How to Make a Wire Figure

today i'm going to show you how to make a human  figure out of wire this is one of my favorite   3d lessons for my sculpture classes because you  learn about the human body focusing on accurate   human proportion but you can also really explore  movement and expression with your human figure the   human body can show so much emotion and art and  it's such a great subject matter because there's   humans everywhere you will need sculpting wire  and i will put the aluminum wire that i'm using   in the description box a pair of pliers comes in  handy but i'll be doing most of this video without   and you will also need something like a block of  wood to create a stable base for your sculpture   at the end if you love learning about art hit that  subscribe button so you never miss an art tutorial   to start get one long piece of your aluminum  sculpture wire i didn't measure i just kind of   cut like i don't know maybe six feet five feet  then you're gonna find not the center but you're   gonna find um part almost towards the end but  not quite and loop with your free end all the way   around itself until you've made a loop an oval or  something that looks like a lollipop or a balloon   you can see i have a really long piece underneath  it and then i do have almost like a scarf sticking   out i have a shorter end take that shorter end and  pull it back down to create a triangular shape the   first loop is your head this is going to be your  torso your shoulders into your waist take your   piece of end that's not so the shorter end and  then loop that around itself at least two times   if you just do it once it won't really hold  its form so i like to do two neat loops to   start now we have our head with a neck now we  have our shoulders to our waist and now it's   time for the creepiest part the pelvic girdle or  as i like to call it in school the batman bikini   this is the same size as your head but instead of  an oval it's more of a triangular shape um with   the point at the bottom or away from the head so  i'm trying to make it about the same size you can   see that the sculpture wire is trying to fight  me a little bit and i'm kind of looping around   that shorter end into the longer end and you can  see now i'm trying to tape my wire and make it not   round but make it more triangular but about the  same size as the head okay now we have the head   the torso the pelvic girdle and then we're gonna  go down into the legs my goal is proportion or   size relationships and so if you're doing  the human body accurately it's about eight   human heads high depending on the size of your  head so if from my head to my batman bikini   is the halfway point so at this point grab  something that you could measure with and you're   going to just recreate your legs the same length  as the head torso and pelvis so what i do is   just kind of measure taking my ruler and then i'm  going to make a loop at the very bottom to create   my foot so first i'm just focusing on proportion  but i want my human figure to be showing motion   and movement and so i want the ability for it to  be able to stand so you can see i made a loop just   like i did with my head loop around the ankle  a couple of times so that it's nice and stable   and then you're gonna go back up stop at  the halfway point and this will be the knee   i always loop at least twice making sure that it  has a nice stable um loop because if you don't   kind of knot each section and give each section  a stopping point it the wire is going to slide   around and you're not going to have well-defined  bone structure or muscle mass so i have my foot   knee or the knee is going to be your halfway point  and then i'm going to go all the way back into the   batman bikini and i'm going to loop it around  the side and this will be the top part of your   legs so your hamstring your quad into your upper  thigh um and your rear end so i'm going to loop   that around on the right hand side so it doesn't  like slide around and there's a nice defined leg   this is kind of the skeleton part of this we will  go back and give it a little more muscle mass   right now the focus is proportion clean wrapping  and making sure each part of the body you loop at   least twice so it has nice um a nice structure and  form to it you can see it's giving me a hard time   and like i said at the beginning of the video i  am not using pliers just because i like my videos   to be as uncomplicated as possible with limited  materials if you have pliers you might be able   to have a neater like a neater wrap and you might  have a little bit of an easier time with your wire   before you move on to the next body part  stop and look at it check your wraps kind   of move the wire around to get the shape you  want things can get real complicated real   fast so always stop assess yourself check your  loops check your body parts make sure everything   is right in the same place now it's easy because  i've already measured i'm going to take the rest   of my wire and go down and stop where the foot  is and i'm going to repeat all these same steps   i'm looping again trying to make it about the same  size make sure to stand your sculpture up to make   sure that the feet where the legs aren't lopsided  but they're about or the same length then you're   going to make your foot remember you're going to  wrap at least