I've been hard at work finishing up this plucky gentleman, and he feels just about done. I'm going to sleep on it, take (better) pix tomorrow (since that's a good way to see more objectively something you've been staring at for hours) and see if he still reads a-okay. If he does, then up he'll go onto Auction Barn probably on Sunday. He's only four inches from hoofie to ear tips, so my eyes are rolling around in their sockets like Cookie Monster after all that painting of teeny tiny strokes.
It's been fun infusing all I've learned so far into this wee buddy and I think he sports the best dapple grey coat I've done so far. I tried really hard to maintain the "visual texture" of dapple grey while also paying attention to scale. For reference, I used a great photo of a gorgeous Shire stallion in a striking "star dappley" version of the pattern. I was intrigued by the jigsaw-like, Dr. Seussian shapes of the dapples and the stark contrasts of light and dark.
As for painting these little guys, or patterns such as dapple grey, a really handy trick is to take your reference photo and shrink it down in photo editing software, so the horse is the same size as the sculpture you're working on. The smaller the sculpture, the handier this trick. Then you also can flip it over, and now you have a reference for either side of your piece. Now, granted you have to change things up a bit since either side isn't going to match exactly, but it gives you a good idea for guidance. At least you aren't flipping the critter over every two seconds!
Now -- to stare at something big to uncross my eyes...
"Moodling, a combination of musing and mental doodling, can lead to floating over any number of obstacles..." ~ Jane Champagne
Now -- to stare at something big to uncross my eyes...
"Moodling, a combination of musing and mental doodling, can lead to floating over any number of obstacles..." ~ Jane Champagne
