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More from Moongara
A new take on an old design. I used to to dragons out of just wire and with a mirade of wing designs. This is the most complicated of them, namely dragonfly wings. It also is complete with the very old beaded spine.
The figure is wire core with fabric skin. The wings, claws and horns are brass wire. The spine ornament and eyes are beads.
The figure is wire core with fabric skin. The wings, claws and horns are brass wire. The spine ornament and eyes are beads.
Category All / All
Species Dragon (Other)
Size 919 x 513px
File Size 56.3 kB
((Note: I usually start with negatives >.<))
As promised, Moongara.
In terms of sculpture, the aspects of balance, proportion, and pose have one catalyst in common: over exaggeration. Pieces whose sense of movement and placement of limbs are muted have a tendency to appear flat and lifeless, and overall this takes away from the aesthetic qualities of the piece that come through the artist; simply put, "technical" interferences take away from the genuine artistic presence.
Aside from the rather standard pose that, I feel, does not showcase what raw talent I know you have, I think you have placed some material limitations on this piece. What I mean by this is strictly your wire gauge selection.
For example, let's consider a few changes that could be made to the wings of your "Dragon-Fly".
Using a lower (thicker) gauge wire for the "foundation" or "outline" of the wings would allow you to do two things: firstly, you wouldn't be forced to create visual dissonance by having two wires of the same gauge that are not flush to each other. Secondly, a thicker wire isn't so easy to manipulate, so whatever shapes you create have a better chance of staying true; this added durability and weight can even allow you to create more impossible and interesting poses. In terms of the "crossbars" of your wings, play around with medium and high gauge wires. Perhaps consider using mediums to create the internal wing shapes, and then securing those shapes with the high gauge wire.
When considering the pose and aesthetics of your piece, one thing to keep in mind is that there is no shame in looking at examples. When I think about drawing a draconian piece, I go to images of the CGI Balrog that appears in the Lord of the Rings films, or of concept art. Profound thought is put in to those artistic projections, and making things "accurate" to proportion and pose is difficult enough on paper. You on the other hand, are trying to do something exceedingly more difficult than that: you are creating tangible representations of abstract ideas - no physical basis, no real-life examples. Your aesthetics, balance, pose, proportion - all of these - are going to be analyzed infinitely more critically than something on paper because human beings have a natural understanding of tangible, 3-D things.
To your credit, you show drive and raw talent. You won't get too far without drive, and talent never hurts. In addition, the care and love (or, quite frankly, emotion) that you put in to your work is evident. That - among other things - is a key element to being an artist.
I really enjoy the ornament of the spine; it punctuates what would otherwise be a field of dark cerulean "fur". Perhaps consider taking white matieral and dying it on your own in the future, to better preserve your artistic license?
Art, at least for me, is about embodying an idea, or a creative outlet. Sometimes I try to channel a feeling, or a poem: something metaphysical that won't visually cloud your work.
At any rate, I think you have deft, inherent skill that, perhaps, simply needs a bit of polishing that will only be achieved by creating more and more.
I can't wait to see what you can do when you try creating through a lens; focusing your artistic talent.
Keep it up!
<3,
-Spy
As promised, Moongara.
In terms of sculpture, the aspects of balance, proportion, and pose have one catalyst in common: over exaggeration. Pieces whose sense of movement and placement of limbs are muted have a tendency to appear flat and lifeless, and overall this takes away from the aesthetic qualities of the piece that come through the artist; simply put, "technical" interferences take away from the genuine artistic presence.
Aside from the rather standard pose that, I feel, does not showcase what raw talent I know you have, I think you have placed some material limitations on this piece. What I mean by this is strictly your wire gauge selection.
For example, let's consider a few changes that could be made to the wings of your "Dragon-Fly".
Using a lower (thicker) gauge wire for the "foundation" or "outline" of the wings would allow you to do two things: firstly, you wouldn't be forced to create visual dissonance by having two wires of the same gauge that are not flush to each other. Secondly, a thicker wire isn't so easy to manipulate, so whatever shapes you create have a better chance of staying true; this added durability and weight can even allow you to create more impossible and interesting poses. In terms of the "crossbars" of your wings, play around with medium and high gauge wires. Perhaps consider using mediums to create the internal wing shapes, and then securing those shapes with the high gauge wire.
