Thursday, 10 January 2013

Unicorn Maquette concept...

Following on from the last post:

After handing in my report (and having to rush downstairs to the library to print out images that I'd forgotten, lol) I started work on the beginning of a conceptual design for my Unicorn using plasticine.
I was probably about eight the last time I used plasticine and I have to admit, I really like it as a material and will need to invest in some for myself now I think!

 I wasn't intending to go for anything in particular, (although I think this one is going to be a lot more deer-like) I just wanted to play around with the clay and see where it took me.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

I normally start with the eyes in place but I couldn't find anything until I was halfway through. I added a neck shortly after this as I was getting sick of smudging everything!

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2
He now obviously looks JUST like a unicorn now that he has a screw in his head.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

Neck is developed a bit more and looks less like horribly sculpted tendons.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2
Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

The eyes start to get a little more defined as does the sculpture overall.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2
Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

Ears!

These are just temporary for the moment but I wanted to see what he'd look like with them on. I didn't have any reference material handy other than what I'd found for my report so I know that he's probably reeeeally wonky anatomically but hey, it was only about 3/4 of an hour's work so I can't really complain. :P The finished prop is going to be a LOT bigger - (I'm thinking the size of a smallish deer?) this is just a concept for now.

Annoyingly I had just started to get into the groove of it all when it was time to pack up!I'm hoping I'll have some time this weekend to do something at home, even if it's just some more sketching.

UNICORNS FTW!

EG out! :P







The mysterious new project...

I started back at college after the Christmas holidays this week and gah, it feels SO good to start on a project that I'm feeling nothing but positive about! The house model sapped my creativity like nothing on earth whereas this...well, put it this way, I wanted to stay on and work for hours after class finished today! XD

I've been rather cryptic as to what this new project is all about thus far so consider this my introductory post on the matter.

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Our brief was to create a 'Historical Prop' that had something to do with Scottish Heritage. It could be a faithful reproduction of an actual object, an 'as new' version of one or as a completely fictitious thing based in mythology or from our own imaginations (think films like The Lord of the Rings - the people of Rohan are very Norse-inspired) - as long as we could show a clear line of thinking from something historical we could really do pretty much anything!

We visited Stirling Castle a few weeks ago for inspiration and found surprisingly little as the castle didn't have nearly as many artefacts as we remembered. Still, it was a grand day out and it was certainly worth trekking up the hill for the view alone!

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

We ended up going to Kelvingrove Museum the following day as well and it was whilst admiring some of the mounted specimens in the Natural History gallery that it came to me. Whilst at Stirling there'd been one thing, one recurring theme that I hadn't picked up on until that very moment and something that, if I was allowed to make, would absolutely make my day if not my year.

Stirling Castle

Unicorns!

From tapestries...

Stirling Castle

...to fire guards...

Stirling Castle
This is actually the original Royal Arms of Scotland - pre Union with England.


...they could be found nearly everywhere at the castle and, as I found out later, through much of our history as well. The Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland and plays a symbolic role throughout the centuries - especially during the various wars with the English!

I had a sudden flash of inspiration and wondered if I'd be able to get away with doing a mounted Unicorn's head in much the same way as you see deer stags mounted on the walls of big stately homes and castles. I asked Simon, fully expecting to be shot down but he said that so long as I could relate it back to Scottish heritage I was absolutely fine! XD

So yeah, happy Christine is happy!

Photobucket


We had to write a report/essay/proposal thing for today and as I was still in a very OMG I GET TO MAKE A UNICORN!!!111eleven kind of mood I think I went a little overboard!
Rather than just typing it out and stuff I wanted to make it into more of an object in itself as the original brief stated that it'd be on display with our final pieces at the end of year show. I scoured the internet for interesting fonts and some vintage engravings and voila! It's about nine pages long in reality but I wasn't going to bore you all with every single page, lol

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2The 'parchment' is just printer paper painted with watered down coffee. It absolutely stinks of the stuff now but it looks and feels very convincing!

