process pic

Just a series of pics from me putting the skin on. No real order to that.

clay

I'm using a technique where the sculpture gets fired more than once. The under layer for draconis is going to be white clay. Rather than take a bunch of time and energy to knead the dough into a single consistency/color by hand i choose the easy way of rolling. Take out a portion of the clay and cut it into pieces, stack those pieces and then roll it out flatish. Cut the clay into pieces once more, stack them and then roll them out flat again. Now your clay is very pliable and thoroughly mixed (although if you're mixing two different colors to make a new one the only real way to do it right is to knead it together a little at a time by hand).

You need to try and make sure the clay isn't any thinner than about an eigth of an inch when using it for the wings or other parts that stick out away from the body (horns, spikes and the tip of the tail). Really thin clay burns before the thicker clay even sets when too far away from the main body. Proceed in stages to cover the body, filling in slight musculature and definition as you go. Don't be afraid to experiment with body positional changes. What you don't smooth over in this stage can be covered up later with scales and such.

Since the spikes for my dragon are going to be a different color than the body and they're really thin in any case, I make placement markers with pieces of wire held to the body by a ridge of clay. I like putting these spikes on in pairs so that there is a length of wire like a stapler that would be flat against the body with clay covering it for support. I don't have any progress photos for creation of the mouth (if yours is open) but it needs to be done in this stage. You first take your "gum" colored clay and make the interior gums. These are basically trianglular shapes that fit into the mouth. Next create a tongue (mine is red) and insert it, pressing down on the clay as far into the throat as you can get. Because I am assuming that the draconis has teeth much like an alligator or preadatory mammal, there are to be both an inner an outer gumline. Roll cones to create the teeth and place them along the outside of your interior gums. Make a thin roll to go along the bases of your teeth to create the exterior gum. Finally roll out a length for your lips and have them cover the gums to your desired shape.

filling out

Next, of course, comes the part where we flesh out our creation. Use your own best judgement on how large or small parts of the body are in relation to one another, but if you're going to make a more anthropomorphic dragon, looking at an anatomy book helps quite a bit. This draconis will be built much like a horse and cat. The base of the neck is above and slightly behind the "arms" shoulder set. The chest is deep and the legs have longer "feet" in relation to the upper legs. The head is like a horse's with a long nose and eyes set more to the side. Placement of wings differs by whom you ask but I believe that the "wings" rotary element would start above and slightly behind the "arms". Both of the base animals I'm using are four legged creatures so to allow the draconis to stand upright, a more Raptor look is needed with the tail and wings supplying the needed counter support for the stance.

creating a skeleton

What holds the body up? Bones! How much structure do you need for your sculpture? Depends on what your sculpture is doing. My dragon is going to be standing upright so needs alot of support all along the spine and on the legs and tail which will support the greatest weight. I chose to coil the wire for strength and preliminary shaping. the wings' s main bones can be put in at this time too (you might want to beef up the shoulder area if your wings are going to be held out from the body). Also, mammals and lizards both tend to have appendages with the same number of digits on each. In the case of dogs and cats the last digit has become severely abbreviated (the dew claw) but is still at least partially evident. In larger sculptures to only include the head and neck area, creating a jawline at this time is probably a good idea.

tools

I find it helpful when there are at least a set of suggested items to have in order to start a project. What I think is needed for this is a large flat surface, clay (I use Sculpey as it allows you to go slower to get things how you wish), a clay knife/ rounded smoother tool, a clay chisel/ puncture tool, some wire (I got mine from the art section of Walmart. It's stem holding wire you'd use for roses and such), needlenosed pliers with wire cutters, aluminum foil, and a rolling pin. The plastic tools came with a sampler pack that I bought but are extremely useful for hard to reach areas.

starting off

I'm doing this to help keep a record of my own method for creating a dragon sculpture and the world this particular draconis species is living in. Hopefully the world will expand itself and become a story to share with others.

the "go-between"