I finished the initial skeleton design work and rather impatiently wanted to see if the concept worked the way I was picturing it. To test it out I scanned the pages of the design and printed them onto A4 card.
Overall I am pretty happy with how the design works - I was especially excited to have the shoulders and hips fit together and sit flat along the ground!
Overall I am pretty happy with how the design works - I was especially excited to have the shoulders and hips fit together and sit flat along the ground!
I have already discovered that one of the most difficult parts of the dragon to get looking right is the head, and I have had particular trouble with the horns and nose regions. These are the only parts I have had to alter from the inital design (so far), and I expect that making the face look right will be an ongoing difficulty.
The horns I started with had a wavy edge shape, which looked ok in theory but once I cut them out it looked like the dragon was wearing lollies on his head! The new horns are double arc shapes which look much more menacing.
The jaw is designed to hinge from the skull, and is only attached by a split pin at the moment. When constructed from wood it will be made by two parallel sections connected at the tip and pivoting around a point on the base of the skull. In order to make it more realistically shaped, I may need to add in additional ribbing on the lower jaw.
The horns I started with had a wavy edge shape, which looked ok in theory but once I cut them out it looked like the dragon was wearing lollies on his head! The new horns are double arc shapes which look much more menacing.
The jaw is designed to hinge from the skull, and is only attached by a split pin at the moment. When constructed from wood it will be made by two parallel sections connected at the tip and pivoting around a point on the base of the skull. In order to make it more realistically shaped, I may need to add in additional ribbing on the lower jaw.