I bound it using the Japanese stab stitching method which was surprisingly simple and turned out to be incredibly strong as well so I'd like to make some more little books soon.



We were also encouraged to do some sketching that related to the object which for me meant a google search for deer and goats. I drew some straight from the reference while the others used a combination of imagination and actual animal. *mutters something about the 'creative process'*


Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2
Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2 Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2


I also used some watercolour pencils on a goat/unicorn thing which I'm rather chuffed with considering I haven't used them in years!


Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

The same method was used for this portrait of the Unicorn in Captivity which is one of my favourite Unicorn images in the world.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2

I used some gold and silver paint to pick out the details. I wanted it to have that kind of 'illustrated manuscript' look about it.

Unicorn Prop Project - Block 2



 I'm aware that this post is soooo much longer than I'd originally intended so I'll post another one with the next bit... :P

EG out!



















Wednesday, 2 January 2013

New Year - New Start

I know that most new year resolutions always end up getting forgotten about so what better way to keep it memorable than to have it in blog form!

  • Be more organised.

    I am a chronic procrastinator (case in point, I started writing this post LAST NIGHT, lol) and that needs to change.
    ...eventually. :P
  • Properly plan out and start writing my fantasy novel.

    I started it over a decade ago now and it's changed almost beyond recognition but I think I'm ready to start it properly now that I've had time to think about it.
  • Hold at least one give-away on the blog!

    I get so much enjoyment out of other people's knowledge, support and friendship and it's really the least I could do. Suggestions of what to give away would be appreciated though, lol.
  • Lose some weight - at LEAST a stone by this time next year.
    I'm nowhere near as self conscious as I once was but the weight does need to go if my other health issues are to resolve themselves so yeah, BRING ON THE CALORIE COUNTING! XD

  • Get back into riding again, even if it isn't as regular as it used to be.

    I can count the times I've been on a horse in 2012 on one hand and that's really not good. :( I miss it so much!
  •  Finish my Vaskal sculpture!
    He's been in progress for nearly two years now which even for me is pretty bad!


    What are your resolutions?

Friday, 28 December 2012

Stupid Blogger...

I went to revamp this blog only to find that none of my changes are showing up - backgrounds/fonts etc and so I decided to start again with a new template...only now it's stuck on this one and I can't change anything!

 Photobucket

Apparently the little google elves are trying to sort it out but argh, so annoying!

'The Studio' Past and Present

Seeing as I took photos of it when it was tidy the other day (it's a miracle! :o) I thought I might as well show you lot. :D

As we don't have a spare room with any space for displaying ponies or working on customs and the like (where I'm typing from just now is our spare room which houses the PC and shelf upon shelf of family history research c/o my parents.) I've had to make do with my bedroom which is fine in principle but when you're as chronically untidy and disorganised as I am things get messy pretty quickly. These days I'm able to keep on top of the debris reasonably well but in the past it was horrendous. Luckily for me, I took photos along the way so you can see that I've improved a bit! XD

This is a photo of one of my class diaries from Primary 6, describing my room - as you can see, I wasn't exactly known for my organisation even then, aged 9!

Room Tidying...
Gotta love my teacher's comment too. XD

I don't have any photos of it at it's worst but here's some taken whilst I was giving it it's most exhaustive blitz ever.

Before the room blitz...
I particularly like the little circle of debris surrounding the bit of floor I'd been sitting on whilst trying to sort stuff out.

Before the room blitz...
I used to make tack on that tiny little space in front of the roombox - yes, even when it looked like this!

Before the room blitz...

How could I cope with it in that state?

Practice. XD

I had drawers full of half finished tack and props alike and this is what I ended up with when I tipped it all out. O_O

Before the room blitz...


Ok, I'm rather ashamed by all that but fear not, it's much better now! See!

'The Studio'
'The Studio'

Everything's neatly labelled and look, FLOOR! O_O

Granted, the desk can still look cluttered and messy when I'm shooting a photostory or whatever...

The Studio

'The Studio'

...but now it can look nice and shiny afterwards too!


