--- product_id: 1705302 title: "The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture" price: "1904848₫" currency: VND in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/1705302-the-portrait-in-clay-a-technical-artistic-and-philosophical-journey store_origin: VN region: Vietnam --- # The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture **Price:** 1904848₫ **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture - **How much does it cost?** 1904848₫ with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/1705302-the-portrait-in-clay-a-technical-artistic-and-philosophical-journey) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture [Rubino, Peter] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture Review: Direct instruction step by step. Great book - Very good book to have in ones library of art texts. Currently using it to address individual parts of the face, sculpting eyes, nose, ears and mouth to sharpen up skills. This book addresses wet clay while I am using Plasticine (oil based) clay. It is well illustrated with actual photographs of work in progress. In the beginning there are basic instructional information and as it progresses individual details are provided in sharp, clear illustration. I would recommend this book and do. It also addresses the anatomy of the face in very fundamental ways, about two to four pages worth enough to encourage me to purchace a life size skull to practice from. Hoping the clay adhears well to the skull. Review: Great technique for making basic form for head sculpture - Was able to sculpt portrait with help from the technique presented in this book. Peter Rubino shows how to break the process down using logical geometric form. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,068,353 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #90 in Sculpting Technique #307 in Sculpture Appreciation #358 in Human Figure Art (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 90 Reviews | ## Images ![The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/615HHqXotNL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Direct instruction step by step. Great book *by T***M on March 4, 2018* Very good book to have in ones library of art texts. Currently using it to address individual parts of the face, sculpting eyes, nose, ears and mouth to sharpen up skills. This book addresses wet clay while I am using Plasticine (oil based) clay. It is well illustrated with actual photographs of work in progress. In the beginning there are basic instructional information and as it progresses individual details are provided in sharp, clear illustration. I would recommend this book and do. It also addresses the anatomy of the face in very fundamental ways, about two to four pages worth enough to encourage me to purchace a life size skull to practice from. Hoping the clay adhears well to the skull. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great technique for making basic form for head sculpture *by D***N on February 24, 2021* Was able to sculpt portrait with help from the technique presented in this book. Peter Rubino shows how to break the process down using logical geometric form. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars for Beginning Artists *by H***E on December 27, 2010* I am trying to get a hold of as many books on sculpting techniques as possible as I live 2 hours from the nearest college, so this is how I have to learn. While I also gave Katherine Dewey's "Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay" a high review, those techniques just don't translate as well into sculpture as I had hoped (though her discussions on scaling and proportion do). Peter Rubino's "The Portrait in Clay" is an excellent step-by-step beginner's guide to sculpting portraits. Its broken down into 5 sections. The first shows you the basic techniques on a generic head. The second section is a brief section on tools. Its brief because he doesn't use very many tools. The third section shows sculpting with a live model. The photos (the failing of far too many scultping books) are clear, detailed and actually show the area being concentrated on. They are not perfect, but still do an excellent job (you sometimes have to skip ahead a couple of pages to see what the current step looks like when completed). Section 4 is a detailed discussion of the individual features of the face: nose, eyes, ears, the mouth and chin. Part of what makes this book good is that during the first and third sections, he refers to these sections with page numbers so you are not just flipping around. However I think he could have merged sections 1 and 4, or at least put 4 after 1. Finally Peter details the finishing process: hollowing, firing and applying a patina. I must reserve judgement here. It reads good, but this is for water-based clay and I work in oils so I can't really comment on it. Books like this create a difficulting when attempting to rate them due to the differing abilities of the potential reader. So for this I will say 5 stars for the beginner, it has everything you need to make a good portrait in clay. You might even make a few bucks off what you learn. For the intermediate I would call it 3 stars because there is probably something in here that will make your process a little easier or more accurate. For advance artists, I doubt you will find much of value. My criticisms are three-fold. First, the artist's finished portrait created during this book doesn't look like the live model. But I think this is due more to the artist's eye than his techniques. Second, it doesn't offer any methods for smoothing the work to create more lifelike texture. And third, his patina finishes are, in my opinion, way too heavy-handed. He attempts to create the bluish effect of aged bronze, but really ends up just painting it blue. Again, a great book for the beginner, the best I've read so far. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Portrait in Clay: A Technical, Artistic, and Philosophical Journey Toward Understanding the Dynamic and Creative Forces in Portrait Sculpture - Sculpting the Figure in Clay: An Artistic and Technical Journey to Understanding the Creative and Dynamic Forces in Figurative Sculpture - Ceramic Sculpture: Making Faces: A Guide to Modeling the Head and Face with Clay --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vn/products/1705302-the-portrait-in-clay-a-technical-artistic-and-philosophical-journey](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/1705302-the-portrait-in-clay-a-technical-artistic-and-philosophical-journey) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vietnam* *Store origin: VN* *Last updated: 2026-04-23*