Making a Dragon on a Stick

Instructions

This is the process of how I sculpted, painted, and decorated a clay dragon from scratch! My grandma had these glass things that used to be outdoor lights, and she requested that I make something out of clay to go inside them, like a kind of "glass menagerie". So, while staying at my grandparents' cabin in the mountains, I made it my goal to complete this project during the two weeks of my vacation. This project took many hours, but I managed to complete it in time, and I'm super happy with how it turned out! Click/space/arrow keys to go through the pictures of my process! 1. My concept sketch of what I wanted the dragon to look like! The plan was to have this dragon perch on a stick inside the glass menagerie, almost like a snake curling on a branch in the zoo. I wanted it to have a nature-like theme and a cunning but aloof air. It seems content to lounge on its branch, but at the first opening, it will strike! 2. This is the glass container I will be putting the dragon in 3-4. The first step of making the dragon was to make an armature! This involved using wire and aluminum foil so I had a base to sculpt on. I started with just plain wire, but then wrapped thinner wire around it so that the clay would stick more easily. Clay tends to just slide off if it's just on a single wire. 5. Then, I needed to pick a stick for the dragon! I went driftwood hunting in the river, and found several potential candidates that I then sawed down to the right size. I ended up choosing the one that's second from the left for its cool twisty shape! 6. After that, I started fleshing out the dragon with clay. I positioned it on the stick to see basically how it would fit 7. More fleshing out the dragon. This time, it's fully covered in clay! 8-9. I sculpted the face, horns and ears... 10-12. ...Then I realized that the face was larger than I wanted, and made the dragon look bigger than I intended. Mostly it was the snout that was too large. So, I chopped of the snout and made a new one! 13. There were many hours of work that weren't captured on camera that went into smoothing and refining the dragon's clay. I also sculpted and baked the spikes and claws off-camera, and then inserted the hardened spikes into the dragon. I then finished polishing up the dragon, removing fingerprints from the clay, and then adding a little bit of scale and muscle detail. Finally, the dragon is ready to bake! 14. Dragon in the oven! 15-19. Dragon out of the oven! Its wings and horns got a little toasted, but that's fine since it'll be painted over. However, there were some imperfections with the dragon after it was baked. 20. One of the talons on a hind foot got pushed out of place when I set the dragon down in the oven, and so baked in this awkward spot. I forcibly RIPPED the talon off and resculpted it 21-22. There were also these wires from the armature that were poking out of the front left foot. I used pliers to pull the wire up out of the clay, then trimmed them off and later filled the hole with more clay. 23. It's the dragon on the stick in the menagerie! 24. The last thing I wasn't happy with was the front right leg. I wanted it to be resting on the stick like the dragon is holding on to it, but it wasn't bent properly for that. This meant it was time for some... drastic measures 25. I made a test leg before I tried this surgery on the real dragon... 26. And then it was time to get my saw out! 27. I sawed a line around the wrist, but didn't cut through the wire armature. This meant that the foot was still attached to the leg via the wire, but was able to bend and be repositioned. The test worked out great... 28. ...So I tried it on the real dragon! I then filled in the break with clay and baked the dragon again with all of the alterations complete. 29. Then it's time for paint! 30-34. I didn't have much of a plan for the dragon's color aside from "green", so I just kind of improvised it. I started with a light shade of green and then added progressively darker layers to get a good green color with some hints of the lighter layers showing through 35. I also added some shimmery golden scale patterns using a technique my uncle suggested. Using some old window mesh, I held the mesh up to the dragon and then sprayed a very watered-down gold on with my airbrush. The mesh left little diamond scale-like patterns, and the consistency of the paint meant that the gold was just a subtle shimmer. It's a little hard to see in this pic, but you can see the scales a little better in some later ones 36-41. Next, I painted the details on the spikes in gold and pink! I also painted the yellow eyes 42-44. Unfortunately, the dragon tried to take a flight but forgot that its wings weren't finished. So, it fell on the ground and broke its wing. Luckily, I was able to fill the gap with super glue and baking soda, and then paint over it. Good as new!