Page 56 - Creating Whimsical Characters
P. 56

This is the armature for the dragon player. We used

                                   square and rectangular dowels for the body and legs
                                   and round dowels for the forearms and neck. The

                                   head is a wooden egg. And the wings are made of
                                   wire mesh. Notice how the arms have been attached

                                   to the body using wood glue and a screw that’s been
                                   countersunk. And wood glue and a finishing nail

                                   were used to attach the two parts of the legs.


                                   Because the large wings get quite heavy with the wet
                                   clay, I had to sculpt him in two
                                   phases. In the first phase I did a

                                   base coat of paperclay on the

          entire body and put a thin coat of paperclay on the
          wings. The wings were done last and the dragon
          had to be laid on it’s back on top of some wax

          paper covered boards with the wings carefully
          positioned into place for the clay to dry.


          Once the clay is dry, the wings are frozen in place

          and quite sturdy. In the second phase of sculpting,
          I added all the detail work and the tail. I just

          misted the dry areas with water and added new
          wet paperclay.


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