Hi all,
sorry for the long silence.
I had to interrupt my work on the EREBUS & ALALA diorama for one of my very rare client commissions. Unfortunately the commission went pair shape and now I have to fight for may reimbursement.
I know why I hate commissions and why I usually don't accept any...
Anyhow, during the break the "Shiflett Brothers' Sculpting Forum" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1114208771968434/) announced their new "Monster Rider Challenge" on Facebook.
Well, you know I love monsters and riders ;)
So to vent frustration and to gather Mojo to continue the EREBUS & ALALA dio, I decided to join the fun.
In the WIP post (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1114208771968434/2067876766601625/) you can see a lot of great ideas already!
The initial idea I had was "why not turn things around and make the human the monster?" and my sketch and first armature reflected this.
A basic human shape kind of running on all fours.
Maybe using the right arm to pound something, or to brace on something
I wanted to have something dynamic
Well, dynamic it looked
But after a nights sleep I realized that the upper torso was twisted way to much to picture a believable rider situation.
So I twisted the torso back and therefore twisted the right arm further back and up.
This looked better, but somehow not so convincing to me.
Letting it sit for two days and playing some ideas out, I decided "not a real human".
I had a kind of Frankensteinish idea...
Some more thinking about a nightmare composed of various creatures.
So "it" received some different legs
still not convincing - especially since I originally had a chicken leg and a bull leg planned - imagine that walking :P
About to give up I left it alone for another two nights and then came up with this approach
bulls legs and a scorpion tail.
The upper torso remained for the time being
Not as dynamic as the initial concept, but still OK I think.
So I settled for that approach and burned the basic shape.
I kept the Frankenstein idea and now I have human-ish thighs and bulls lower legs
I also added stitching holes and deep wounds
To emphasize the cobbled together nightmare, I exaggerated the upper arm, and it will get birds feet
Hmm, could work out...
Next I decided to add some dragon-skin on the back
As you can see I'm "flying by the seat of my pants" again and am free-styling the pieces
Last night I did the scorpions tail
The underside has dragon skin and the upper side armor plates
The situation I have now settled for is "it" stamping forward using his left arm to push itself off a pillar and the rider urging it forward.
I have to admit that I'm still pulling blanks when I think about the head of the beast....
The lower legs will be birds/dragon feet.
Well, this is as far as I got.
Cheers
Klaus
