[TheForge] RE: Roses

[Mike Spencer]

> I'm also reminded of something I heard sometime back, I think it was
> from Robb Gunter when he was talking about his roses and feathers.
> He said that you are making the equivalent of a caricature in steel,
> not trying to duplicate nature.

That's a really good point.  I've emphasized that when doing demos of
animal heads.  The key to the "art" is grasping which features tell
the eye that this is an animal.  Then be sure to include those
features.  You can be creative with  the other details.  This is
particularly true when making animals that never existed, such as
dragons or gargoyles.  If those features that tell the eye "this is an
animal" are there, you have a successful caricature and the impossible
creature is credible.

An example is the corner of the jaw.  Iron dragons and other monsters
often have gaping, toothy maws but no noticable mandible.  The eye --
well, the brain, actually, but this is art, eh? -- the eye fails to
get the cue for "powerful jaws" and the critter is less credible.  If
you get the corner of the jaw visible or even prominent, you can put
less work and detail into the fangs, lips etc. without losing effect.

I haven't done many roses so I lack details of experience but the same
notion applies to them.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer@tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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