In addition to creating NURBS surfaces using curves, you can edit and sculpt surfaces and primitive objects in Maya using the Sculpt Geometry Tool.
The Sculpt Geometry Tool allows you to interactively push or pull on the surface regions to create areas that are embossed or in relief in relation to the surface.
In this lesson, you learn some of the basic concepts of these tools by sculpting a cartoon face and head from a NURBS primitive sphere using the Sculpt Geometry Tool.