twice adjust your wire as needed   and then you'll go back up the leg into the knee  into the upper body again so it's very simple   clean lines at first making sure you hear me say  this a lot wrap two times at each transitional   body part like ankle knee and hip your wire does  try to fight you a little bit so that's why i like   to work with you know not huge long pieces of  wire at a time because it will knock things off   your desk if you're sitting next to someone be  careful you might poke them in the eye be aware   of the end of your wire because it definitely has  a mind of its own so here i am kind of looping it   around in the batman bikini area and you'll notice  there's going to be a few areas that you do a lot   of wrapping the neck and the waist you'll kind  of have some like stopping and starting points so   make sure you're wrapping there very neatly so it  doesn't look too heavy or too messy in those areas   like i said before check your work make sure that  your legs look like they belong to the same human   so that they have similar mass they have  similar lengths and that your feet do work   that's going to be important once it's time  to get your sculpture standing on a base   okay i have the skeleton or the outline of my  legs now it's time to add more wire and attach   it for our arms because when i finished my legs  i knew i didn't have enough to go into my arms   i just looped it several times around the waist to  kind of finish off that wire and because i have so   much happening in the waist i'm going to loop just  like i did the first time around the neck with a   small amount i mean i probably did too much on the  end there but i really want this part to be secure   and not have like a loose end so i'm wrapping that  around the neck into the first shoulder and again   maybe that was a little too much wire but i'm  going to make it work okay now that i have my   sculpture by its neck it's time to do the arms  so the proportion of arms i want to make sure it   doesn't look like the arm is coming straight out  of my neck so the top part of my triangle the two   longer sides i'm going to do a wrap so that i  can go down and do my right arm this is a little   tricky because i have so much wire so i have to  kind of loop it through and again remember you're   going to wrap two times every time you start a new  body part or you go to a halfway point like a knee   an elbow an ankle that sort of thing okay so i  have my wire neatly attached and then looking   at human proportion the average human arm goes to  mid thigh now we're making kind of like a textbook   human of course everyone is different and there's  all different types of body types out there   but i'm going to kind of go by the guide that you  would find like in a health science book so just   like i did with the hand i'm doing a very small  loop or for the hand just like i did with the foot   attached to just that one single piece of wire  make sure to stop check to make sure that your   wire is the right length and it's not a hot mess  and then i'm going to travel back up the arm   to the elbow just like before i'm going to do two  really good loops to make sure that my elbow stays   in place checking to make sure it looks right  it's not a tangled mess and then i'm going to go   back into the torso to finish off my hand into the  shoulder this is an important connection because   i don't want to wrap it around the neck because  that will bring the arm to the neck which isn't   proportionately accurate so see how i'm attaching  it slightly lower than the top shoulder just like   imagine this is the bottom of your armpit it is a  little bit tricky to go through the torso and loop   depending on how long your wire is mine's still  pretty long because i just reattached and then   you can see it kind of gives this like balloon arm  and i need to play around and make sure as it's   the wire's fighting me that it's the arm doesn't  look like like a flappy wing um but it's also   also not too skinny or like sticking directly into  the neck so it takes a little bit of elbow grease   it's not perfect but it's good enough and i'm  going to repeat the same steps on the other side   going down to mid thigh looping twice to create  my hand going to the halfway point looks good   and then it's time for the elbow taking my  extra wire looping it around twice and then   i'm going to and this is the end of the wire so  it's starting to not want to cooperate and then   i'm going to do the same thing create a thicker  arm because this is where the biggest part of your   arm is at the shoulder where it connects this is  a little tricky this is where pliers would come in   handy because you could kind of loop in there but  again i'm doing this public school style what if   you don't have enough pliers for all your students  i'm just showing that you can do it without them   if you have to so this hand's a little bit  squished i kind of lost my elbow a little bit   i'm going to kind of fidget with it try and fix  it lose my cool and here's my advice anytime   your wire is really just driving you crazy take a  deep breath if possible take a minute away from it   if that's not possible move on to another part of  the sculpture knowing that you can always go back   and adjust the wire as you go i'm gonna fight with  my wire a little bit more before i move on to the   next