Philippe Faraut video review

[Seb]

Hi all,

As said in my introduction, Philippe Faraut is a big influence and inspiration. Other artists (some of them on this board) influence me as well, but to me his approach of volumes and sculpture construction seems totally natural. I consider his videos as some of the best tools available in my "sculptor's tool box", so I thought it could be interesting to write and share a detailed review of his latest DVD here.

Here we go :

"The Art Of Sculpting With Philippe Faraut Vol.3 : Men"

In this DVD, you can see a demonstration of Philippe's technique on men.
Everything is covered, from a description of the materials he uses, to the mechanics of facial expression, ethnicity comparison and much more.

What I like is the structure of the video : you can see the completion step by step of one bust of a man including hair and clothes, ponctuated with demonstrations of more specific subjects. As a result you get a lot more information, and the viewing is pleasant, not linear.

As always, Philippe emphasizes on the structure of the head, spending time comparing the differences between gender and also ethnicity. You will easily understand what makes an asian man look like he's asian, how the african structure is different from the caucasian... This is quite useful as you may sometimes have troubles finding models from different ethnies for reference.
Next the viewer can get to understand each feature in detail : mouth, nose, eyes and ears.
Once the structure is understood and the features correctly modeled, the head is modified quickly to change the expression. At this point you will be able to know how to make your piece express anger, happiness and so on, depending on the action of the different facial muscles.

Philippe then takes time to treat other aspects of portrait sculpture : aging and fat deposit of the face. You can see the demonstration of the aging process on a teenager, following a step by step changing until he obtains the head of an old man.
Knowing how to locate the fat deposit spots is interesting (and unfortunately necessary in our modern society ).
For each demonstration, he has sculpted a new and different head, which says a lot about the amount of work spent on the preparation of the video.

He then comes back to the man's bust to complete it, again you can see the different steps including hair and clothing (nice special technique used to make the cowboy hat).

This 3rd video from PCF Studios (PCF stands for Philippe and his wife Charisse Faraut) is a great tool. I've probably watched it more than 50 times and still learn new things everytime. Although created for the advanced artist, I believe that anybody can use it to improve one's technique and go to the next level.

For those who are still skeptic, you can go and see for yourself a sample of this video here on YouTube : http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=rzBs3PM2W_4

I hope you will find this review useful, and look forward to discuss about it (and other subjects) on this board. Videos are great tools for us

[fritchie]

Seb, I'm taking down your identical post in the Figurative section, as we strongly discourage duplicate posts, especially long ones. You said there you weren't sure which section to use. Either is OK, but please don't post twice.

[Seb]

Hi, and sorry for that. If a moderator can tell me where this post is better suited, I can delete the misplaced one right away. Didn't intend to bother anyone.
How did you learn to sculpt ? Did you go to a school, or are you self taught, did you use instructional videos along the journey ?
Always interesting to know about others experience.
Peace

[Merlion]

The video is good. He is very skillful and I learnt from seeing it.

It'd be useful to know what clay he uses. It is so much easier to work with than mine.

[mollycarpenter]

Ive never seen the dvd, but I do have one of their books. I believe they use water based clay, right?

[Seb]

Yes Philippe uses water based clay. Usually very fine without grog. I learnt with water based clay, it's different than oil based clays. You can change the consistency as your work evolves, from very soft at the beginning to leather hard to carve details.

[mollycarpenter]

Thats true. But I just prefer the cleanliness of oil. And the smell of sulphur that fills my house like a sweet bouqet.

[Seb]

The medium is only a question of personal taste. No matter what is used, a good sculptor is a good sculptor
I agree with you though, water based clay can be a bit messy, although it's easy to clean.
I also had PCF's book to start with, it helped quite a bit , but when I put my hands on the videos.... It really makes a difference to actually see the guy working.
if you like the youtube sample, you will love the dvd.

[deborah4923]

Thanks for this review! I will definitely check it out. On a personal note, I think the water-based clay is easier to clean up. Oil-based clay leaves residue. Thanks again.