detailing the dragonskin

I tried detailing the skin of the head I made earlier with paint, because I wanted to get a clearer picture of the end-result and finally decide if I would use texturing in PepaCura or not.

So I looked at iguana's and then painted some colorfull scales on a piece of paper and finally on my dragonhead. I liked the result in the shadow and because it's wintertime and not much direct sunlight is available, I was convinced for a while, that this was the way to go.



I was using a kind of trompe l'oeil effect on the scales, which worked fine in the shade, but when it came into direct sunlight it just looked flat.



So I tried something, which you can see around the nose area. I made a layer of clay and drew the scales in and then spraypainted the area in two shades of blue and silver. After this I used a black CD-marker to fill in the bits between the scales in black.
After the marker was applied I used a mother-of-pearl glossing spray, which turned the black a bit purple. The effect was MUCH cooler in direct sunlight.

Here is a close up of my real-life scales:
These were drawn as a experiment with the back of a brush. At this point I was using my expensive synthetic filler for smooth surfaces as a kind of clay, so I decided to get some cheap clay and try it again with that.

I should have expected that clay is much easier to handle, but I was still surprised at how well it stuck to the surface and how little I needed.
The head did get about twice as heavy when I did one half, but the result is very cool.
After seeing what I did whith the scales my daughter (8) decided that the dragon is now a girl.
I understand what she means, I tried to get some beauty into the monster.
If you put it all together this is what I have now:

theory and practice

Here is the stop motion animation with the actual prototype, compared with the theory in virtual space.. I got nicer curves without gravity and material stress, but I like the result anyway.

The one thing I love about a touchable model is that I finally could get the foot to work right.
Yoris now lifts his foot while he lifts his leg. This is due to a little length of rope I tied to a point on his thy, around his knee and ankle, to his toes..

Prototype for leg

My first try using these metal thingies called "draadeind" in Dutch. (all thread or threaded nod)
I'm learning a lot about tools and stuff. A draadeind is basically a bolt without an ending. It's perfect for screwing things together if you don't know how long your bolts should be.
After this phase I started measuring and bought the right bolts. Also I learned that when you turn nuts into eachother they will form a blockade that cannot be broken without tools.. (a handy alternative to a deposit bolt (borgmoer), that you can dissassemble time and again)
I made a fool of myself asking for yellow PVC pipes in the sewerage department and was after much discussion sent to the electrics department. Apparently everybody but me knows that yellow pvc pipes are used for electrics only.
I feel like a real macho man now that I know all these things. I actually own a hammer, two types of saws and a pair of plyers by now and use them regularly. I never got past screwdrivers, because with computers you don't need much more.
I am officially leaving whimphood and carefully venturing into obsessional nerddom..
This picture should give you some idea of the scale..