step so we're going to check our proportions  because we're at the end of the skeleton phase   i'm just making sure that the wire didn't sink  back in on itself that my forms are really nice   and intentional um checking the legs making sure  there we go we've been doing our squats over here   making sure that all the connections are there yes  the left hand bothers me the left arm i should say   but i know the next step is adding more wire to  create muscle mass take another piece of wire   and wrap it around one of your base points either  the neck or the torso i'm doing the torso because   i'm going to or around the waist so i can build up  the torso from there keep in mind every person who   does this and every time you do it you're going  to end your wire at different places so if you   had extra wire you would skip this step and just  work with the wire that you had until you run out   now that i have my sculpture by the waist i'm  going to loop it up to create a nice proud chest   loop it around the neck to make sure it's nice  and secure and i have my nice form which means   three-dimensional shape it's not flat instead of  looking like a flat skeleton it's going to start   to look more three-dimensional and more sculptural  i'm going to go back around the other side to   create my nice back and i'm going to loop that  around the waist to give it a good stopping point   okay let me bring it to where you can see it  and this is where you're going to really notice   if you over wrap the neck or you over wrap the  waist it starts to look clunky or unfinished then   you can kind of pull the wire to give it that  form one of the most noticeable areas of your   sculpture will be the head so you want to double  over crossing your wire at an opposite angle   that you started with that is going to make your  head look more three-dimensional so this is very   difficult i'm not going to loop yet i'm going to  go back down and wrap it around the neck to give   it kind of that first loop it might not look um  right immediately it might look kind of awkward   so kind of like measure get your wire where you  want it and then you can once it's stable kind   of pull twist and get it the right form that  you would like it so i'm wrapping again pulling   all the way through and it's making this kind  of kink in the wire that's just wire it's not   the nicest material it's stabby it has a mind of  its own and i'm just kind of looping around again   pulling as i go to make sure i don't have like a  smashed head or a peanut head but i have a nice   kind of like oval skull like shape i don't want  to over wrap the head it's not going to be solid   just a few loops to give it the illusion of mass  instead of just like one little circle it's not   really connected i'm not loving it yet but again  i know that this is a work in progress so i'm just   going to kind of get my wire the way i want it  and then have my end point bringing it back down   through the torso and wrap it around the waist  so we can give some muscle mass to our lower body   remember your stopping points will always be  your transitional parts of the body so your neck   your waist your elbow your knee your wrist your  ankle so those are going to be the areas that you   wrap around to create three-dimensional shape  or form and to make sure that you still have   your correct proportion so for the thigh you're  just going to go from the waist and then you're   going to wrap it around the knee and then you'll  go back down to the ankle wrap it around there   and that will create a really nice upper thigh and  give your sculpture more of a muscular look you   can see looks like my sculpture has been working  out looping carefully and neatly around the knee   and then going back into the waist so that's the  thing with wire is you're using long pieces that   you're wrapping into itself so it's really stable  you're going to repeat the same steps on the other   side loop around the waist create a thicker thigh  loop around the knee go down to the ankle and loop   a couple times neatly you want to make sure it's  tight loop back around the knee and then you're   going to head on back to the waist so he's already  looking much more muscular and much more defined   now depending on your taste you can do this more  than once i'm a public school teacher and wire   is expensive so i'm going to kind of limit how  much wire i use and again the whole point isn't   to cover the whole thing it's not going to be 100  wire you will be able to see through the sculpture   and the wire creates this really nice movement  in your sculpture i'm going to do the same   exact technique to the arms so i went to my  waist to my neck from my neck to my elbow   elbow to wrist nice and twisted and then going  back again to my neck okay nice and thick   i'm out of wire here and remember you can  add wire to your sculpture at any point   so i'm going to go ahead and get some more wire  and i'm going to attach it so i can finish off   this sculpture by doing my right arm so i'm kind  of looping through attaching it at the shoulder   almost because i don't want the neck to look  like i'm like strangling my sculpture i don't   want it to be too emphasized so you can see me  kind of like bat track here it's totally up to   you where to add your wire don't add it somewhere  random it needs to be one of those points that