Fail to plan. Plan to fail….
“I don’t need a plan or design. I’ll just start” Let me tell you something—I’ve been sculpting for over 30 years, and I still like to have a quick sketch at the very least.

In the past three decades, I have taught well over 500 students, and in each class, there is always at least one who thinks they can just start adding clay onto a rough armature and create a masterpiece faster than their counterparts. Meanwhile, their peers are toiling away for a class or two on their design sketches, thumbnails, and orthographics. With these, they are building a clear vision in their heads. Invariably, this cocky student tends to brag and taunt the others, saying things like, “You are taking too long,” or “You should already be adding clay.”
Then, less than a week later, we all see that those who have the clear vision, made a plan and created a blueprints, sketch or story start to push past those who went “freeform.”
It’s funny because it starts out like a competition and then it becomes embarrassing. The one without the plan starts to fall very far behind. Then, invariably, those who are pushing ahead tend to feel sorry for them and start to try to help. That, in itself, can be hopeless as there is no structure, no plan, no foresight. The freeform student often can’t even answer basic questions about their idea because they were going to work it out on the fly. It’s so bad that everyone who tries to help them tends to give up and go back to their own artwork because it’s really a lost cause to help the freeform one.
Eventually, the freeform student will get there. But usually, their ideas in the piece will be disjointed, and many of the design choices will be odd. Often, because they rush to catch up with others in the class, the artwork is unstable and undefined, simply because they ran out of time or gave up. They’ll make excuses to fit with their mistakes and downfalls, saying things like, “Oh, that’s okay that it doesn’t stand up straight; I’ll give them a hunchback,” or “It’s okay if one eye doesn’t match the other; I’ll just put the hair over it.”
So, while it can seem exciting to go freeform with your sculptures, I highly discourage it, especially if you are under a time crunch. Even making the most basic decisions on the fly can be time-consuming and, in the end, disconnected from the rest of the artwork.
Time is money, and these types of ongoing decisions can cost not only time but materials as well. So do yourself a favor and do some research, make that quick sketch, write down that quick story or character outline. Get the idea clear in your head and it will save you a lot of frustration and lead to much better results.