'The Studio' 

As you can see my Schleich/Papo/Safari/MBH live on the top left shelf on a base my mum painted for me when I was a lot younger. It's just MDF but it's so nice I can't bear to let it go.


The Julips have the other two shelves and both stables on the desk and below but even then I'm pushing for space. I'm hoping my dad can put another shelf up above them so I can fit more in - with forty-odd Julips to house I need all the space I can get!

'The Studio'
I've tweaked the layout a bit since this was taken - see above and below


The little set of shelves on the left were a fantastic bargain at WH Smiths recently. I was in the process of reorganising my room and spotted them priced at £14.99. Ever the cheapskate I initially passed them over but finally decided that - for the greater good - they'd come in handy and took them to the till...where the woman priced them at £4.99! I don't know if it was a mispriced item or whether they had them on sale but I wasn't going to argue! XD

'The Studio'

While I don't have much in the drawers yet other than jumprings, tack hardware and bits and bobs that are too small and foutery to keep anywhere else, they're sure to be useful. The orange box on top of them has all my finished fimo food and materials along with some miniature leaves and moss I thought looked nice inside some fancy jars.
I have a pincushion and threads next to it, a couple of containers of sculpting tools, all my glues and sculpting things on the left (plus a pot with knitting needles and HP themed wands - just in case :P) and, rather randomly some hairspray which I only ever use to seal pastel customs when I've run out of actual sealer, lol. The little hats are from Innocent Smoothies when they do their annual 'Big Knit' thing for charity - people send in handknitted hats and they sell them with their smoothies with some of the money going straight to Age UK. :D I don't often buy them as they're pretty pricey but they're worth it for the hats. :P

'The Studio'

'The Studio'


Here we have a rather varied selection of things from a photo of my long dead cat Tilly to those of the ever-missed Cruzhorse. :( All but one of the medallions are sculpted by myself - the unpainted one at the bottom is 'Todd' by Clare Stokes of Meadowview Artistry. For a first sculpture he's incredible and I can't wait to paint him once he's told me what colour he wants to be! lol
I also have a printout of EA Equestrian so I can plan photostory setups properly. Sad I know but in my head the place is as real to me as anywhere else so I like to be accurate!

Further along on the other side of my room is the big set of drawers with all my ribbon, mohair and building materials. As you can just make out, my roomboxes are on the right and mini models and Trads below.

'The Studio'

'The Studio' 

I have so much in the bottom ones it's unreal...

Last but not least, the fabric stash! (and Giovanni the PS3 - my pride and joy!)

'The Studio'

This chest of drawers used to be home to most of my clothes but you know, model stuff comes first so now everything I own is stuffed into a tiny little wardrobe. XD The top drawer is full of backgrounds and bases while the other two are nearly overflowing with fabric.

'The Studio'

'The Studio'



So there you go, proof that I can in fact be organised!

(just don't remind me of that when my room looks like a bombsite - I'll not be pleased. XP)

Thursday, 27 December 2012

New blog!

I've been meaning to do this for months but kept procrastinating...

Anyway, if any of you followed the comings and goings of life at EAE through the yard diary on the site, you'll be pleased to know that I've finally got a proper blog for it set up on blogspot! Webs is a pain to update as it makes everything overly complicated and stuff but I love blogger so it seemed the perfect way to go. Hopefully it means I won't have massive six month gaps between updates now too, lol.

So yeah, you can subscribe to it here - I've got some nice christmassy pics up today. :)



Christmas 

This is also a good excuse to revamp this one a little bit too...

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I'll be online tomorrow (me take a day off the internet? NEVER! :P) but I probably won't get a chance to post a blog thingy so consider this your festive message from me and the herd. :D

Winter Turnout


We hope you've managed to find all your presents...

Christmas Presents

...wrapped...

Christmas Presents

...and left under the tree...

Christmas Presents

Christmas Presents


...and that all conflicts...

Snowball Fight

...no matter how trivial...

Snowball Fight

...get resolved by tomorrow. :)

Snowball Fight

So, from myself and all at EA Equestrian, a very merry Christmas to you all!

 Christmas Presents