Description
I was looking to share a picture of a Chinese dragon that I made back in September with someone when I realized that I'd forgotten to post the photos online in the first place. -_- So... this is a bit late, but here it is - the very first Chinese dragon I've ever sculpted, made as one of my Experimental Thursday sculpts over on Twitch.
I'd put it off making an Asian-style dragon for so long because I was uncertain that I'd be successful, but figured I was overqualified at this point. The big challenge was figuring out how to do the mane. I know it's kind of a solved problem in the polymer clay critter-sculpting community - you can do individual strands and it can look really nice, but it's time consuming and honestly, I've never been able to make it look good on my own sculpts. So I was looking for another solution, and while the result here isn't 100% up to my standards, it's a step in the right direction. I think I've got something here with the textured sheets of clay, and I also think that antiquing them with a bit of acrylic paint really helped to bring out the detail. Just need to start with higher quality detail next time.
I'm happy with some elements of this piece (like the mane) but not happy with others (like the face and the belly scales). That's kind of how it goes with experimental pieces. I can say right now that I took what I learned and applied it to my next piece. As to what that looks like... you'll have to stay tuned! Also, it's been a few months since I made this guy and I'm itching to make another one soon. Maybe I'll do round two during this week's Experimental Thursday...
Crafted from polymer clay, glass cabochons, acrylic paint, and a Swarovski crystal pearl. This dragon has been sold, but you can still visit his Etsy listing to view additional photos.
Previous attempts at manes
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Comments: 26
Devin1809 [2019-02-13 19:36:33 +0000 UTC]
Okay these look amazing!
Especially since these ones have real faces now
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TrueArtPenguin [2019-02-07 21:01:20 +0000 UTC]
Damn that detail is outstanding!
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HowManyDragons In reply to TrueArtPenguin [2019-02-08 09:45:08 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! I've been having fun with the detail work lately.
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HowManyDragons In reply to BeatrizPurpleRainBow [2019-02-06 11:46:30 +0000 UTC]
Ohhhh my goodness, that was actually the intent behind this dragon and the second one that I made but haven't posted yet.
Colors were inspired by Genji's and Hanzo's dragons, but I'd actually forgotten about that until you reminded me. xD
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KiaShogone [2019-02-06 02:03:33 +0000 UTC]
Wow! You're really good! I've been trying to work with clay and other molding materials, but the best thing I've made is a cat, and I broke a few days ago Heheh TwT
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HowManyDragons In reply to KiaShogone [2019-02-06 02:29:48 +0000 UTC]
Skill comes with practice! Keep at it, you'll figure it out. I think I broke pretty much all the early pieces I made. I had no idea how to make them structurally sound.
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KiaShogone In reply to HowManyDragons [2019-02-06 02:34:59 +0000 UTC]
^^. The only weird part is that I was in a clay sculpting class for over 2 years Heheh. I think the best part about working with clay is when you get to gaze it. It's so fun and calming uwu
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HowManyDragons In reply to KiaShogone [2019-02-06 02:48:38 +0000 UTC]
Oh, but was that working with natural/earth clay? That's an entirely different medium from what I use. I never got to take the sculpting classes in high school, but I had friends that did, and it seemed like there were lots of things to think about that don't really apply to polymer clay. Glazing polymer clay is enjoyable because I like making my pieces shiny, but I imagine it's a little more exciting with the sorts that get fired in a kiln, because it's hard to tell what the result will be ahead of time.
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KiaShogone In reply to HowManyDragons [2019-02-06 02:50:40 +0000 UTC]
Ah. And, yes, I do agree it's a bit exciting Heheh ^^. On my first week, my clay got put into the kin, and my teacher forgot to tell me it was too thick so it exploded inside.... I had detention for a whole month, and everyday was spent cleaning that thing TwT
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