Medallion Screw Up

Here's another photo of that medallion I've been working on for ages. I had a terrible time getting the mane and forelock to look okay, and then with a bunch of other minor adjustments, I've concluded that I ruined it. I hadn't measured anything in a while, and now the cheek has blown up to giant proportions, the bridge of the nose is too big, and the neck is too thick (I think). It's supposed to be a Percheron or draft cross, but right now I think it looks like a pony. *Sigh* Back to the (sculpting) board...

Hazel

This is a commission I'm working on, she will be a large spot blanket appaloosa when she's done. I just blocked in the color right now, I plan on toning down her pangare somewhat, and haven't done much with the head yet at all. I just love Morgen's work, it's been such a thrill for me to  paint two of her sculptures in a row.

I've been spending almost all of my time working on this piece, the blanket takes a long time to build up color.

Flitwick Slide Show

Flitwick

I painted this wonderful Flitwick sculpture as a commission. I love the expressive features of Morgen Kilbourn's work, her horses look so "ride-able". I feel a little uncomfortable showing in-progress pictures of commission pieces at this time, simply because they go through so many "ugly" phases and I don't want to freak out my customers ;-), so this is the finished piece.

I did take progress pictures of this guy, though, and I made a little slideshow using Photobucket. For some reason this blog is not accepting Photobucket's html, but I can't see what the problem is, so as soon as I can figure out how to do that, I'll post it. I'll have some more finished pictures of him on my website in a couple of days.

Semi-Rearing Appy

I've done some more work on this guy. I like the changes I've made so far, thanks to some good advice that I got on the RESS mailing list. I still have a lot more work to do on the blanket and roany areas, on all of it, actually. I've barely even touched the head! I'm not sure what color I'll make the mane and tail yet, I kind of like the lighter color I've got on it now. Comments and critiques are always welcome, even if they're bad (you can always remain anonymous if you don't want me to know who you are ;-))

PAS

I've been working on this guy a little bit, now he doesn't even look like an Arab! The legs are huge now. I tried filling out his belly, but I don't know if it's an improvement or not. I need to change that left rear hoof, I think just the tip of the hoof should be touching the ground. My original reference photo doesn't show the hooves, he's standing in grass, so I've been looking at a bunch of other pictures. Also, I think the "butt" (semitendinosus?) looks too big now.

I don't know how other people can make this seem so easy! I study, I draw horses from life when I can, I take photos and study videos, I took a workshop, I ask questions, but when it gets right down to the point of applying material to the armature, all sense flies out the window for me, or I can't see it, or something. It's very frustrating for me. It makes me question whether I can even see in three dimensions (or if there's something wrong with my eyesight LOL!)

Maybe part of it is because I spent so much time in the 2D world, and have started trying to sculpt after so many years of not doing it. Drawing is easy for me, in fact it's a joy and I look forward to it, but I don't see a light at the end of this sculpting tunnel yet. Everything I try to sculpt looks like crap to me now, and I'm not at that point yet where I feel like there's hope that it will ever get better. Sometimes I think that I should just stick to finishwork, but I really want to learn more about sculpting, at least to be able to do minor changes like ears, manes and tails, maybe a leg movement or something. I think I bite off more than I can chew...

I will probably keep slogging away at this no matter what, it's hard for me to give up. It might take me ten years though!

Semi-Rearing Stallion

I've been working on prepping a commission so haven't had a lot of time to work on this guy, but I have made some progress. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago. After airbrushing the base coat, I started hand-painting "details". I put details in quotation marks because this is the very first, coarse stage of where I'm trying to go with this model, and the actual details will be refined a lot by the time it's done. I'm basically just trying to get some color in the right place right now. This is the ugly duckling stage that seems to last forever when I work on a model, when I hate looking at it and can't wait for it to start looking better.