Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Dragon Rider (1)

Hi all,
another clay sculpting post.
 
This project is called "Dragon Rider" and is inspired by this image by Keith Parkinson, called "Northwatch"
I'm not trying to recreate it 1:1, but I really like the dragon and rider's pose.
So here's my take on it.
 
The start looks rather like a fat slug than a dragon.
But with the first hint of a leg
one can almost guess the shape.
with the wing stumps it almost looks like a turkey :-P
I wanted to try a bit of a dynamic pose, so I raised the right front leg a bit - like a cat or a dog does sometimes.
Then I started to smoothen the surface and added a collar.
Some muscles on the back and the tail.
The next day I started to add muscles to the legs and extend the wings.
I however realized that the pose with the raised leg isn't really working, so I removed the leg again
and replaced it with a straight leg.
The "arm" of the wing is slowly extended - but each time I add a bit, it need to cure before I can continue - a bit time consuming.
Muscles on the right side.
and more on the rear.
The next day I started with the head.


 
But I didn't really like it, so I removed it again...















and started with another head













































Since the proportions seemed OK, I continued.
Looks a bit "birdy" :)






























But with eyelids and some flesh it starts to look like a dragon.















Some spikes and horns















And then it was my turn to play dentist ;-)















and starting with the lower jaw.















Ah, now we're talking dragon :)













































After the clay cured overnight to a leathery consistence I came to the most dreaded and delicate part of a clay sculpt, removing the stuffing and armature to make the model hollow.
Luckily it worked without damage















Last task for that evening was then to create a base plate















and mount Artemis on it.















The next day I started to detail the feet.















And work some more on the wings















between those two images are 1 hour of curing.















So I worked a bit more on Artemis' face and smoothened it some more and added another spike on her eyebrows.















and I started to add the fingers to the wings.















While the wing parts cured I started to add the saddle blanket.






























And the next day I completed the wing structure!
That was quite a delicate task.















And finally I added some belts and a crest.















And Artemis received her final look :)















CHEEEEEESE!















Before I started to complete the wings I added another set of belts and another crest on her back.




















Last night I finally tackled the skin for the wings.
I theory I had done this before with Tar'Akoona, but that was a polymer clay, while here I'm using a natural clay.
The first section of skin





























And after almost 2 hours of delicate work both wings had their skin!















The inside still needs some cleanup















But I really like it :)






























Ready for a rider :)















I hope you like this update, despite not being WH40K.
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Cheers
Klaus