When considering the pose and aesthetics of your piece, one thing to keep in mind is that there is no shame in looking at examples. When I think about drawing a draconian piece, I go to images of the CGI Balrog that appears in the Lord of the Rings films, or of concept art. Profound thought is put in to those artistic projections, and making things "accurate" to proportion and pose is difficult enough on paper. You on the other hand, are trying to do something exceedingly more difficult than that: you are creating tangible representations of abstract ideas - no physical basis, no real-life examples. Your aesthetics, balance, pose, proportion - all of these - are going to be analyzed infinitely more critically than something on paper because human beings have a natural understanding of tangible, 3-D things.
To your credit, you show drive and raw talent. You won't get too far without drive, and talent never hurts. In addition, the care and love (or, quite frankly, emotion) that you put in to your work is evident. That - among other things - is a key element to being an artist.
I really enjoy the ornament of the spine; it punctuates what would otherwise be a field of dark cerulean "fur". Perhaps consider taking white matieral and dying it on your own in the future, to better preserve your artistic license?
Art, at least for me, is about embodying an idea, or a creative outlet. Sometimes I try to channel a feeling, or a poem: something metaphysical that won't visually cloud your work.
At any rate, I think you have deft, inherent skill that, perhaps, simply needs a bit of polishing that will only be achieved by creating more and more.
I can't wait to see what you can do when you try creating through a lens; focusing your artistic talent.
Keep it up!
<3,
-Spy
Thank you for the critique, its very thorough.
I see what you mean about the pose. Its not the most dynamic of poses now that I look at it. I suppose I chose the poses for stability and making certain things, like the beaded spine, visible. Its very hard to convince a two legged thing, even with sizable claws, to stand up, without using the tail as a third leg. This does result in a bit blah stance. But, since I have plans to make a few dragons for an art fair I am entering, I should be able to figure out a way to balance a dragon on two legs. Practice makes perfect.
The camera shows things I didn't see before, like that bit of wire sticking up. That zoom setting is very unforgiving. I have tried the idea of using higher gauge wire over a lower gauge frame. Personally I don't like the look, it never seems to integrate quite the way multiple wraps of thinner gauge wire does. I know I need to work on my wire wrapping a bit on things like wings. I can do very fine wire wrap but most all of it ends up covered in fabric (take a look at what it is underneath http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2211050/).
I will consider your idea about dying the fabric. I am not sure that the particular fabric I have gotten used to using will take dye given that it the one time I tried applying bleach on a piece (to see if I could use it to get light colored markings on a piece) it didn't change color. I know it takes Sharpie though, almost as well as leather does. I might try (on a small dragon) using a big, chisel tip Sharpie on white fabric instead of the store bought color version. I have enough white fabric to try something like that. I will post pictures of such a piece (assuming I find time to make it) and would love you to look at it.
I see what you mean about the pose. Its not the most dynamic of poses now that I look at it. I suppose I chose the poses for stability and making certain things, like the beaded spine, visible. Its very hard to convince a two legged thing, even with sizable claws, to stand up, without using the tail as a third leg. This does result in a bit blah stance. But, since I have plans to make a few dragons for an art fair I am entering, I should be able to figure out a way to balance a dragon on two legs. Practice makes perfect.
The camera shows things I didn't see before, like that bit of wire sticking up. That zoom setting is very unforgiving. I have tried the idea of using higher gauge wire over a lower gauge frame. Personally I don't like the look, it never seems to integrate quite the way multiple wraps of thinner gauge wire does. I know I need to work on my wire wrapping a bit on things like wings. I can do very fine wire wrap but most all of it ends up covered in fabric (take a look at what it is underneath http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2211050/).
I will consider your idea about dying the fabric. I am not sure that the particular fabric I have gotten used to using will take dye given that it the one time I tried applying bleach on a piece (to see if I could use it to get light colored markings on a piece) it didn't change color. I know it takes Sharpie though, almost as well as leather does. I might try (on a small dragon) using a big, chisel tip Sharpie on white fabric instead of the store bought color version. I have enough white fabric to try something like that. I will post pictures of such a piece (assuming I find time to make it) and would love you to look at it.
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