It’s been a while since I’ve done a project-based blog post, so I figured one of my recently completed commissions would make a great opportunity to share a little more behind the scenes.
One of the commission requests I received was for a wedding couple that a mother would present to her daughter and son-in-law as a gift. I absolutely loved creating this set because of the parameters I was given:
- The groom’s suit was navy blue
- The bride’s flowers were a burnt orange
- The couple was getting married at sunset
The suit and flowers to drive my main color scheme, but I thought it would be fun to incorporate the sunset part of the ceremony into this figurine, so I proposed making the accent colors a golden yellow, a peachy pink, and a deep pinky-purple, colors I pulled from reference images of sunsets.
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- I chose colors from this block
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- Pulled colors for the top row
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- Pulled colors for the middle row
I also thought it would be neat to incorporate the eye colors of the bride and groom, which I found out were a blue-green, so with all of that information I was able to mix up my overall color palette.
This is only the 5th couple I’ve done in the 3 years I’ve been sculpting, and I really enjoy shaping the tails. I really struggle with shaping it around the wire, but I think it turns out so cute! If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember the ones I did early on where I shaped the tails into the initial of their last name. I decided to shape this one into a heart.
Because I know I’ll need that wire to help hold the tail shape later on, I start with wire in my armature and build aluminum foil up around it and work from there. After that, my process is pretty normal until it’s time to put them together.
My favorite part of this commission was the sunset gradient blend I used for their bellies. This was the first time I tried a stripey blended look instead of a regular gradient. I took my colors and laid them out in little snakes, starting with yellow, alternating with some pink, and then gradually building in the purple.
And then I blended until I liked how it looked.
Each dragon is built up separately. I wanted them to look like they were leaning into each other a little bit, so I shaped that as I was sculpting. The ends of the tails are left uncovered because it’s easier for me to shape the wire before clay is on it.
And then we have the finished set! I loved having the change to create a couple again!
