Brachiosaurus on a Unicycle

Brachiosaurus altithorax

Ink (A2)

Long time no see. I'd like to revisit my previous project but I think, for now, I should try to be a little more focused. This blog really needs a new look too.

Stuff

Just a small post this time. Adulthood is getting in the way, gorging itself on all the time I want to devote to the only things I seem to be any good at. I can't do "grown up."

Quite simply, I haven't had the time to complete this final doll design. It really needn't take so long.  Anyway my sculpting skills seem to be progressing. Here is a little sneekie peekie.

That aside, I sold Wheels. I think I'll feel a wee bit of sadness every time I send one of my doodles away. Thanks for the read. ~Nuggie

Making Evee

This little ball jointed doll began as just a block of Polymer Clay and a hand full of drawings. I had never approached a project like this before. If any of you experts out there have any suggestions about any flaws I should be aware of I'm eager to hear.

 

First came my timid hand sculpts. (It was the first time I had ever used polymer clay!) The sculpts were a little weird looking and really didn't resemble my images so I played with plasticine, as a respectable adult should, refining techniques and then moved back to the polymer clay once confident enough.

Clumsy Sculpts

Plasticine play to polymer clay

Even once I was happy enough to work with polymer clay again Evee still went though several re-sculpts and her hands and feet had several redesigns and each of thoughs were sculpted several times over to get them right.

 

Eventually the little ball jointed doll was fired, sanded, hollowed out and ready to be strung together. I hand stitched some little ears and a tail to emphasise that she had been hand crafted as opposed to fresh of the assembly line. Plus, they were kinda cute.
She also received some hand made resin eyes. It wasn't initially part of the plan but I couldn't find any eyes small enough for that little head.

Ears and tail before they were fliped "outside out"

The one major flaw to present itself, once she was fully assembled, was her internal free knee joints which restricted her ability to fully flex her knees. This was quickly changed and, despite her fully articulated digitigrade legs, she was still able to stand with them locked in position or flex them alternately.
Anyway, on a less important note, she really was an enjoyable little maquette to work with.

Those pesky knee joints

 

So I'm finalising a prototype. It is mostly just aesthetic alteration but there is still time to make any changes if any of you internet people have any thoughts. Here are a couple of sneeky peekies. -Nuggie

 

"Put your hands in the air"

Evee the Ball Jointed Maquette

Meet Evee. She is an initial maquette for a ball jointed doll of my own design. She is the reason why this blog has been inactive for a while and this post will be brief as there is still more that needs to be done. The complicated part is over however.

 

Each limb is individually hand sculpted. Her head was so small I could not find eyes tinny enough so I had to make some for her out of resin. The tail and ears are hand stitched.

Initially I was concerned her little digitigrade legs would pose problems regarding functionality, the ability to stand in particular. In the end she only required a knee joint redesign from the initial drawing. Now she is fully posable and can easily stand unassisted.

 

There is no wire in her tail to assist with balance

 

Next I'll assemble a prototype which will mostly undergo aesthetic change. Any thoughts would be appreciated. -Nuggie

Experimentation and stuff

So a couple of weeks back, right after I'd finished my spider girl, I also drew this "proof of concept" for a graphic novel which may or may not happen. Yet more art nouveau.

A3 and black ink

This concept has been in discussion for a while and, as it's set in the late eighteen hundreds, the style seemed contextually appropriate.

Anyway I've also started a new project. It's been a long time since I've tried anything that isn't two dimensional and I've missed it. Here is a wee hint.

Also my right hand has little wounds, like the one in the photo bellow, thanks to my Raynaurds. If you read my previous two blogs you will know what I'm talking about.

So, I'm almost up to date agin. ~Nuggie

Monsters can be Beautiful too

So another art nouveau piece finished. (Completed last Wednesday as planed) I'm not sure if this should have taken me twenty-two hours. It is in ink, on A2. Perhaps the scale and the need for a very steady hand makes that ok? Anyway, now I'm looking to colour this at some point, preferably water colour, so this is going to take even longer. Eh.

Monsters can be Beautiful too

I really disliked nouveau when I was introduced to it as the examples I was presented with, and the books I was shown that specialised on it, only featured glorified drawings of women. Women, women, women. It was boring. Boring, boring, boring. Stylistically it was great but the specific choice of subject made it less engaging. Having returned to it in my own time however I found it was used creatively in architecture, graphic design, jewellery, furniture and drawings, that didn't feature women. It does compliment the human form but it has become over saturated with arbitrary drawings of women so I did this "spider girl" instead.

Any honest comments or critiques are appreciated. It's not for ego preening or reinforcing my self confidence.

Meh.

Scrawny Hands!

So I have this little thing called Raynaurd's Disease (or Raynaurd's Phenomenon). It is a condition in which the small blood vessels, in the extremities, are over-sensitive to changes in temperature. So, on a particularly cold day, the blood supply to extremities, such as fingers and toes and sometimes the face, is halted. This is usually referred to as an attack. When an attack occurs the effected extremities become saw, turn pure white and eventually go numb. But sometimes, instead of going numb, they become hyper sensitive to contact (the slightest touch can be very painful) and sometimes the event can simply be excruciatingly painful from the moment it starts to the point of subsidence.

