Here´s a glimpse of a work-in-progress, “Dougal” ready to go hunting stag…well, not ready yet but in a while. I´m using the softer SuperSculpey lately and mix it occasionally with the firmer grey stuff, gives you a nice Zombie-colour but a good consistency for the tiny tiny detailled parts
Picture in the background copyright by Starz.
Hi , just a very hasty and quick update on how this little fellow is coming along…still some work ahead of me, but the fur is getting fluffier and his face has a bit more detail to it.
I visited his “relatives” in the zoo who inspired me for his character, and I enjoyed watching those cute creatures up close, jumping around and munching their veggies (although I must say I always feel sorry for any animal – especially wild ones – fenced in, no matter how good the intention).
I hope to complete him this weekend, and the paint job sure will be a great pleasure. His cap and some other little props will be added soon, too.
Enjoy the rest of your week !
Hi there, dear readers!
This post will be about two of my favourite topics: Dogs and dragons 😉
Last weekend, I had to say good-bye to my beloved “walkies”-buddy Nando, because he has found a new home and hopefully will be happy there. So this past week-end, I made a new friend – this is sweet Chicca, a very well-mannered and friendly dog with a cute moustachy face, quite tall, and with a bit of Schnauzer. We got along beautifully even though I do not know what “Sit!” and “Give paw!” in Romanian is (that´s where she´s from), as she does not know it in German – yet ;-).
And apart from making lovely new friends, I´ve been in Faunia, sculpting my clumsy three-headed school-dragon Tripodd…I herewith proclaim him almost finished!
There will be some tiny details to add, but all in all, that´s him! I imagine him well in summer when he takes the little fauns and centaurs and other creatures on his back after school to carry them to the pond for a thorough swim. He s a very distant cousin of Dougal, the pond-police”man” (ah waterdragon) and enjoys dog-paddling in the cool water.
After I have finished him , I will do some serious sketching to give you a clearer idea what all those crazy characters are doing in Faunia.
Until then – hang on, there will be posts to different creative topics ! 😉
This is the dashing, talented and passionate harptrumpeteer James Arthur Floyd-Finnegan, or better known as Jamie Finn Softone.
(pics by Th. Schramm)
Let me tell you a bit about him.
Jamie Finn is a really inspirational faun with a strong DIY-attitude. He not only sings, but plays and builds all kinds of instruments you can imagine. He lives in a cozy hutt in the rolling green hills of Faunia (see pic).
Next to his hutt, there also is a spacious studio and workshop. In the back, he has a sunny patio and a huge garden where he grows a great variety of greeneries and has a small coffee-plant. He is an expert in growing coffee beans that make the blackest, strongest and most delicious smelling coffee in whole Faunia. There is also an impressive variety of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes you can imagine. Jamie not only cooks the best pumpkin soup you have ever tasted, but his pumpkins also fulfill another important need – from the dried & hardened shells he builds shapely banjos, guitars, violins and parts of some crossover-instruments you have never heard of.
For some instruments like his harptrumpet or his wonderful drums, he also uses wood as Faunias vast forests offer an unbelievable variety of different trees. The strings for his harp, guitars, violins and banjos are made from a special weed which Jamie finds in the pond (see pic) . There he usually has a thorough philosophical chat about life with waterfairy Ira (and his wife Moira, you will meet her soon).
Often Jamie is visited by travelling musicians, who buy some of his wondrous instruments and enjoy the high quality craftsmanship (and the accompanying bowl of pumpkin soup and nice cup of mindblowing coffee). This is one way for Jamie to hear what is going on beyond the borders of Faunia. Another way for him is to take one of his newest, most intriguing instruments and go off wandering, playing haunting tunes and meeting his audience.
From time to time, Jamie Finn is accompanied by two furry friends that live near him, a linx and a fox, who love to support him vocally (with a hearty purr and soft howl…you will meet them soon). Jamie Finn feels very comfortable with his life, enjoys what he does and would not want it any other way.
P.S.
This awsome character is based on a living person of „our“ world named James Radcliffe. James wholeheartedly agreed to be part of this story and – that is really true – had thought of himself as a faun anyway, should he ever be in the situation of becoming a mythical creature. I do start to believe in synchronicities…
Upcomig posts:
Faunia´s three-headed-dragon and teacher assistant Tripodd, who is keen on keeping the classroom quiet and the pupils attentive. He is a bit foodoriented and – well, let´s say he is not the brightest creature in Faunia. So especially in summer when the little Faunians secretly munch those sunny-sweet blueberries under their desks, Tripodd with his three supersensitive noses will without hesitation smell those goodies and snapp out to get his share. Unfortunately, he is a bit clumsy and greedy and will not only swallow those tempting berries but also the accompanying child. But do not worry, he too is vegeterian and cannot digest a Faunian child. After a short time in Tripodd´s spacious greeny-shady-kaleidoskopic body, the offending child will be spat out, completely unharmed but a bit green and a bit smelly. So there will be no escape from honestly answering the parents´question „have you been good at school?“ as the truth is more than obvious.
