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.

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

[svgallery name="dragon1"]

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.