Sculpting a dragon...

[Lovejoy]

Hi everyone - I don't normally take work in progress pics while I sculpt, but I remembered to do it with this one... at least, I remembered eventually; I forgot to take any armature pics.

Anyway, I'm running a Kickstarter project http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oathsworn/oathsworn-miniatures-heroes and I'm showing the backers the sculpting process - I thought I might as well show it here as well...

What I'm doing is making a dragon for my 28 / 32mm range. I want it to be castable in metal, in a standard 9 inch mould. But making a dragon sculpt for casting in a 9 inch spincasting mould places certain constraints on the design.

Firstly, there's the size - there's only so much space in the mould. Secondly, it's flat - and this means the model has to be either tall and thin, or low and wide... or in lots of pieces, and I want to keep it down to 4 pieces at most. Thirdly, no single piece can be more than about 27mm thick at the widest point...

I experimented with a tall thin design first of all, but it was proving very difficult to achieve a good look without being in lots of parts. And with metal models, you want to avoid that really.

So I switched to the low, wide design. I also decided at this point to do something a bit different - to try and make a (nearly) physically-possible dragon, or as close as I could get within the design limits... and this means no more than 4 limbs, so the arms have to be the wings. And I went for a pterosaur-style wing, with an elongated finger down the outside edge. I also decided to make the dragon in a crawling pose, to get him on a level with the other figures in the range. 

So I bent up some armature wire, and mixed up some Milliput putty, and made the basic shape. Then, using a different colour Milliput, I modelled the main muscles onto the dragon. Finally, I attached a couple of ball bearings for eyes. Then I laid the pieces out onto a sheet of paper with the shape of a 9 inch mould drawn on, to make sure it would fit!



Next I stuck the pieces together to make sure it would work as a model...







And here's an adventurer's-eye-view... more cute than menacing at the moment, really!





I decided to clean up the wings after that... added a few more folds, and sanded them down.







Next I began working on the head... firstly I added some more Milliput (White, this time - no real reason, but it's easier to see I guess!) to give some shape to the skull.





Once the Milliput was dry, I started working with Green Stuff over the top...

First layer:



Then while it is still soft, sculpting details into it:




...and adding a few extra details...




Then I decided he needed a row of spines down his back, so I drilled a lot of holes, and attached little bits of brass wire.





Next, I sculpted the spines, and started working down the neck...








While that putty was curing, I made a start on the wing membranes.





(You can see there that I added spines to the wing edges as well... but I decided they didn't really work, and have cut them off.)

And I started on the body again:




And onto the underside of the wings...





And then, a quick test fit - now the adventurer's-eye-view looks a bit scarier!




Next I continued working on the body, and got one of the wings finished.

I started by extending the skin down the side of the body:





Then I added a strip of putty to the spines, to blend them in a bit:







Then I started adding a few more large scutes / osteoderms to the body, and shaped them:







Next I started on the wing - I covered the shoulder and upper arm in putty and sculpted the scaly skin pattern:








Then I did the same for the rest of the arm - a layer of putty, then marking out the scales:







Then I added a bunch of extra scales, to make it look a bit more 'dragony':






And putting it together - this is where we are at so far:









I'll get back to sculpting now... I've got a leg to do next. I'll post more when I've done it.

cheers

Michael


Oathsworn Miniatures
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oathsworn/oathsworn-miniatures-heroes

[Svennn]

Bloody marvellous    You have far more patience than me thats for sure

[Bergil]

I want one of those!

[Cubs]

That's beautiful. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to 'show your working' ... as all good schoolchildren are taught. I've always wanted to get into sculpting, having done a few fairly major conversions, but the nuts and bolts of the process have always beena mystery. This might just inspire me to have a poke at something simple to see how it goes.

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of tools do you use? That's a hell of a lot of scales you see, so have you fashioned something or other to speed up the process or is it simply a case of going slow and poking the criss-cross lines?

[Andym]

I always thought scales would be done with some sort of small stamp, pressed repeatedly, but feck sake, you do them all by hand!!!

That's brill! Love the pose and the work you put into that is amazing!!

[The Dozing Dragon]

Nice sculpt and great post!

[Daeothar]

That is 50 shades of Awesome!!

The crawling pose does hint at a particular dragon under a certain solitairy mountain, but that can only be a good thing. Can't wait to see this one finished, and if you do manage to get it cast up, I will probably be sorely tempted to throw my moneys at you!

Carry On!

[pacarat]

Wow!...

Nice to see all the intermediate steps.

A tool presentation/review would be very nice - I've been messing around with some store bought and home made tools & shapers, but seems I have more that "don't work" than those that "do".