So watch this space, there are more creatures to be brought to life…
Have a wonderful Easter holiday!
(pics by Th. Schramm)
Welcome to the office of mayor Miles Mulligan III, fully “garbed” in his best – well – fur, a nice handmade mug with a dipped-in biscuit handy (not in tea, rather a veggie-broth as the whole community of my fantasy realm is vegetarian), a functional stylish (kind of) desk and quite a few meaningful thoughts to share. I imagine him having a nice full far-carrying baritone voice (Richard Armitage-ish) with a slight Scottish accent ;-).
I had a lot of fun scultping & painting him and crafting his office “chair” and “desk”. The latter both are made of styrofoam. For the sofa – yes I name it, can´t really tap around it, eh? He loves his comfy office-sofa – I used felt which I sewed onto the base.
The mug is made from clay, the biscuits are – can you believe it – real, just like the pen and paper. Oh and the carpet is handknitted by me, yeah I know a bit wobbly , but it´s rustic style out there in Faunia.
Hope he makes you smile just like he made me smile on this rainy monday. Please feel free to comment, I look foreward to hearing from you.
Here we have the office of the mayor of my little fantasy realm which I named Faunia.
Its mayor, a respectable and wise dog with the impressive name of Miles Mulligan III, has made himself comfortable in his office- …eh “chair ” to think and decide over important community matters.
His secretary, whom you will meet at another point of the story, supports and advises him as best as he can and takes his most important task – ALWAYS keep the pantry and the bowl next to the chair full of dog biscuits – very seriously, it is a matter of life or death, believe me.
I will see to it that Miles gets a bit furrier and gets an nice wooden office desk.
Yay! A fun paint-job finished …Lucius sure is a good-looking bloke, don´t you think?
Now, if I were a young teenage faun-girl like Elka (please see my earlier post in cat. creatures and characters) I sure would have a crush on him, too 😉 .
And that is an important part of the story happening in my fantasy realm….but of course I cannot tell you any details right now, just as much…there will be a tragic love story, an adventure with a mysthical treasure to discover, strong friendships to form, surprising events to happen, family bonds to develop, some dreams to come true, some dreams to fail, unhealthy ambitions to mistrust, courage and loyalty to support and much much more…and all that will take place in a little community with a bunch of (mainly) goodhearted creatures of many different forms and types.
Now – here´s my charming centaur, ready to trot into the oven to get baked! I was surprised I had to get some new finer tools to work on him – see him presenting them in this first picture ;-). But even though I thought I almost had any necessary kind of sculpting tool there is, I found the super sculpey quite tricky and had to update …. Now of course I am learning by doing and hey – he´s my first! And in my fantasy realm there are plenty of hoofed creatures great and small that still need to be sculpted from head to – well, hoof, … I sure will get some more practise.
So stay with me to see what fun and mysterious characters we´ll come across in the near future 🙂
Hi, some of you might remember an older post from my creature and character section of my fantasy realm. The character I´m talking about is the shady muli/donkey centaur Lucius Donk, the villain-to-be of the story I´m working on. So far, there was a sculpted and painted head and there was a first-try-full-body maquette. But then I got my hands on SuperSculpey and…well see the first results. He still is a bit too short legged but hey, he´s a donkey. And his expression should be a bit more cunning and sinister, but I think he is just too happy about the sixpack I gave him so don´t trust his smile 😉
this last pic shows the head on the left, the first-try-maquette with way-too-short-legs on the right and the little play-Quarterhorse I used as a reference up front.
It sure is a challenge – sculpting horses (donkeys) and human bodies. But I enjoy it and will work on him the next days.
pic by Th. Schramm So here we have another character of my littly fantasy realm. Dougal is taking care that waterfairy Ira can do his job of methodically filtering the pond´s water properly without being bothered by fish. They are good buddies and colleagues and enjoy each others company. PS New visitors of this blog might want to look at my older posts in category creatures and characters to understand what´s what – or better who is who 😉 
Cris´s blog of art & craft 
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