Maquette of the Nazgul.

For the body of the beast I used a heavier guage wire and twisted it like I did the wings. I then just bent the wire to what I thought was close to the thumbnail sketch and started adding plasticine for the body shape. I then bent the wings to shape and stuck them to where they should go.

As you can see I made a mini horse maquette too.

I cut some black material and glued it to the wire...not an easy task! After that I brushed on some retouch varnish to the material to stiffen it up some so it could hold its shape.

And it's all done!

Maquette of the Nazgul.

As my previous post describe about the art challenge regarding Eowyn and the Nazgul, I decide to make a maquette based on my thumbnail sketch. I did this so I can obtain an accurate understanding of the lighting effect and a basic foundation of the actual winged beast. The materials I used were copper wire, kneadit (a two part epoxy putty), and plasticine. Below are some progress shots I took along the way as I made the wings. Next post I'll show you the following stage.

Eowyn and the Nazgul

Recently over at Art Order there's an art challenge themed on the confrontation between Eowyn and the witch king Agmar from the Lord of the Rings novel(the details of the challenge are found here).
There's some pretty big names judging this challenge in which they're are giving out "rewards"for those artists that impress them the most.
Originally I wasn't going to worry about this challenge as I haven't bothered about those challenges presented in the past from Art Order. But doing my usual daily doodles, I must have had it play at the back of my mind and this thumbnail sketch sort of came up out of nowhere. Considering the deadline is the 15th of May which will come round quick I'm sure, I'll have to get organized if I'm going to attempt my first challenge. Anyway, if real life treats me kindly in the next month I'll probably have some interesting things to show you all.

Nymph Reflections

Here is another postcard art in gouache. I'm finding that this medium would be good for colour studies for larger projects. Still, there is a far road to travel before I could say that I'm at least proficient at gouache. I still prefere it to watercolours and a lot more than acrylic...blah! ;)

The Hive Cluster

The Visitors

Spitfire

Red Riding Hood

My family and I were at our local art store and my wife showed me a Daler Rowney's watercolour postcard pad. She suggested that I give them a try. I was a little apprehensive about it as I have not like watercoulrs...or is it the other way round;) Anyway, I used gouache instead as I've heard its easier to work with. I did a pencil sketch and then seal the graphite with some Crystal Kote spray. One thing that I didn't like is that the postcard warped quite a bit. The paper is A6 100% cotton at 300gsm.

A Sketchbooks End

Well, I finally finshed one of my sketchbooks. I take this to work every day and doodle in it in my smoko break. I thought I'd show you what it actually looks like.