Smaug the Magnificent

Natarn · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:03 pm

Hello, everyone.

If you liked my Ruined Round Fort WIP, then I think you'll love this one.

I was going to keep it secret for the One Ring Awards, but thought that actually it would be far more fun for me to share progress and far more interesting for you to see the model progress. I might not even enter it this time - it may not be finished! :roll:

I decided to sculpt a dragon because the GW one looks nothing like my imaginings of Smaug. The neck is too short for a start... it looks like a cat with wings. Sure it looks evil and powerful, but it has no elegance - no beauty. For me, a dragon is a creature of a great and terrible beauty.

My first picture is partly just for a laugh but also to show the very humble beginnings of my dragon. An old piece of garden fencing wire.

There'll be more pictures soon... :wink:

Natarn Ulka.

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

If this goes the Same route as your Ent and the fort , we are in for a treat !

BrentS · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:26 pm

Wow, I can see it already. That is a truly evil dragon!

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

BrentS wrote:

Wow, I can see it already. That is a truly evil dragon!

Really menacing piece of wire ! already cowering with fear !

Grimatt · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:30 pm

Be sure, i will be wacthing this with massive interest. I think we all share your thoughts on GW's dragon!

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:03 pm

That is a truly magnificent piece of garden fencing!

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:30 pm

Weird wired... (ha-ha).

Are you going to show us a concept sketch or two? Most sculptors have something they base the finished piece upon and in your case it would be something markedly different to the GW version.

Oh - the very best of luck with it! It sounds like we have another O-R sculpting fiend in the making!

Ukfreddybear · **Posted:** Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:38 pm

Sweet. I was going to do this myself, but I've been talked out of it. Production costs would be too high I'm afraid. I will be converting a McFarlane one instead for my own personal use.

Can't wait to see how you get on.

Natarn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:21 pm

BrentS wrote:

Wow, I can see it already. That is a truly evil dragon!

I'm glad you can see it too.

Like a sculpture hidden in the stone, waiting to be released, there's a dragon hidden in this wire! :wink:

I appreciate the gentle note of sarcasm, Brent! When you see the next few WIP pictures, you'll see the dragon appear more clearly for those with less well-trained eyes. :wink:

Dorthonion, regarding sketches - I've made none, although I have looked at a lot of source material. (It's amazing how many dragons live in my local area.) I find it quite easy to visualise in 3 dimensions and my sketches never match up to what I imagine. Sometimes I do sketch, but when I feel quite certain about something, I just go for it. In a way, the wire is my sketching material with which I draft the shape of the beast, as you will see.

I can show you some of the source material I've looked at, starting with JRRT, and talk you through some of my thought processes.

I love these JRRT illustrations; they have a charm all of their own. Will my dragon look like this? Actually, no. His dragon was based on a Norse dragon, so I go further back and think of the prows of longships. I picture a dragon with a shorter body than this and with a longer neck. The ridges/spines on the back, I like but I'm not sure about that forked tail. I like the length of the face but think it looks far too friendly!

Curunír · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:25 pm

Natarn Ulka wrote:

I love these JRRT illustrations; they have a charm all of their own.

Brilliant idea Natarn Ulka, I must have seen these illustrations dozens of times but never thought to use it as a starting point for the "idea" of a dragon. Looking at them again, I think it would be great to have a "worm" like dragon, and I can easily picture Smaug coiled up on a pile of gold. Ahhh, where's the green stuff!

Natarn Ulka wrote:

PS. You've got to admit; that humble piece of wire's already an improvement on GW's dragon! :wink:

:lol:

Thanks for sharing and keep us posted.

Cheers

Grimatt · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:53 pm

I have a large collection of "inspiration" pictures in a folder on my PC, all found on various art sites painted by amazing artists. I cannot find the original links so i will host a few, and link to them to not clutter your WIP space:

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/5530/dragontamerbygraysundnu3.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7079/incarnumdragonbyironshojq7.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/1688/earthdragonbytyrus88bc0.jpg
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/5084/earthdragonza5.jpg

I have plenty more if they where helpful

Joansean · **Joined:** Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:23 pm **Posts:** 760

Some nice pics there! I like the one with a lake on his back.

Radagast the white · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:14 pm

Quote:

If this goes the Same route as your Ent and the fort , we are in for a treat !

Most definitely!

Natarn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:21 pm

Thanks for those pictures, Grimatt. There are some very tasty dragons in that selection.

Shaper Tain · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:16 am

Very cool pictures Grimatt. Can't wait to see some progress.

Natarn · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:35 pm

Here's the dragon popping out of the garden fence!

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So, you see, I really did mean it when I said I could see the dragon in the wire - front and back legs, wings, neck and tail!

More next week.
Cheers, Natarn.

CaptainOfTheWolfRiders · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:41 pm

Ah there we go. I thought you were going looney when you said "I can see a dragon in there", but now I can see what you meant.

How big is the dragon? Can you put a 25mm figure beside it so we can see the scale?

rossik · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:00 pm

it sure will be great!

thought about the color?

BrentS · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:24 pm

Nah, just looks like a tumbled mess

Just kidding. You are doing a great job teasing us with this one. I'm sure it hasn't take 3 days to select the garden wire and the cut and pose it!

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:20 pm

I reckon you are going to need more wire for a greater spread of support throughout the model and for reinforcing the structural integrity of the main load-bearing areas - legs, places where legs and wings meet body, spine.

I can see the shape too - it's a bit like in astronomy when you try to see the shape in a constellation.

Smaug the Magnificent

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