we   talked about and i think i'm gonna have success  here trying to wrap it in the shoulder area where   i attach my arm going into my midway point which  is the elbow and i'm going to twist that all the   way so that i can move on with just the long  piece if that makes sense then i'm going to   continue with that nice long edge wrap it around  the wrist and because i knew i was finishing with   this sculpture i didn't cut as long of a piece as  i had before now i have this extra piece so i'm   going to go around the neck again loop one more  time around the head to give it that nice mass   and then i'm gonna twist it and this is the hard  part when you have to finish the wire make sure   you have a nice loop and a nice stopping point now  your sculpture has accurate human proportions and   it has mass or form so lay it out like leonardo  da vinci's vitruvian man with perfect proportion   and double check that your muscle mass is where  where you want it to be there's no awkward like   edges and that it's three dimensional now if  you have pliers you can use the pliers to kind   of pull and twist which can absolutely be done  with just your hands as i've demonstrated but   this might help if you're like really trying to  get some of your wire to listen to you to kind   of clamp in and make a fine point or to kind of  pull your sculpture to make it not look flat now   at this point it's time to start thinking about  movement and expression i have done this sculpture   a lot throughout the years and i'm always so  impressed with how creative my students can be   forming their sculpture to show movement where  to express how it feels to be a human so you can   think about you know what movement you want  your sculpture to do or think of a big idea   like how would a person look if they  were confident or how would a person   how could you use the human body to show anguish  and you could pick any theme that you would like   to really dig deeper into how the human body can  show expression and show movement so play around   with those ideas think about what you want  your sculpture to be and now that you have a   sculpture that has mass has form and has accurate  proportions play around with moving those body   parts keep in mind the elbow is the bending point  of the arm so if it bends down at the wrist like   in between the wrists and elbows something's  wrong same thing with the leg if your knee   is like moving the wrong way it's going to look  like your sculpture was in a terrible accident so   think about the human body maybe look at your own  body maybe look at one of those drawing mannequins   and make sure whatever position you put it in the  human body could actually look that way so kind   of play around wire is super easy to mold super  easy to kind of figure out and move and shift   once you're happy with your expression and your  movement it's time to attach your sculpture to   a base i prefer to use wooden bases because they  balance the sculpture very well anything lighter   and it might topple over this is a nice piece of  wood i stole from my husband's wood shop and my   students will be using blocks of wood that they  probably paint black um i prefer to use a staple   gun i don't have one presently so what i'm doing  is attaching a small piece of wire to the knee   my balance is on one foot which is a little bit  tricky but luckily wire is so thin that it should   hold so i attached to my knee and wrapped around  my ankle if i just wrap the extra wire to my ankle   it might fall over and i'm just going to simply  wrap the wire a couple times around the base   this is not my favorite way to do this but again  i did not have um a nail gun you can see that the   wire makes the base a little unsteady because of  the way it's wrapped unevenly on the bottom it   serves its purpose and you can make like a spiral  you can make it look really nice this is a basic   way to do it again i prefer using one of those  heavy duty heavy duty staple guns um regular like   office staples won't work or at least they haven't  worked in my my situation and you can do like   a spiral and just have the base be a wire form  that you create yourself i prefer a block of wood   that's painted stapled down and if the staples  look too much i will just paint the staples black   so here's my sculpture 360 view i'm rotating it  while holding my phone so if it looks a little   crazy forgive my camera work you can see it's  balanced it has proportion it shows expression   and it's attached to a base thank you for sticking  around and making art with me and if you're   interested in more sculpting tutorials check these  out also if you're interested in what my students   are currently doing in my classroom find me on  instagram at that art teacher underscore machado

Channel: That Art Teacher

Views: 115,763

Keywords: how to make a wire figure, how to make a wire action figure, how to make a wire sculpture step by step, wire sculpting for beginners, step by step figure sculpture, high school wire lesson, how to make a balanced wire sculpture, how to make a wire sculpture person, how to make a wire sculpture, how to make a wire figure sculpture, that art teacher, sierra machado art channel, wire sculpting for art class, human proportion figure sculpture, human anatomy sculpting

Id: qQXoiqo7iCU

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021