[Cubs]

There's a slightly dodgy movie from the 80's that I loved, called 'Dragonslayer'. This guy is reminding me of the scene where the dragon crawls out of his cave through a tunnel and the hero jumps onto the back of his neck with a dirty great spear.

[Vermis]

Fantastic! I know your background in paleo-sculpting, and you might know my obsession about dragons, so I'm very appreciative of your viewpoint and process. A look at just the first few pics puts this on my 'dragons I want to buy' list - a pretty small circle on the big weird venn diagram in my head.    Couple of things, tho:

- Metal? Really!?

- I think GW already cornered the market on Repto-Thingies With Hyperextended Toes That Aren't Dromaeosaurs.

- Maybe I'm misinterpreting what looks like a long scapula (seems to be two differently-angled ones in the milliput and GS - was the latter the guide for the wing membrane?) but the delts seem pretty bunched up around the bottom of it.

Cubs: Vermithrax Pejorative! Still unmatched among movie dragons, IMO. Even Smaug, literary icon that he is, has his work cut out to match her in the moving pictures.

[The Voivod]

When I saw the first few pics I thought:'Meh it's kinda goofy looking.'
The I scrolled down: Wow.
THat's absolutely bloody marvelous......
Awesome model. Wouldn'y mind having that in my collection at all...

[beefcake]

Very very nice. Is this part of the kickstarter? May need to pledge then especially if there is a dragon only pledge.

[Lovejoy]

Very very nice. Is this part of the kickstarter? May need to pledge then especially if there is a dragon only pledge.

It will be if it casts OK - I'll know on Tuesday!

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of tools do you use? That's a hell of a lot of scales you see, so have you fashioned something or other to speed up the process or is it simply a case of going slow and poking the criss-cross lines?

No, unfortunately, I don't have a way to speed it up - it's just lots of putty poking! (tools listed below)

A tool presentation/review would be very nice - I've been messing around with some store bought and home made tools & shapers, but seems I have more that "don't work" than those that "do".

To be honest, for sculpting I use a ver limited range of tools. 90% of the work is done with a Wax carver No.5, which I got from Tirantis. They call it an SG Dental tool:



http://www.tiranti.co.uk/EdgeImpactShop/product.php?Product=1149&Content=SG+Stainless+Steel+Dental+Tool+Modelling+Tools+Dental+Tools++

I also use 2 other tools. One is a Royal Sovereign 0 Flat Chisel Extra Firm Clay Shaper. It's excellent for smoothing putty.


The other tool is an old Xacto blade, slightly dulled with sandpaper, stuck to a lolly stick.

And that's it really... I occasionally use a needle if I have to do chainmail... but I try to avoid chainmail whenever possible!

There's a slightly dodgy movie from the 80's that I loved, called 'Dragonslayer'.

A few people have mentioned that to me - I've never seen it, but I think I'll have to now!

Metal? Really!?

I like metal! Plus the mould life for resin is terrible... and I don't know any decent resin casters who don't have a huge backlog of work.

- I think GW already cornered the market on Repto-Thingies With Hyperextended Toes That Aren't Dromaeosaurs.

Never! Well, maybe... so I'll corner the market on Repto-Thingies With Hyperextended Toes That Aren't Troodontids.

- Maybe I'm misinterpreting what looks like a long scapula (seems to be two differently-angled ones in the milliput and GS - was the latter the guide for the wing membrane?) but the delts seem pretty bunched up around the bottom of it.

Yep the latter is the guide for wing membrane. The scapulas aren't really visible, because in pterosaur anatomy they are pretty much hidden under the musculature... and the body was reaching the maximum mouldable width!  


Anyway, I managed to get a bit further with the dragon yesterday - so I think we are still on target for master moulding on Monday night...

I made a start on one side of the tail:








Next I did the membrane on the other wing:




...and then got to work on one of the legs:










While that putty was curing, I went back to the wing and body parts, and had a go at blending the large scales in a bit better. It's not easy to see in the pictures, but it definitely looks better now.







Today if it all goes to plan, I'll finish the second wing today, and the rest of the main body section.

I'll let you know how it goes!

cheers

Michael

[Daeothar]

To be honest, for sculpting I use a ver limited range of tools. 90% of the work is done with a Wax carver No.5, which I got from Tirantis. They call it an SG Dental tool:

Yes; I swear by that thing; I use it almost exclusively! It's not cheap but possibly the best sculpting tool out there. The only other things needed are exactly like you mentioned; just a blade and a needle.

Now, to learn to use them as effectively as you do...

[Hu Rhu]

Fantastic thread and superb sculpting. .  Can't wait to see the finished product.