More Progress......

Latest WIP pics. I am starting on the banner now, then I will move back to the arms and hands before starting the legs. The arm holding the standard will have scale mail armour and a shoulder pad with a buckler shield on the forearm. The back will have a chain and some shrunken heads attached maybe a skull, war trophies from the powerful enemies this ogre has defeated in battle. Its good to see photos this close up as my eyes are old and cant see in such detail, it allows me to go back to it and touch the problem areas up. As usual comments and crits appreciated....

dfb

Back In Black

Well, my short break in Wales was very awe inspiring. The drive up there alone was spectacular with some impressive views of mountains, waterfalls, rivers and alot of powerful atmosphere. Very easy to feel at home there. I live in Cornwall myself so the countryside is very similiar, but I did feel a greater affinity to Wales. We stayed in Borth and we were very close to a spectacular beach. Borth itself is very "meh" but it is a good location in general. The beach is close, there is a golf course next to the sea and horse riding if you are into these activities. This was just a relaxing holiday, so it was very much a case of just taking in the breathtaking scenery and a few day trips - Snowdonia and a steam train ride through the Valley of Rheidol to see "Devils Bridge" and the falls there. It's basically three bridges stacked on top of each other. Shame it hammered down when we arrived at the actual bridge entrance to pay. I guess the Devil likes to piss off the occassional tourist!

Devils Bridge is the bottom one (12th century)

If you have read the about me page you know I was brought up on faerytales and old folktales and have a great  interest in them. The tale of Devils Bridge is a simple one and I'll cut and paste it here from the official website...

"... around the IIth Century, the Devil visited Wales as he had never been there before and he had heard that the scenery was breathtaking. He soon came across an old lady who seemed upset. "What's the matter?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Oh, I'm in such a terrible muddle and I don't know what to do!. My cow has wandered across the river and I can't get her back".
'Ah!" said the Devil 'What you need my dear, is a bridge, and I am just the man to build you one. Why don't you go home, and in the morning there will be a bridge waiting for you. All I ask in return is to keep the first living thing to cross the bridge!"
"Okay then" she said "It's a bargain. I'll see you in the morning. Nos da, Goodnight"

That night she wondered about this stranger who would build her a bridge. 'What a strange request! Why should I cross the bridge to get my cow back if he gets to keep me in exchange? Mind you it is very tempting offer"

The next day she got up and called for her faithful dog. Together they went down to the river. "Well well" she couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was the best bridge that she had ever seen! I told you that I would build you a bridge" said the Devil appearing from nowhere.
"Now it's your turn to keep your side of the bargain".
I know, you get to keep the first living thing to cross the bridge" and she started to walk towards the bridge. But just when she got to the entrance, she stopped, took out a loaf of bread from her apron pocket and hurled it across the bridge. As quick as a flash and before the Devil could stop it, the dog chased after it. 'Aaaaaaagh!!!!!" screeched the Devil. "You stupid old woman, I don't believe it! Your smelly, hairy farm dog has become the first living thing to cross my bridge. It's no good to me" he screamed and then he vanished.

Well, the Devil was never seen in Wales again as he was so embarrassed at being outwitted by the old lady. High in the mountains near Aberystwyth, there is a village where a very old bridge crosses a deep gorge. Above it are two other bridges built at later dates. But the lowest one....Well, they say that the Devil himself built it!"

Anyway, an inspiring holiday.

Photo Reference Can Be Fun

After doing some thinking about my new ogre project I decided to research some details I'd like to include on some of the models and thought that some body piercings would be a good place to start as I want a primitive, tribal feel as is the usual cliche for ogres (still desperately thinking on any original elements/angles I can give to them). I came across some fabulous and pretty extreme photos on someones blog and thought I'd share them with you in the link below. I'm not a fan of piercing myself but I am sure you will agree that some people do crazy things. Enjoy!

Piercings !!! 

dfb 

A New Project Begins

Moving onto sculpting, now that the cyborg daemon is finished I have been given some DIY orders. Now, I have no intention of this meaning no sculpting or painting for me so I slipped in a cheeky session yesterday and here is the result.... ohh yeah, these are going to be my Mammox Riders. Evil beasts of chaos from the cold north,blah, blah insert dark and foreboding descriptive text in here. Seriously, it will comprise of a standard bearer, with I hope an awesome banner, an ogre warlord and a great hornblower. Maybe a regular warrior to, we will see. There will be three variations of the Mammox creature itself. I am on holiday in Wales next week so I hope to spend some time sketching ideas and maybe even produce some proper concept art to upload to my new section in the blog, yes on the sketchbook page. I have been inspired by browsing through the Cadwallon book by Rackham and am totally blown away by the art of Paul Bonner which I find very much reminiscent of Brian Froud with a scandinavian edge. And even more awesome was when i discovered Gary Chalk did alot of the Pen and ink illustrations in the book to. He was one of my favourite artists from my Talisman/Lonewolf days.

Right, excuse the tangent there and here is the beginnings of the standard bearer. Ignore the legs of course, I am stripping and reworking them. I have gone for a more realistically proportioned figure, although i think he is not ugly enough. I am pleased with the dreads and am working on some kind of head gear, probably the top half of some creatures skull. I need to add a little primitive to them. I am thinking of giving my ogres powerful but stubby legs. Not sure how to distinguish them from big muscular humans just yet. I need to play around....

Comments welcome.

dfb

Final Daemon WIP Photos

Finally I have the last batch of WIP Shots. The first photo shows the tongue options of which there are four now. I am not sure if the client (daemonscape) is going to offer a choice or include them all with the bust. The photos below show some new adjustments, see what you think. The horned ridge is up for debate, the sculpt shows two options, the original horns/bone bit but the new one I like much better, it is just a tentacle type fatty area to break up the texture and allows some patterns to be painted. So you can do a side by side comparison. I like this much better myself, maybe I have been watching too much star wars/farscape babylon 5 but tentacles and aliens go to together perfectly. Well hope these photos meet with approval, they are not good as there was no outside ambient light, taken late yesterday evening. I would have posted them yesterday but I fell asleep on the sofa with my little dog curled up in my arms :)

Terry - let me know which brow to go with, (**cough** smooth, fatty one ;) )

Thanks for looking!

dfb

Paul Day Sculpture

Here is another bit of eye candy for you to feast upon. Today I would like to showcase the magnificent and intriguing work of sculptor Paul Day. You can visit his website at the link below.


Paul Day Website

As you will see, much perspective based sculpture and I am sure you will agree outstanding work.

dfb

Two For One

Two posts in one day again!!! Well, I said I would showcasing the work of others on my website, as much cool stuff as I could find. Well here is one of my favourite sculptors, Mr. Ray Villafane. He works in a lot of mediums and is a professional sculptor, working for Marvel amongst many other clients. If you were to empty the contents of your dustbin on the floor this guy could probably sculpt a masterpiece out of it. Anyway here is one photo to wet your appetite....

 

  

To see all the all other mouthwatering pictures click here.

Enjoy.

dfb 

Big Changes....

Well, done a few things to improve the daemon. Firstly the eye was sorted out. So now both are made with ball bearings, new eyelids and mechanical eyelids on the cyborg eye. Other improvements include some torn flesh on the front, the spine has been finished off with more muscle fibres going around the edges to prepare it better for the mould making process and general tidying up here and there. There is one more change I will hopefully be making that requires the client to give the nod to go ahead and do it, but if/ when done should make the bust look much nicer. Photos will be taken when the second tongue is completed, its half done at the moment so all in all the extra time taken to do the tidy up has been very much worth it!


dfb