Portraiture with Plasticine Workshop – with Wilfrid Wood

Autumn Term 2024
Sunday, 27th of October
11am – 4pm (on-site)
Cost £95

Workshop leader: Wilfrid Wood

Big creativity day at the studio if you are curious to explore human portraiture in 2D and 3D! London based portrait artist Wilfrid Wood will stir your creative juices in a fun workshop combining portraiture drawing and sculpting with plasticine. Like when you were a kid but better… and more fun?

We’ll focus on portraiture, starting with preparatory sketches that study the structure and features of the face, followed by sculpting in plasticine to bring your drawings to life with hands-on sculpting techniques. This progression from two-dimensional drawing to 3D sculpture will give you a comprehensive exploration of the human form.

Points to note

• The workshop will run from 11am – 4.00pm with a break for lunch.
• Materials included

Wilfrid Wood is a London based artist. He graduated from Central St Martins in graphic design but slowly transitioned to sculptor. Wilfrid used to be a “head builder”, creating grotesque latex heads for satirical TV programme, Spitting Image, a British satirical TV show that gained immense popularity in the 1980s and 1990s for its sharp political and cultural commentary.

The show was best known for using exaggerated latex puppets to caricature public figures, from politicians to celebrities. With a mix of biting humor and grotesque visual representations, Spitting Image became a cultural phenomenon, poking fun at world leaders like Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and other key figures of the era. The puppets, crafted by skilled artists like Wilfrid Wood, played a crucial role in the show’s success, making Spitting Image a defining voice of satire during its time.

Wilfrid is now a self-taught sculptor and works with plasticine and clay but also watercolour and pastels. Regardless of the medium he uses, he captures the essence of his subjects in both two and three dimensions. You can see Wilfrid’s work on instagram here. 

Workshop photos by Sarah Hall