Please don’t use NanoBanana— I’d like to say don’t use any genAI at all, but SPECIALLY NanoBanana— Google has been using their cloud technology on Israel’s apartheid and the data you would be giving it to “play around” is free data that actively harms Palestinians :(
I followed the rest of the article and I thank you lots for your wisdom! Just wanted to point it out because of the gravity of the issue— have read about your experimentations in the past as well, so I know it doesn’t come from a place of malice at all :) Thank you for taking the time to read and comment as well— have a nice day!
I recently learned Blender which is a free, open source 3d computer graphics program. I learned to sculpt maquettes and polygonal heads but currently researching which 3d printer to buy. What kind of 3d printers does your son and the library have, James and Lauren?
I'm interested to know how that works out for you because my son has a 3-D printer too. Let us know in the comments if you find a good digital 3-D model to use as a basis.
James, please don’t endorse using gen AI for anything. This is highly irresponsible from someone like you who is such a huge inspiration to generations of artists and creatives.
You are well respected and a wealth of knowledge and experience. You of all people should understand how important it is for new artists to figure out how to learn techniques in their own way, not have gen AI make it for them.
I, as an artist, have looked up to you since early childhood. Please do better. Please.
I appreciate your entreaties, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm as analog as you can get, and don't use gen AI for my artwork. (BTW, FYI, AI is woven through everything we do online now, whether we "use gen AI" or not. )
But if others choose to use it, it's fine with me, because we all have to make our own personal peace with tech.
And I encourage everyone to explore, experiment, and be curious, so that at least we can see what's coming. Kind of like looking both ways for oncoming trucks before crossing the highway.
Fantastic breakdown of the pedagogical value here. The point about sculpting your own plane breakdown vs buying commercial models really gets at something deeper about active vs passive learning. When I was studing anatomy, the sketches that stuck were always the ones where I had to decide what to simplfy and what to keep, not the ones where someone handed me the answer. That decision-making process builds the mental model way faster than just copying somebody else's already finished interpretation.
I love the way teachers talk about the process you refer to as "getting it into your hands." Which is why time spent building a maquette is always worthwhile.
Making your own plane head sounds like a fantastic learning experience. So much could be done with it afterwards, too. I wonder how good a result could be made with air dry clay over some type of internal form such as a foam or papier mache skull bought just after Halloween?
Once I used air dry clay over just such a skull to make a pretty good image of Eddie The Head. I wish I still had him. There was a bit of cracking but nothing that wasn't patchable.
That experience makes me think it might be possible to make a pretty good head that way and eliminate the mold making step. Of course, there's always wax or plasticine and then plaster, as you mentioned!
I'm probably not the best person to ask about air-dry clay, cause the only kind I've used Model Magic, the Crayola air-dry clay for kids. It's good and nontoxic but tends to crack. I should also mention the Proko website which offers some teaching units built around their plane head, which is a good one, based on Loomis. https://www.proko.com/tool/plane-head-pro-bundle
It's kind of funny, Model Magic is the air dry clay I used for my own Eddie sculpt. I did notice cracking but could likely fill it with something, perhaps a light weight patching compound. I'll check that video out, thank you!
Please don’t use NanoBanana— I’d like to say don’t use any genAI at all, but SPECIALLY NanoBanana— Google has been using their cloud technology on Israel’s apartheid and the data you would be giving it to “play around” is free data that actively harms Palestinians :(
Fair enough—skip the AI and sculpt or sketch the plane breakdown with your own hands instead, which is what I recommend anyway.
I followed the rest of the article and I thank you lots for your wisdom! Just wanted to point it out because of the gravity of the issue— have read about your experimentations in the past as well, so I know it doesn’t come from a place of malice at all :) Thank you for taking the time to read and comment as well— have a nice day!
We recently learned how to use the 3d printer at our library! I would love to print a plane model bust to draw from!
I recently learned Blender which is a free, open source 3d computer graphics program. I learned to sculpt maquettes and polygonal heads but currently researching which 3d printer to buy. What kind of 3d printers does your son and the library have, James and Lauren?
I'm interested to know how that works out for you because my son has a 3-D printer too. Let us know in the comments if you find a good digital 3-D model to use as a basis.
James, please don’t endorse using gen AI for anything. This is highly irresponsible from someone like you who is such a huge inspiration to generations of artists and creatives.
You are well respected and a wealth of knowledge and experience. You of all people should understand how important it is for new artists to figure out how to learn techniques in their own way, not have gen AI make it for them.
I, as an artist, have looked up to you since early childhood. Please do better. Please.
I appreciate your entreaties, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm as analog as you can get, and don't use gen AI for my artwork. (BTW, FYI, AI is woven through everything we do online now, whether we "use gen AI" or not. )
But if others choose to use it, it's fine with me, because we all have to make our own personal peace with tech.
And I encourage everyone to explore, experiment, and be curious, so that at least we can see what's coming. Kind of like looking both ways for oncoming trucks before crossing the highway.
Fantastic breakdown of the pedagogical value here. The point about sculpting your own plane breakdown vs buying commercial models really gets at something deeper about active vs passive learning. When I was studing anatomy, the sketches that stuck were always the ones where I had to decide what to simplfy and what to keep, not the ones where someone handed me the answer. That decision-making process builds the mental model way faster than just copying somebody else's already finished interpretation.
I love the way teachers talk about the process you refer to as "getting it into your hands." Which is why time spent building a maquette is always worthwhile.
Making your own plane head sounds like a fantastic learning experience. So much could be done with it afterwards, too. I wonder how good a result could be made with air dry clay over some type of internal form such as a foam or papier mache skull bought just after Halloween?
Once I used air dry clay over just such a skull to make a pretty good image of Eddie The Head. I wish I still had him. There was a bit of cracking but nothing that wasn't patchable.
That experience makes me think it might be possible to make a pretty good head that way and eliminate the mold making step. Of course, there's always wax or plasticine and then plaster, as you mentioned!
I'm probably not the best person to ask about air-dry clay, cause the only kind I've used Model Magic, the Crayola air-dry clay for kids. It's good and nontoxic but tends to crack. I should also mention the Proko website which offers some teaching units built around their plane head, which is a good one, based on Loomis. https://www.proko.com/tool/plane-head-pro-bundle
It's kind of funny, Model Magic is the air dry clay I used for my own Eddie sculpt. I did notice cracking but could likely fill it with something, perhaps a light weight patching compound. I'll check that video out, thank you!