Horned Demon

This was my very first sculpture when getting into this hobby (absolutely the first, with no hidden pre-attempts). The reference was a video by [TODO: Name/Link] on sculpting Diablo. I saw it, bought some clay, and just had a go at it.

Luckily, I was strong enough to push through and finish it. It was—and still is—very ugly, and I knew it at the time. But I also knew the importance of actually finishing a project. So, even though it was ugly, I saw it through and went on to paint it as well. That was a great learning experience in itself, allowing me to start dry brushing and just get familiar with the paints.

After I finished it, I discovered that my cat loves chewing on baked polymer clay to break it. So, it broke pretty soon after. That was another very important lesson to learn before putting even more effort into future sculptures!

It never made it to being a "shelf" piece at any point, but regardless, it is one of those early steps that just cannot and shouldn't be skipped. The learning curve increases significantly at the start of any practice, and this hobby is no different. The lessons I learned here made my sculptures much better, right from the very second attempt.