Posts Tagged ‘dragon’
A long expected sculpture
Back in 2009 we excitedly placed an order for a sculpture from Weta. Now, we don’t normally go in for large sculptures, but this one was to be of Smaug™ the Golden and was the first piece in John Howe’s and Weta’s range of sculptures from Middle-earth™ The illustration of Smaug™ the Golden by John Howe is probably known by everyone who has read The Hobbit.
Now, when I look at an illustration like this, I must admit I didn’t think it would be possible to recreate it in 3 dimensions and that it would still have the same visual impact. Then I saw the images on Weta’s webpage for the sculpture link and I realized it was something we really needed to buy. As it was only a few months until Christmas (in 2009 this is) we decided to treat ourselves and call it a combined present to us both. So, we ordered and sat back expectantly. This is where the technical issues crept in, there were, it appears, issues with the base which meant people who had already received their dragon were not happy with the piece. At this point Weta put the product on hold and scratched their heads and came up with a solution which to my eyes has improved the piece – I’m not a fan of simulated wood finishes and would have been tempted to replace it with real wood, yet the solution turned out to be replacing the simulated wood base with a polystone base which gives it a marbled appearance something I find more in keeping with the piece anyway. So, the deadline changed a few times for delivery, which given the production issues isn’t all that surprising really, then a week or so ago I received an email from Weta saying the shipment had arrived in the UK and was ready to wing its way to our address.
This morning, the van arrived and the doors opened to reveal a huge, and I mean HUGE box. I returned to the house – very carefully, and prepared to open it.
Upon opening the box we were greeted by unpacking instructions, not something I’d seen before, but then, this is the first dragon we’ve received by courier 
We carefully removed the outer box and opened the inner box, inside this was a spanner and a huge cube of polystyrene. The three bolts which kept the sculpture in position for shipping were quickly removed and we removed the polystyrene layer by layer.
Once all this was removed we stood back, and our jaws dropped to the ground, it is a stunning piece, really one you have to see in real life to get the full impact of. There are so many little details that you miss first time round that jump out at you when you look from another angle. It’s one of those pieces that we’ll spend quite some time looking at and slowly discovering new parts and details on.
So, what are you waiting for? there’s a limited number available Now, I just need to work out which body parts I need to sell in order to get the next sculpture.
Another Guardian
I wasn’t happy with the dragon I painted the other day link so, there was only one thing for it. Either I try to ignore it and hope the colour and shape of the dragon would grow on me over time, or I could paint a new dragon. Hopefully this new dragon fits the scene a little better, it certainly doesn’t annoy me like the first version.
Guardian
Okay, a little background first, some time ago on the evil that is Facebook (which I obviously visit most days ) John Howe posted a photograph 
with the comment “Speaking of dragons… it wouldn’t take a lot to transform those rocks on the left into something with scales, heading back into the sea.” A few comments later and it became “What if we all use this image as reference and see what we come up with?” After reading these and other comments I decided I’d give it a go with the intention of just transforming the rocks using photoshop into something resembling a dragon – not to hard really, a tint of colour here, a bit of shade there and the you go a nice fluffy dragon looking out over the water. This simple plan went wrong as I realized that I really don’t like drawing dragons in photoshop, well, I’m happier drawing on paper with a pencil than using the wacom but for this quick edit it would have been handy to just once work completely in photoshop
So, the obvious solution was to print out the image and sketch over it, which I tried but did not enjoy much. A few sheets of paper and a lot of scribbles later and I’d decided that the rounded mound of trees in the distance was really crying out for a castle upon it, so that was added to the sketch and I marked up a nice clean sheet of watercolour paper. The sky was added quickly and I started on the towers for the castle, as I painted away I thought the island/mound on the left would probably feel left out if there was no castle upon it so I added a few more towers. That only left the tiny island in the middle, which was starting to look lonely… you get the idea. The castle on the very left of the page replacing the trees was a very late decision, but not as late an addition as the little guy in the doorway.
Anyway, the painting was done and I was about to upload it when I decided I did not like the colour of the dragon much, and so I changed the colour in photoshop 
Time for a dragon (I)
I’m starting on a few days/weeks of drawing and painting dragons; I like dragons, well as long as they’re not sitting in the garden trying to burn down the house. Anyway, I’ve read the required manual on dragon creation (Forging Dragons, by John Howe) and I have scribbled in the margin of a few pages so I am fully prepared for dragon creation
There are a couple of reasons that I want to paint my dragon, first of all there is the theme of the month to work on over at John Howe’s website and then there is a dragon to draw for the logo of La Communauté Fantastique. I’ll post the sketches and work in progress pictures when I have some.