Owie-ouch!

Once an attack subsides the sensation of returning blood flow can be equally uncomfortable, occasionally worse, and people frequently describe it as a burning sensation.
The severity of the condition varies between individuals. Where as some need to be out walking through strong winds to experience an attack, I have experienced one when lifting a fractionally-cooler-than-room-temperature-apple from the table and another from the slightest breeze on a summers day. (Yes. I am pathetic.)
Usually an external source needs to be a little more aggressive to trigger such an event but regardless of the cause the recovery can be damaging as this is when a person can develop chilblains if their hands warm up to quickly.

Whelp, I got the chilblains last week.

You see, I was so determined to get so much done last week that when my hand went white and holding my pencils and pens felt like I was piecing my fingertips on pins I kept thinking, just a few more minutes...just a few more minutes...and then after a day of this I huddled over a heater to warm my hand up and, boosh, the hand inflated and went red and lumpy. Unfortunately for me I'm scrawny so I had one bony hand and one chunky hand. Tadaaah!

The left is the "normal hand" the other is the chunky one. Perhaps not the best photos but they looked quite representative on the camera screen last week...that hand was so lumpy...

So that was how I damaged my hand. Anyway I was in the midst of a new piece and, as the seemingly obsessive person I am becoming, I decided I would keep working especially as I had made my mind that it would be finished by Wednesday: decision final.
After my success with the art nouveau mermaid I thought I would try another nouveau piece. For now I'm calling it "Monsters can be Beautiful Too." I think I quite like that title so I may just stick with it. Here is the is the crude initial A4 sketch alongside the A2 that I would be converting it onto.

Converting a piece onto A2 can be a daunting, especially when you make the initial pencil strokes, as these will effect the placement of the rest of your piece. Getting it right is kind of important.

Initial construction lines always look a little goofy...

Then just got to add a few layers....

So by this point my hand was still poofy and a little painful but I was still determined to have it done so I went onto pull an all-nighter, fuelled by a trusty can of Monster. There is something peaceful about working through the early hours of the morning. I enjoy the sense of privacy and isolation. I may just start doing this more often.

Rawwww!

I mentioned starting a piece on A2 was a little daunting but, once you've got to a point where you're happy enough to ink it, that fear is far worse. Just one slip and you've ruined it. Meh!

Eeeeeh...

The worse part about art nouveau? All those curvy lines!

This was a long one. If you made it all the way to the bottom then thank you. I'll upload the finished piece tomorrow. ~Nuggie

First sale and a commission

So I sold my first piece and just finished my first commission.

This commission was stylistically out of the norm for me. To start with I was asked to create an image of a mermaid-no guidance-only merely that I was to create what ever came to mind. I felt that what I had currently been doing would not compliment the mermaid concept so I looked to nouveau. It began with a pencil draft on A4 which, once I was happy with it, was redrafted onto A3 a couple of days later. Personally, I like experimenting with anatomy and creating what might have been or could be, but it occurred to me that perhaps this was more something that only I would appreciate.

 

So, I decided to start again. I had been asked to create a mermaid after all and perhaps I should look to create something a little more stereotypical. On top of that I was looking to create a piece of nouveau art and I was missing out on the opportunity to experiment with all that hair! So, a couple of days later, it was redrafted and a new version, inked, on A3.

I've never tried nouveau before but it was fun to experiment with. (I never predicted that maintaining such steady hands could take so much time. Even got a hand cramp!) I'm considering even changing the actual content I've been producing and perhaps pursuing nouveau. I feel it could be quite versatile, not just half naked women and too much hair.


So, on another note, the piece I sold was "Quack, Quack, Quack." I think I've actually grown quite attached to my ducks so I'll be sad to see them go but on another note I'm glad that somebody will appreciate them.

Bye, bye ducks...

New shop page is live!

My Shop page has finally gone live. Boosh!

Everything has been framed and is ready to go. This is probably the part when I find that no one likes what I've been doing and I'll have to have a long rethink. We shall see I guess.


Hope you like goofy pictures.

A Matchstick for a Spoon

Blogger wouldn't let me fit all three images side by side without the third one shifting to the space bellow, that is unless I made them tiny and that made the over all image look a little week so I combined them to give the image something closer to the effect I had in mind.

So, all finished. Yesterday morning I had expected I would simply just shuffle into my little corner, where all my drawing gear is nestled, shade these guys and be finished. Then I actually looked at them. I decide I didn't really like the prop I had given the rat on the far right so I would have to draw the little guy again.

The original drawing had a match stick instead of the spoon. I felt it didn't compliment the line of motion and clashed with the curvatures exhibited in the posture.

It just looks so...pidilly...

So I drew the final image again and swapped the match stick for a spoon. I think all thee drawings took about twenty hours over all.

Meh.

Over all I am uncertain as to whether I am happy with the finished piece.
Anyway, on a less important note, I really like rats. They are intelligent and resourceful little critters that display an plethora of complex behaviours and social learning (the ability to observe understand actions performed by other members in there own species, discern which actions are potentially beneficial or harmful and mimic them if they desire.) So, rant over, I had been waiting for a perfect excuse to draw them.