Hi, I've just recently gotten into sculpting. I've been drawing my entire life and I still abosuletly love it, however lately I just wanted to give something else a try. I bought an 8x8 cube of styrofoam and a cheap carving knife and took some practice on it to see if I could actually do sculpting. For my first time it didn't turn out too bad.

What I wanted to know was if I'm to really get into sculpting, what would be the best material to work with? I'm looking for something that would be relatively easy to work with, however also durable unlike styrofoam, something that will have a smooth finish, great for carving details, and something that doesn't require me to use an oven. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

New here, don't mind me. I've recently taken up sculpting myself, but from what I've learned, a sculpture can be made out of anything. You can glue together broken pieces of plastic silverware to make a skeleton or use old laundry detergent bottles to make a parrot, but I don't think you're looking for something quite so abstract.. Me neither.

What my art teacher recommended for me to use, which actually fits the description that you're looking for quite well, is basswood. http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/basswoodinfo.htm I've never personally used it, but she's been sculpting longer than I've been alive so I trust her on it. My last woodcarving was from some scrap piece of wood, which was a bit too hard to be "sculpting" wood, but she let me borrow her knives... http://www.flexcut.com/products/cart...category_id=97 Pricey, but if you get really into sculpting, they're definitely worth the investment.

Hope this helped.