We’re back for another round of the Pure Art Collab. This time we tackled four of the zodiac signs, with the rest to follow at some point.
Since we were toward the beginning of the year when we made the decision to tackle this theme, we decided we would just start with those signs. That means for part one of the zodiac theme, we tackled aquarius, pisces, aries, and taurus.
First of all, I want to thank the following creatives for joining us on this installment of the #purecollab:
@amotherofdragoneggs (our lovely cofounder!)
I was blown away by the submissions for this round. You guys never cease to amaze me!
Since this is going to be a big picture collaboration, I felt like I needed to buckle down and put together a game plan for all 12 zodiac dragons before I could start the first one.
I went old school and created a brainstorm sheet. Each section was dedicated to a sign. I researched info about the sign, its symbol, its element, and associated colors.
I eventually ruled out using the element information and instead used the colors to dictate the color palette for each dragon. The sign would be incorporated into the physical form of the dragon, and the symbol would be carved into the base (and later filled in with a liquid mixture of mica powders). I chose to make all the bases white to keep a consistent look between the set.
Theme 1: Aquarius
Sign: The Water Bearer
This guy required wire and prebaking to get him where I wanted. The dragon became the water bearer for this zodiac sign. I enjoyed working with a metallic clay for the body, especially with the shift in the mica creating lots of lovely dimension in the body.
My favorite part, however, is the water pouring out of his little vase. I used a technique I saw NerdECrafter use in one of her videos. This is where you snip out a small piece of flexible plastic and use that as the base for the resin. I used UV resin to set the plastic in place in the vase and on the bottom. You can use super glue for this too.
I then mixed up a light blue resin and let it start to cure in a container before dripping it onto the plastic. This was so the resin could move slightly down the plastic but not flow too quickly out of the area I wanted the resin to sit.
Theme 2: Pisces
Sign: The Fish
For the animal signs, I was torn between adding the animal as a companion to the dragon, but then I decided to create animal-dragon hybrids.
For the fish sign, I decided to try out another aquatic dragon. I gave her fins and a tail, and I textured her tail to give it a scaly appearance. It doesn’t show up too well in the photos, but I also wanted it to be subtle, especially when it came time to transition to the nontextured part further up the body.
Theme 3: Aries
Sign: The Ram
The key characteristics I pulled for my ram dragon were the spiral horns and furry muzzle. When I think of rams, I think of stoic and strong animals, so I chose to pose this one standing and gave him stockier legs.
The horns are curled, and I only had one set of horns instead of the four I usually have. I was debating on adding fur texture to the whole dragon, but I didn’t want to overdo it. Instead, I created a ram-like muzzle and gave that the fur texture. I love how his little nose turned out!
Theme 4: Taurus
Sign: The Bull
Similarly to the ram dragon, I mixed characteristics of the stereotypical bull and my dragon. I decided to pose him in a charging position. The characteristics I pulled were the horns, the hooved feet, and a ring in the bull’s nose. Ideally, the ring would have been gold, but alas silver is what I had on hand.
This was a new pose for me, so I think that was my favorite part about this sculpt.
Overall, this was a very fun theme to work through, and I can’t wait to do the other 8 zodiac signs!