years of figurative work that would fit into the cylinder of a tree trunk.

I took a cue from Japanese Kamakura period sculpture (which is full of great and dynamic movement) made with a process called yosegi zukuri, which involves the cutting and shaping of individual blocks, which are fitted together.

Since my work now is based around large biomorpohic wooden forms, I need to make both maquettes and sketches. The maquettes help me decide on a gesture and series of relationships, and provide a working reference during the assembly stages. Sketches help me resolve specific problems, but mostly they help when I am initially butchering whatever logs that will be shaped, hollowed, assembled and carved.

Since I try very hard to incorporate natural features of the wood (sapwood/heartwood color, bends and shifts in grain direction, knots and bark inclusions, etc) the material is finite, and gestures in the log need to wind up at appropriate places in the final form. It`s also very heavy at it`s early stages, and difficult to position. Having both a maquette (or series of related forms-nothing beats working on small waxes for movement and form) and a series of rough or diagramatic sketches is key; but they need to be open to some degree of change.

The camphor piece pictured (Jonah) is large enough for two or three people to sit in the "mouth". It was made from a single log, with narrower sections coming out of the middle of thicker sections. It`s a very calm place to rest and drink a cup of coffee.

Bill
www.billwolff.net

[tonofelephant]

Bill,
That is great. What a wonderful place to think.

Carl

[Ironlady]

personally, i rely on my maquettes more than anything else and generally do several of one piece. each time evoloving the design. i begin with a cardboard model and move into foam, then begin the final piece in wood.

[dondougan]

Just to put my two-cents in -- as a stonecarver and mixed-media sculptor I make no maquettes or sketches unless for a commission. And I rarely do commissions (in the last 30 years I can count-em all on my fingers). The fun of being a sculptor for me is solving the design issue even if the stone breaks unexpectedly -- making it work through evolution-of-concept on the fly, so-to-speak. When I do maquettes or sketches the fun part is over after the maquette is finished. The final realization is just physical work (no mental stimulation), i.e., not fun. That is the reason I do very few commissions.

I just opened an exhibit with a painter (she paints rocks as metaphors, I sculpt rock with metaphorical content), we decided to contrast our approaches and processes. After installing the exhibit proper, we used a couple of glass cases that were already in the gallery for providing the viewers some clues as to process: she had sketchbooks that directly showed the genesis and preliminary versions of ideas for paintings in the exhibit. I had a couple of sketchbooks showing what I typically use them for -- noting down ideas, thoughts, things I see -- but nothing like preliminary sketches. Instead, on the shelf below I piled up bits and pieces that I make without regard to what sort of greater whole they eventually will turn into weeks, months, or even years down the road. That is what I do instead of maquettes or sketches - make (and sometimes collect) bits and pieces.

For me sculpting is an intuitive process of delving into the material, tempered by reason and sensitivity to the inherent qualities. It is not about conceptualizing beforehand and then finding the materials to suit.

Don

[chris 71]

Hi Don I really like your post. I have been struggling with the fact that I just cant really seem to get into drawing I like they way you put it about your carving not being fun anymore that once you have created your idea its just work to get it done. This sort of rang a bell with me think I might feel the same way if I ever did sketch up an idea. I do relize sketching can be a valeuble tool too though as a lot of other people here say. But your post will help me sleep better at night