Fantasy Creatures in Clay: Techniques for Sculpting Dragons, Griffins and More

I used this book to guide me in making a lot of different kinds of sculptures, including three chimeras (one about 6" and the others 2 or 3"), lots of mini figures (werewolf, humans, humanoids, etc), a dragon (Sunny from Wings of Fire), and a wolf pup. The book gives a lot of detailed instructions, including pictures and helpful tips, as well as a list of all materials that might be needed. Despite the title, the methods she uses are applicable to all kinds of sculptures, not just fantasy creatures. You can see that the author has a lot of experience and her instructions are clear and easy to follow even if you're a beginner (like I am). When I had questions about sculpting (and later about casting with Monster Clay), I was able to contact her via email and received prompt and thorough answers. My one and only complaint would be there might be, like, one typo that I noticed that made something a little confusing, but it can be figured out easily enough with common sense. The book itself was in very good condition; it has fairly thick, plastic-ish pages like you would expect from an art book, so you don't have to worry about getting clay or anything on it. It's pretty large, but I think that's to be expected. It's lasted about three years very well, the spine has broken a little so it stays open on pages I look at a lot (which is actually nice because it can be hard to keep open while you're using your hands to sculpt) and I expect it'll continue to last for as long as I need it. This book is definitely worth the price if you are looking to start sculpting and feel intimidated by other, bigger, more expert-looking books.

As other reviews have stated, this guide is for both beginning and experienced sculptors, but not beginning artists. You will need to know some anatomy, color theory, and a have little bit of drawing ability to be able to fully appreciate the information contained within. However, the book does contain convenient references to other websites and books that will help you somewhat. Some tutorials are step-by-step and teach you how to create something very specific, which is helpful but doesn't always give you a deeper understanding of how to do the process once on your own. Fantasy Creatures in Clay instead teaches skills and techniques and shows you how to go about using them. It encourages you to practice them on your own until they become instinctive instead of promising some quick way to learn how to sculpt. In that respect it may prove daunting to new sculptors, but rest assured it does give you the information you need to get started and build your abilities. The guide is beautiful to behold with large and detailed illustrations as well as clear instructions to help you follow along. It is also set up in such a way that referencing it at any stage of your sculpture for help is very and easy allows you to troubleshoot your creation without wasting time. The "field guide" theme and little visual touches such as the field notes make it entertaining and a little more engaging while you are reading. The size and quality of this guide make it quite a bargain at the current price and it would still be worth it near list price. If you or someone you know is getting into sculpting or have been sculpting for a while and just need some techniques to up your game, this guide will prove invaluable to you.

Wow, I have to say I am THOROUGHLY impressed! I've looked through many art books for various techniques and how-to. Some feel lacking as if they skipped steps or are too wordy. This is NOT the case with Fantasy Creatures in Clay at all! I'm happy to say a look through this book shows complete understanding of the materials, as expected, but the artist has taken care to walk us through not only the basic processes, but many fine points which seem to never be discussed in other sculpt books! Detailed and lots of process photos with a clear and to the point explanation. No space or words were wasted with this, and any artist seeking to improve their sculpt work, or even get into the medium will surely appreciate this book in their resources. Seriously, she's covered things I hadn't even thought of sculpting, such as semi-transparent wings! This is literally years of skill and practice of an artist begging to be at your fingertips, you should take full advantage of. If your also wondering the materials talked about in this book would cost to start making the beautiful sculpts, they are all easily obtainable here on Amazon, craft stores or even some supermarkets. Really, this book covers everything sculpt related, and is a must have.

Was really happy the price dropped by over ten dollars but the pages were on really cheap paper sort of thin see through paper that tears easily rather than thicker shiny paper, like the one I borrowed from the library. Still great reference for some textures though not the ones I really wanted. There are no complete projects in the book just different techniques you can use and a walk thru of a few steps of an armature or a few steps of wings or a few steps of scales. Also if you love the cover their is no explanation of techniques for the tree or plant based animals in the book. That was disappointing. Still a great resource. Great beginning book for trying different techniques after you have basic sculpting or shape forming down. But because there is no step by step for a project from start to finish this could also prove difficult for beginner. Wish the quality was better I will just have to be careful with it.

this nice wonderful and thick and colorful book has great professional looking artwork and this book is good for visual learners. not for complete beginners and you need some knowledge in color theory for the painting the sculptures and you need to have the knowledge or learn animal anatomy, this book don't cover anatomy, but it does show and sculpting the muscles and boniness and has some minor anatomy on wings. last thing you need to save money and invest in the tools required in this book before starting. this book does cover both sculpey and monster clay, but does seem to lean more towards using monster clay than sculpey clay. but the author did describe that the techniques can be use with sculpey also. another thing is that this book has site references in so you can learn even more sense you can't fit everything in the book. nice and thick and colorful I love it. I hope the author publishes more clay media books.

I'm very excited with this purchase. Emily Coleman has out done herself with this book. Mind you, this is not a book with step by step instructions on how to make a dragon or a griffin. Instead Ms. Coleman shares her techniques on how to decide on a pose, how to make the armature of your choice, how to attach the armature to a wooden base if need be, how to block in the clay, etc. She gives detailed instructions on how to sculpt various animal and bird faces, hands, feet, fur, hair and feathers. This book is just what I needed. I have a lot of ideas but didn't know how to execute them. She even explains how to make detailed, feathered wings and wings with membranes. She also explains what tools will be needed and the last section on her painting techniques is priceless. I can't say enough good things about this book. Highly recommended!

As the description states, this is not a step by step guide to making any of the creatures in the book. Instead, it shows you how to create a basic armature, wings, legs, and all sorts of good ideas, tips, and tricks. If people read the description first, they'd know these things (they're called words people, and it only hurts for the first few minutes). The reason this book only gets 3 stars is because it's horrible construction. It's printed on very cheap paper which is majorly warped (I've never seen this in a paperback book like this). So, to summarize: Content good, physical book bad.

OMG! This was the book I needed to get me over the hump. I have tried sculpting with polymer clay many times to limited success, but this book broke through and taught me what I needed to know to really move forward with gusto. And I sure did! I've got no less than four sculptures in progress, and all are MUCH further along than I'd ever gotten before. All I needed was the freedom to do the critters I want to do, and the technical knowhow to make that happen with some hope of success! I'm so there, and I have this book to thank! I highly recommend it for anyone who want to make their ideas really happen. I have confidence at last (after so many years) that mine will make it to completion! Yay!