Hi everyone. Well, as soon as I shipped my Tiamat project I got back to work on my dragon-like dragonfly. That’s what I was calling it, because it was supposed to be dragon-like in every way I could make it. But pretty quickly I started down that path we all get into once in a while (at least I hope I’m not the only one) when no sooner than I’d make a decision about some aspect of the piece I’d change my mind. And when that starts happening, it’s sort of like a hot flash, you know it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. (yeh, men get hot flashes too)
One of the reasons I haven’t posted in a while is because I was waiting for this to stop. I was waiting for an artistic path to make itself clear, and then I would report on the happy traveling. But now the sculpting is almost complete and I still haven’t gotten out of that equivocation hell. So I guess I’ll just write about it.
It started with the eyes. As I mentioned in my last post about this project I decided to paint my own eyes. I wanted dragon-like eyes, but big, like a bug. I was happy with them at first, until I put them on the project. Here is the first look.
I added some horns. Dragons have horns. But it didn’t help. It already started looking much more bug-ish than I wanted.
Then I added some tentacle-like things.
Meanwhile, I made the eight arms/legs. I wanted basic bug arms but dragon-ish hands. Here are the hands before cloth.
Here are the finished arms/legs.
I added some detail to the tail. I emphasized the segmentation. I like the way this turned out.
Here it is from the side after everything was assembled and most of the cloth mache skin was added. But I’ll tell you, I just hated the eyes. It’s not rational. It was all bug. No dragon. Which then made the neck seem odd. I was ready to put it out with the trash (my garbage collectors might have gotten a kick out of it). By the way, I will fix that bump where the wings stick out. I will build it up between the neck and the top of the wings to make a better transition between the two.
After lots of back and forth I got up at 3 in the morning and tore the eyes out. It was very satisfying.
Later in the morning I replaced them with these dark green alligator eyes.
I think I like this better……but I’m not sure. Argh.
Here’s how it stands at the moment. It’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever made. In fact, it’s ugly. But I must finish it after putting in this much time.
Maybe the paint will help. Maybe if I paint it and change my mind and paint it again, and again, and again, I’ll like it.
I’ve also been working on a couple of commissions. I’ll show you those at some point. They are going much better.
More soon. Take care. Make art.
