dragonsong : diorama WIP

[Evilhalfling]

The little queen all golden

flew hissing at the sea 

To stop each wave

Her clutch to save 

She ventured bravely 

 

Dragonsong and Dragonsinger were some of my favorite books as a kid, and my Elder spawn loved them as much as I did.  

 

Hopefully this is headed for Reapercon if I think I can get a Silver with it. 

 

1:  the layout.  The base will need to have square sides, so that I can frame up a container to pour resin. 

the top of the base will be slanted, to show the gentle slope of a sandy beach, and I need big enough waves, to threaten the nest. 

hopefully sculpted from a Mat gel and possibly toilet paper foam. 

 

I'll have to change out the giantesses hand - the staff is not at all appropriate - I could try sculpting a fish net (hardest) a bag, a hand holding an egg, or just an open hand.

cutting off the staff leaves her with a closed fist ... which doesn't fit either. 

 

2:  some sculpting.  I wanted to make theis dragon wingless since I got him, Marhtangull just has such a good crouch, his wings actually spoil the lines. 

i have a few more sculped scales to glue on once the putty hardens. 

The Nest of eggs: must have 9+ a few that perish during hatching.   The Ale Barrel was what I made when I realized I had mixed up WAY to much milput. 

 

3: the golden Firelizard queen  -  I dont have the contrasts pushed high enough to really look mettalic, im a little worried about it 

I need to resculpt the eyes - firelizards need big cute anime sized eyes.  I already removed the front legs and shifted the wings, adding a few sculped scales and connective wing flap. 

 

Would love advice, critiques or suggestions. 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Evilhalfling

[Evilhalfling]

Its been a busy month 

Menolly is my triad for June RCL  - So I have a strong push to finish her.  will I get the whole diorama finished too?  I have no idea.

I went with the bag as I dont think I can do a convincing hand or net.   I also ilted her head forward, hopefully lowering the direction of her gaze. 

I have an updated picture of the (still unfinished dragonling and some sculpting I did for  Menolly.  

 

[Evilhalfling]

The Plan is Now to get the diorama to a reasonable state and submit it for the RCL 

then keep working on it till Reapoercon and enter it in the painting contest.

Menolly is really yhe linchpin and I am also trying to get her done for the RCL Trio. 

I got her primed then went back to work on the queen and eggs 

 

[Evilhalfling]

A day spent on flesh and face. 

It still doesn't quite show the surprise/alarm and the skin tone  is still to dark...  aiming for more tanned Sothern European  

 

looking at my source material im going dark hair, olive skin,  white shirt, dark brown dress and understated ornaments - bone and leather as much as I can get away with.   copper or bronze if I cant. 

 

The first picture is furthest along: 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Evilhalfling

[Evilhalfling]

Starting on clothes,  not going slowly enough to handle the details: the cloak will be cotton thread textured 

 

[Evilhalfling]

Cutting and sanding : 

with real sand! 
 

 

[Evilhalfling]

MORE PHOTOS! 

the seal for the resin held on the first pour - I filled the craks with greenstuff, then painted it roughly the color of the sand.  the outside will all get a coat of black paint after  I remove the framework.   It has taken as many as 5 attempts to seal it on past projects. 

this giantess may be as done as I care to do before attaching her - further work will go on after I submit this for the RCL 

 

[Chaoswolf]

This is coming along very nicely, I look forward to seeing it finished.

[Evilhalfling]

I cut the timing too close. 

My ADHD tedency of working hardest up to the deadline does not work if I get the deadline wrong 

 

the RCL ends tonight at 6pm, and I can't even remove the frame until tomorrow morning. 

I must have thought the deadline was tomorrow.   Ah well,   I guess it will count for the second half of the contest instead. 

there probably wasn't time to do good waves unless I had all the way to the end of the month.  and without waves it loses a lot the meaning of the scene. 

[SotF]

I like the idea...though, for book accuracy, there are some issues that might be a nitpick.

 

Menolly is a redhead, though the shade varies heavily between different bits of art there.

 

The other is that fire lizards/dragonets, like most Pern native fauna, have six limbs, so the old queen ought to have forelimbs save for some of that watchweyr that were around long after the last pass (And, potentially a few wild ones) where the wings have fully degenerated to no longer exist. But it's one of the tells for creatures that are native to Pern rather than the imports is that they have the 6 limbs rather than 4.

[Evilhalfling]

16 hours ago, SotF said:

I like the idea...though, for book accuracy, there are some issues that might be a nitpick.

 

Menolly is a redhead, though the shade varies heavily between different bits of art there.

 

The other is that fire lizards/dragonets, like most Pern native fauna, have six limbs, so the old queen ought to have forelimbs save for some of that watchweyr that were around long after the last pass (And, potentially a few wild ones) where the wings have fully degenerated to no longer exist. But it's one of the tells for creatures that are native to Pern rather than the imports is that they have the 6 limbs rather than 4.

 

Menolly is shown as a red head in some printings of the covers, but not well described.  in the copies of the books I have it is dark brown.  

it is not described in the text, but a fan wiki quoted a single mention of "Dark hair"  elsewhere in the series. 

since half circle sea hold is on a warm ocean with lots of sandy beaches and the population rarely moves around, I went with Mediterranean hair and skintones. 

 

yes the removal of 2 of the firelizards legs was a mistake, but I really needed the wings in a fighting position  so this is the way I conceived  it.  It also could have been in a flying position, smacking the waves with its wings,, and held in place by the resin, but I didn't go looking for dragons that would work for that position. I dont think any of reaperrs Wyrmlings would have worked. 

[Evilhalfling]

Working mor on beach.

now I’m wondering if I should turn crashing wave into a mound of sea foam ( is the wave that has already collapsed...

 

 

[Evilhalfling]

Submitted this for RCL 

I think it still needs work for a silver at reapercon, so I’ll keep adjusting it