New Pony Sets: Mane Six Round 2

Greetings, Pony fans! It's a new year and I've completed work on a new set of buttons for the Mane Six! These faces include classic expressions for seasons 2 and 3. The following button sets are live on our Etsy Store and Flickr Gallery. Check them out!

Fluttershy

Pinkie Pie

Twilight Sparkle

Rarity

Rainbow Dash

Applejack

Museum Project Update: Dragonskin

Hello again.

As stated in the last post, I'm following up with some new WIP shots of the museum Thunder Dragon project. This is the finalized design after adding the cloth skin. Shown here is the piece before moving on to the painting process.

Front-side view

Shown here is a similar shot to the last one, only after the skin. You can see here the dark blue cloth layer that is now covering all of the piece's features. I'm pleased with how the jagged outer jaws turned out and I think the final color scheme will help distinguish them from the inner fangs. The horns have been changed slightly from the last shots as explained further on.

Top-down view

Here's a better picture to illustrate what I'm talking about. Since the construction WIP shots, I added a smaller pair of top horns running along the skill and then added some smaller ones branching off the largest pair. I think it helps capture a regal appearance and set the piece apart from the other ones. Also note the gold stones set along the middle of the head.

Front view

This is the final shot. As mentioned in the post, the head was a little too narrow and I added some bulk to fill it out before setting the eyes. This shot also shows a good angle of the horns and how they slope off the head. It's also important to notice how there are slight asymmetrical flaws in the orientation. I never worry too much about this because it's supposed to be an organic piece and things in nature don't usually demonstrate exact symmetry. If dragons existed, I imagine this would be true.

That's it for this update. The painting process is underway and I'll be posting a full article writeup with the completed shots, lore/mythology, and the emblem work for this piece. Stay tuned.

Museum Project Preview: Thunder Dragon

 

Hello.

This is Zan posting for the first time. Now that the Vengeful Ten series is done, I have been working on a project that was sidelined while we finished the masks. This project was born from a few early concepts for a dragon trophy head. Unlike most of the other pieces, this one had a theme and rough design before actual construction of the piece started. The final design will be a Thunder Dragon with an appropriate color scheme. I've added some previews of the piece at the mache construction phase. It hasn't been fully covered in the cloth skin yet because there are still some design elements to finish.

Front-side view

As shown in this shot, the piece is large, possibly the largest dragon head I've attempted so far. The jaws were already painted as per the usual process but I tries something different during the construction phase. Note the jagged outer fangs lining the outside of the jaws. This meant to show a serrated edge and will hopefully contrast with the rows of fangs on the inside. I expect this to look a bit more clear after the skin has been applied to the head/mouth.

Top down view

Here we see a shot from the top. This dragon has several sets of curved horns, the largest pair starting at the sides of the head. I'm intending to add a bit more to those before the cloth layer is applied. You can also see orientation of the eyes from this shot. They haven't been glued on yet since I'm not done with the head. I think it's too narrow and needs to be built out a bit so the face doesn't look cramped.

Top-side view

The final shot shows the horns a bit more. Note that they slope out and backwards from the head. I may have to apply the cloth in phases to ensure the shape is preserved. The dark blue areas are an initial cloth layer I applied to reinforce the jaws and the largest set of horns. The final cloth layer will cover this one for added strength. I want this piece to be strong enough when hung.

That's it for now. I will be following up with another set of pictures after the design is finalized and the cloth layer is added. It will be the last set of pictures before painting. Stay tuned!