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Showing posts from August, 2012

Figure drawings at Redline

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How to Build a Dinosaur part V

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Links to the other posts in this series: Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part VI When last we left our Deinonychus, he was more or less rounding into shape.  I had sculpted all four limbs, the head and the tail.  Most of the claws were done, sculpted from polymer clay, as well as the teeth, also of polymer clay and set in epoxy clay. I knew that parts of Mr. Deinonychus (or Ms. depending on how you feel) were going to be covered in feathers, but for the parts that wouldn't be--the legs, feet, hands and snout--he would have to be painted.  I also needed to figure out a way to make scales and eyes. For the eyes, I initially thought I could paint them, then glaze them with some kind of transparent resin to give them a liquidy feel.  But a cursory look around the 'net at dinosaur sculptures with painted eyes shows how lousy that looks.  Painted eyes lack depth. I decided I would go with taxidermist's eyes, because they use a thick layer of acrylic resin or glass to

A few more

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From the past week.

Some non-Moleskine sketches! (and some Moleskine sketches too)

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A busy week for me, drawing-wise.  Did quite a few treks into downtown from LoHi with my sketching stool and supplies.  Here's what I got: City Hall, during a concert in the park. Chamberlin Observatory, near the University of Denver campus. The Brown Palace and environs.  Such a cool building. A view from 16th street mall of two beautiful Richardsonian Romanesque buildings.  Reminds me of San Antonio's Bexar County Courthouse . Just a moleskine sketch from the 16th street mall. A meh sketch of Union Station.  Will have to go back and give it the proper treatment.

Figure drawing at Redline

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I went to a life drawing session here in Denver for the first time since the Coppini in San Antonio.  Still a lot of rust to shake out, and I rushed out the door, so I didn't bring ideal materials with me, but fun nonetheless. The location was Redline , a very cool "urban laboratory where arts, education and the community merge," according to the website.  Also has a nifty artist residency program.  Very cool. We did mostly brief poses, ranging up to half an hour. 10 minute 10 minute 5 minute 30 minute 30 minute 1 minute

How to Build a Dinosaur part IV

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Links to the other posts in this series: Part I Part II Part III Part V Part VI Okay, so I had to make some claws and teeth.  I'd thought about this from the beginning and decided I would make them from polymer clay (Fimo was the brand I used), a material I'd never worked with before. I had all the measurements at my disposal, thanks to The Dinosauria .  I built the claws around wooden skewers (not really visible here) so I could punch them into the soft foam of the Deino, then hold them in place with epoxy clay, another new material for me.  The brands of epoxy clay I used was called Apoxie Sculpt , which I ordered online. For the teeth, I used sewing pins instead of skewers. If you're not familiar with polymer clay, it's a kind of malleable plastic that's as shapeable as clay, but only needs to be baked in the oven to harden. I created a bead of epoxy clay--a self-hardening, extremely adhesive two-part clay that doesn't need to be baked--for

Moleskine update

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Some more moleskine goodness. After dropping off Linda at work, I walked around downtown Denver for a while before doing this sketch of historic Larimer Square: The kitchen in our new abode.  Notice how well-used it already is. A more finished sketched of our new living room.  What a mess: The waiting room at Linda's place of work: The following sketches were done at the Museum of Science and Nature:

How to Build a Dinosaur part III

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Links to the other posts in this series: Part I Part II Part IV Part V Part VI Because you can't sculpt something in the round without a way to hold it up, I made a stand from scrap plywood and 2x4s, and some threaded rod and nuts.  I drilled a hole in the the chest of Mr. Deinonychus so he could be propped up tripod-like on the stand. Next, I set about making the tail.  Because I had cut them to fit into the car, I didn't have any sheets of foam long enough for the tail, so I knew it would have to be spliced together from shorter pieces.  It's hard to see here, but the finger/splice joint is in the center. To attach the tail to the body I used two lengths of PVC pipe like dowels and drilled holes in both the body and tail to stick 'em together.  The reason I used two and not one is I didn't want the tail rotating/spinning at the joint before the glue dried. Only after the tail was attached did I really begin shaping it, as I wanted to make su