Protoceratops(-ish..) original sculpture (by Konimini)

Not that this is a triumph exactly, but it is one of the few original sculptures I've actually finished, so I'll post it here for your amusement all the same. The model is a ~1:7 sculpt of a little Protoceratops andrewsii shown turning on a dime perhaps to avoid a predator or even as part of a rather energetic courtship display. The piece was made from epoxy; cardboard; wire; a pair of glass eyes nicked off a teddy bear; and, for the tail quills, some bristles from our porch broom. The lot was painted in leftover acrylics over the course of a single night. You cannot imagine the haste. The whole Elizabethan-Gothic colour scheme wasn't intentional, I must note - the greys I had lying around from a previous two horses looked significantly less blue in my desklamp light. But alas, when morning came, it was all mauves, blues, black lipstick and painted-on scales for lace. The animal's even got a natural ruff collar on.

Looming deadlines were a major player in the model's making overall - it was commissioned as a quick gift for a dino enthusiast first grader in the family, so I was advised to prioritize speed of production, eyecatchiness and untippability over scientific accuracy and all taste. I complied, if not wholly comfortably. The result is, sure enough, untippable. It has next to no educational value, of course (my "research" into the species consisted of a singular dip into Wikipedia, I am ashamed to say) or usefulness as a toy for its sprawling pose; indeed it's only a winsome model if you're playing Sport the Paleoart/Dino Toy Cliché on it: It does have lazily cross-hatched elephantine skin shrink-wrapped over an emaciated, pointlessly open-jawed body with madly oversized feet - and the lot comes presented in unviably bright colours and a well-caffeinated action pose. My only hope is that the kid one day grows up to learn a bit more about dinosaurs and their popular depictions, and begins to see the humour in his Protoceratops.

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It is beautiful! And interesting         

I like it a lot it might not be completely accurate as you say, but I only know very little about dinos, so I didn't really notice that.

It's REALLY a shame to read you only finished a few of your OS, I wanna see more so you'd better finish some more

Lea, I don't find the words to say how what you made is amazing. I love your work     

Are you going to make one day commissions ?

This is so amazing! I can hardly find words to describe how much I love this! Beautiful paint work, amazing sculpture, brilliant expression     

A good sculptur!!    

Maybe not a model for a Natural History Museum but surely an excelent sculpture for a Museum of Art.
It is very artistic and the expression is unexplainable!

     
PERFECTO !!! LEA !!!!

I admire the fine detail  I am inspired by your creation 

Amazing protoceratops!    Its easy to miss the 'shrink-wrapping' with the pose the way it is. I'm surprised more people on here don't make dinosaurs.

For all its bizarreness I think it's fantastic!

Thank you for the many comments, everyone! It did end up far more artsy than I might have preferred, but perhaps the kid turns out an artsy one too..

A-J wrote:

It's REALLY a shame to read you only finished a few of your OS, I wanna see more so you'd better finish some more

I'll have to get to work then, eh? I've had ten or so original sculptures going on for the last five years, but since most are of species I actually know something about (horses, horses..), I keep spotting errors and taking them down again for resculpting. Maybe one day I'll actually finish one.

Florian wrote:

Lea, I don't find the words to say how what you made is amazing. I love your work     

Are you going to make one day commissions ?

Thank you, Florian! I've been doing commissions for some eight years now. At the moment I can't take on more, but once I finish my current commissioned pieces, I will, most likely, be accepting new commissions again. When this happens, I'll be announcing it on my website at least (see link in my signature), and perhaps on this forum too.

Thanks for the answer Lea   

Lea,

An artist is never satisfied about her/his work, because there is always room for improvement and they are always uncertain if the other party will like what they have created....

But this Protoceratops is something you have created and you can be very proud of.
The overall sculpt, pose, movement, colours, attitude, (tailfeathers even! Nice touch!),
the total outcome is a very well sculpted Protoceratops.
It's a Protoceratops a lot of people would like to have in their collection, I'm sure.  

Well done.  

Wow!! Lea, this is amazing! I am sure sure recipient was in awe!

Lea, accurate or not, this model is full of life and fantasy and it is very very important. I hope we will see more animals from you in the future   

Beaautiful! Those eyes.. Great great job!

He's stunning, despite any lack of accuracy (I'm no dino expert so I wouldn't know the difference) and as a child I always loved the figures with fluid and exciting poses contrary to the belief that one just standing there is more "imaginative" to play. I love his paint job too, so interesting and wonderful. Fantastic job I love it!

Wow, Lea, that is one fantastic protoceratops!! I am really really impressed! Fabulous work!

This is so uniquely awesome!
Your vision of Protoceratops...the anatomy of the body, the expression which gives the posture, the colors..
This is all perfect and so impressive !
The figure is alive !
Your feeling and technique sculpture are amazing!
I realy like that the figure is not just static... but has awesome posture and unique vision.
And very good choice with the eyes
Bravo Lea !

Thank you for the kind comments, everyone! You'd appear to be of a far more permissive mind when it comes to dino figurine accuracy than what I tend towards - which of course is only the better for me and my little sculpt, I suppose..! I'm quite chuffed to hear so many of you liked it, even despite its vast academic shortcomings.

Bloodrayne wrote:

An artist is never satisfied about her/his work, because there is always room for improvement and they are always uncertain if the other party will like what they have created....

While fretting too much about the latter I've pretty well managed to do away with in myself, the former point rings very true. I'm the sort of a sculptor (if not an artist - I just make pictures of things) who takes down in-progress pieces at about the same rate I build them up because of perceived errors late spotted.

Lea, looking at these pictures, I'm afraid you've been far too self-deprecating. It is an attractive sculpture with personality. For accuracy, you've included characteristics like a narrow skull/snout and a high-spined tail (surpassing many reconstructions), and, also important, your sense of anatomy (whether or not it ends up exact for a dinosaur) makes it look alive and like it's doing something plausible. The eye-catching aesthetic looks like it would make a good and more accurate Chap Mei dinosaur (maybe with a human sidekick ). The eyes also remind me of my soulful Tyco Protoceratops.

Wonderful model and great details and wonderful colouring!!

Ah, I completely missed your comments, Taos & Garcia - so sorry! Thank you for the kind words - I'm glad the silly creature has been so well liked. I hear its new owner didn't break into tears upon being presented with his new, wholly unscientific ceratopsian friend either, so it's altogether a mission accomplished, I think.

A.R.Garcia - I, too, was reminded of the Tyco dinos once I stuck the glass eyes on the sculpt! I think I used to have their Stegosaurus as a kid, and can remember quite appreciating the melancholy look.

i saw this just now. beautiful!