Sculpting How hard is it to sculpt a doll head?

ive done a bit of sculpting, but ive only used super sculpy 3, or a bizzare mix of wood glue and powdered sawdust. > >;. i guess im not sure what you're using though.. or how you're going about it. how are you starting out your project? (or planning to)

 

How hard is it to make a head? Easy. To make a good head? Eh heh... Harder than it looks.
But to make it hollow inside I know some people make a ball of foil, sometimes covered in masking tape and sculpt the clay around it. I think it's actually a good idea to do this anyway, 'cause i don't think a doll-head sized lump of any kind of sculpting material would dry properly and would probably be massively heavy.

 

i use lithefinder's melon ball scoop thing method. It should be in the artist's doll section somewhere. I'd say look there if you want to learn about how to make a head.

The basic question is do you want a direct sculpt or do you want to cast it in resin later?

 

I'm making a doll too, starting with his head XD And what really helps-I think-is to make practice heads. Sculpt a head, and when it's finnished, list everything that is okay, and everything that is wrong. So you'll get a list, and with that list, you make your next head. And then you do the same thing again. And again. And again. Until you got a perfect head ^^ I'm working on my third head now, and it's really improving

also very important-keep turning the head! I have absolutely no 3D vision, to me, everything is a drawing XD So I'll have this very cute front, but then turn it to the side and it looks horrible..so, keep turning the head, also upside down, because that helps for symmetry ^^ and of course, take some gooood looks at your own dolls, how they work, what are their proportions in their faces, how deep are their eyes, how chubby are their cheeks?

I carve a dolly head out of a styrofoam ball and sculpt around it, and when the head is finnished, I cut the headcap off and get the foam out..that method was on this Japanese dollmaking site, the link is in the artist section ^^

good luck

*edit* about clay, I don't know if it's available in the US, but I use Artista clay, it's a very light clay that's actually meant for sculpting very, very small stuff like doll heads. It's very soft, you don't need a lot of water and it dries by air(but you can also use the oven)and once it's dry, it's light and very strong, it feels a bit like paper..if you can find it, I really recommend it ^^

 

I made a face...and it was alright...
Thinking of different methods to make a full head(and eventually a full doll)...but that could be a really long time. XD

There's nothing wrong with trying your luck. I think difficulty will depend on how difficult YOU think it is, not how other people think it is. Somethings come easier to other people.