Face facts: Statues of stars like Kane and Ronaldo don’t always deliver. Sculptors offer advice

AP Sports Writer

LONDON (AP) — One art critic compared the new Harry Kane bronze statue to a bulging-jawed comic strip character. The infamous Cristiano Ronaldo bust in 2017 gave the chiseled soccer star a chubby face and goofy smile. Sculptors are offering tips to avoid pitfalls. London-based Hywel Pratley says sculptors must first get the subject’s profile correct “and then you can go forward with more confidence.” Probably best to avoid smiles, Pratley adds because it’s “really difficult to do teeth looking good in sculpture.” London-based sculptural conservator Lucy Branch suggests an open vote because the public tends “to know whether the artist has hit the nail on the head.”