Some Bear is Getting Hair
Final stage of figurative sculpture is always the detail. This now, is happening in the way of hair texture, eyes and toes on my bear with a diamond cutting tool bit via a Dremel Rotary Tool. The process is slow and tedious, while sometimes I find myself working between breaths. But no other stage in the process puts as much life into the subject.
Bears are interesting to do as a sculptural subject because of the way their body structure and articulation. They are very like humans in these capacities. And this allows for them to be positioned much in the same way that a human. The more of the human body language the can assume the more endearing they become. This all can happen without having to resort to caricature. I try to stay away from any such distortions as enlarging eyes, feet, or other body parts indicative of caricature. I prefer instead to maintain the integrity of real life form and allow for the positioning to convey the emotion.