A Lion

I rarely paint or sculpt animals that aren't native to North America, or sometimes Great Britain.  It seems that I should stick with the animals that I'm more familiar with.  But I just had to sculpt a lion, and here he is.

As always I began with the head (but not the mane yet).  Once I had the head sculpted from a solid lump of clay I hollowed it out from the neck end.  From there I added a slab for the neck, then a rolled slab for the body.  The legs and tail are solid.  When I had the whole lion together I added the mane.

For the mane I considered adding individual strands, but ended up attaching eight or so irregular shaped flat pieces that I textured.  I think it works fine.