A study of damage in clay-like materials during drying is presented. The theoretical distribution of drying-induced stresses in the cross-section of a cylindrical sample are computed based on the thermomechanical drying model. These stresses are compared to measured material strength with the help of the Huber-von Mises failure criterion. In such a way, one can indicate the regions of dried material most prone to the failure. Three different types of clay-like masses commonly used in ceramic industry are considered: typical regional illite clay, kaolin clay and C130 advanced ceramic mass.