I Promised I'd Start A Challenge For April

[Jazznow]

Very cool stuff you did Regalto. Cant wait to See it dyed. Btw. I think I have that stamp in my collection. Wil try it definitely.

King domino: that harlequin is so cool. Keep us updated how you go on.

[Jazznow]

Hi folks

I did some detail work today and matted the areas around the moon and the gravestone. I'm thinking about matting the area around the hand too. What o you think?

Here it is:

Thae I did some experiments on texture for the gravestone. Have a look and tell me what you thin looks best. 

Pear shader

E294

Ball point modeling tool

Sandpaper

Have a nice weekend 

Jonathan

[DoubleC]

Hi Jonathan. I can't believe how far you've come on your project. I'm really feeling bad about mine now I really really like your design.

As far as the shading on the grave stone I liked the sandpaper a lot if it doesn't run outside of the stone. And I also liked the E294 a lot too. Actually all of them looked good. I'm sorry I can't be more help on that but I just really like all the looks, don't think you can go wrong no matter what you do. Cheryl

[KingDominoQ]

I think the sandpaper looks pretty darn good. Can't wait to see it finalized

On another note, with the way my month has been I am going to have to push the steam punk challenge back a month... Too much going on with my normal job I haven't had time to work leather and I will barely be able to start this months challenge.

[DoubleC]

Don't worry about it Q, I'll see if Rae Nae will step in with her lesson she's going to do on portraits. I can't do people at all and she's pretty amazing. Then we'll just move the schedule forward a month. I have been cleaning and organizing my house for two days now, I just couldn't work in the mess anymore. Not hard but time consuming when you leave things lying around instead of putting them where they belong

Cheryl

[Harley Corns]

Here's what I've accomplished so far on the whale tail.

I didn't get quite the depth I'd hoped for with my beveling. (Might have needed more casing)

Some light embossing gave me a little more 3D effect.

I'm hoping that with a little creative use of some stamps and petal lifters, the water will come to life

Still contemplating how to create the texture of the whale skin...possibly a hair blade?

[DoubleC]

Hi Harley. I went back and looked at the picture so I could see if I could help. Since that it as pencil sketch the lines were drawn to shadow the parts that are shaded from the sun. I don't think they should be lines in leather though. You want the underneath of the tail more burnished than the top where the sun would hit it. I think I would use something smooth to do that since a whale doesn't really have lines on it's skin. I think I'd practice with a pear shader used lightly on all of the underneath or a spoon, or maybe even a background tool which might add dapples from the water and sun that would hit in spots on the underneath. Practice on something else first though to see what looks the most natural for whale skin and sun shaded.

And the top curve of the tail would be shaded like in the picture if the sun is coming from the left or straight down. If the sun is coming from the right the underneath wouldn't be as shaded as in the original. I hope I'm making the least bit of sense. If you even use a lamp and play around with say something that stands upright maybe it will make more sense, like a glass or a vase. look at where the shadows are if you use a glass and a small piece of cardboard or a playing card, anything to indicate the end of the tail shadowing the side of the glass.

You did an excellent job on this and I'm very excited about seeing it done. Cheryl

[Jazznow]

Hi harley corn.

I agree with double c. A hair blade wouldn't look natural. Here tips are great. What you could try on some scraps is roughening the leather in the parts that arent hit by sunlight. USe ome very fine sandpaper I think it would turn out darker after dyeing.

Best wishes

[DoubleC]

This is ground control to major Tom. I had a couple of things I wanted to say about this challenge. I'm making a portfolio and I've punched 152 lacing holes in each side of it. 1, well because I hate doing that so decided to get it out of the way. 2, because it allowed me to put off doing my actual design a little longer. I want to tell you what a pleasure it's been getting to know each one of you a little better. You've been absolutely fearless about this in a way I'll never be about a new project. I always approach it with excitement and anxiety. I have watched each of you throw yourself into this with abandon and I hope that's something I can personally take away from this. Reg even streamed his tooling of the project which I would never think of doing at least not where I am at this point in my life. I've put off everything for as long as I can so I am actually setting up to start the design but I just wanted to thank you folks. Cheryl

[DoubleC]

OK horse needs help, any and all comments from you guys welcome.