Hucul project, finished now! And it's called Wilga! :-)

its looking good so far

It looks incredible, cannot wait to see it finished!

Thank you Joan, Trevok and Paige!    

HKHollinstone wrote:

Thanks Anna.  So what's Sculpey III like then, the texture and consistency?  Is it hard and good to carve and can you paint it with acrylics after curing?

Before baking it's soft, maybe even softer than Fimo, it's quite much like Super Sculpey. After baking it's easy to carve, sand and also easy to paint with acrylics or any other paints. :)

This is incredible! I love the eyes particularly - so skilled and beautiful already - they show a lot of alertness.

Can't wait to see this one finished!

I've been browsing a lot of photos of Huculs lately (especially of Hucul's Path ), I'm logging in to the forum and I see this topic  

The body is a tad too short - right now the model is significantly taller than longer. He should look better if you lengthened his barrel a bit. Huculs, as all primitive breeds, aren't as leggy as e.g. Warmbloods.
Also the hooves look off to me - they are too small and still need some work to improve their shape.
Other than that, he looks fine to me. I love the idea of windblown mane and tail - that always makes even a standing model more interesting  

If you want more profound insight, I can send photos of him to my friend who knows a LOT about equine anatomy - maybe she could write more constructive critique for you But she's quite busy with work at the moment so I can't promise quick response from her.

Btw, are you planning to release him in resin?

Thank you for comments Magda and Miss Jane!

Mangalarga wrote:

I've been browsing a lot of photos of Huculs lately (especially of Hucul's Path ), I'm logging in to the forum and I see this topic  

The body is a tad too short - right now the model is significantly taller than longer. He should look better if you lengthened his barrel a bit.
Also the hooves look off to me - they are too small and still need some work to improve their shape.

Wow, probably you are right, I didn't notice that. I will make some measurements again but perhaps it would be better if I make legs slightly shorter rather than body longer, especially because his head size is on the smaller side. And yes of course, as I mentioned earlier in this topic his legs and hooves are still not done. Especially hooves are at very early stage.

Mangalarga wrote:

Other than that, he looks fine to me. I love the idea of windblown mane and tail - that always makes even a standing model more interesting  

If you want more profound insight, I can send photos of him to my friend who knows a LOT about equine anatomy - maybe she could write more constructive critique for you ;)But she's quite busy with work at the moment so I can't promise quick response from her.

Btw, are you planning to release him in resin?

It would be extremely nice if your friend could look at this!! However maybe it would be better to send the photos when work will be on more advanced stage?

About copies, yes, there will be mold and copies of this model later. I don't know when, I'm not in hurry. I will write here and on FB when it's done  

Yes, shortening the legs should improve him as well :)

Btw, you wrote that chestnut is unacceptable in this breed - it's true only for Polish studbook. I've read that they are accepted in Romania,Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary - studbooks in these countries do not accept pinto Huculs which are quite popular in Poland. 

Wow! This model is fantastic!

Thank you for your comments Magda and Elephants Rule!!!

Mangalarga wrote:

(...)

Btw, you wrote that chestnut is unacceptable in this breed - it's true only for Polish studbook. I've read that they are accepted in Romania,Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary - studbooks in these countries do not accept pinto Huculs which are quite popular in Poland. 

This is very interesting, I didn't know that! For me bay tobiano Hucul is perhaps the most typical colour :lol:Good to know it's only typical in Poland

About his proportion, I'm not sure yet what with those legs. I measured his body length and height and he is 13cm long (of course not counting neck and head) and 12 high at withers so he is even few percent longer than higher. I'm not sure if shortening legs will change his proportion for better or worse  Maybe I will do a small simulation in Photoshop     

Well the work goes slowly further. I still didn't change the legs length and anything below knees and hocks isn't done yet. But I worked on mane and tail a bit. Tail is going to be longer than now but I must do it in two steps, probably the end of tail I will sculpt in different clay: Sculpey firm which I hope allows for creating thinner shapes, I will see (it must arrive first, just ordered today).
I make also one of the ears bigger to match the size of other one, and the same with one of nostrils.

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Beautiful work Anna!   

Looks amazing! I love the mane.

Love the mane the way it's blowing in the wind, beautiful!

Love this incredible figure Ana !! 
 About Sculpey Firm what are the characteristics of this clay? It is easier to work than Super Sculpey? 

Congratulations again !!

Miguel

Ana wrote:

About his proportion, I'm not sure yet what with those legs. I measured his body length and height and he is 13cm long (of course not counting neck and head) and 12 high at withers so he is even few percent longer than higher. I'm not sure if shortening legs will change his proportion for better or worse  Maybe I will do a small simulation in Photoshop  

I think it's his thick neck that makes his body look a bit out of proportion - his withers aren't so pronounced. On THIS photo he looks OK
Photoshop simulation sound like a great idea - maybe it'll help finding what is off about him :)

Thank you so much for comments everyone!!!!!       

@Magda, yes I will play with photos in Photoshop tomorrow, will try with thinner neck and maybe few other options, possibly I will post effects here also.  

A beautieful horse Anna, phantastic work      

He's incredible. I cannot wait to see him done.  

Thank you for comments friends  

signatus wrote:

Love this incredible figure Ana !! 
 About Sculpey Firm what are the characteristics of this clay? It is easier to work than Super Sculpey? 

Congratulations again !!

Miguel

I forgot to answer. Well, I think Super Sculpey is much softer, however I will tell you for sure when the Sculpey Firm arrives (hopefully today or tomorrow) My hope is, if the Sculpey firm is harder it should also keep the thin shapes better  But I must just check it

OK after some experiments in PS I'm perhaps even more confused about what's correct and what's not. I guess horses' body proportion can vary a lot in different individuals. Well you can see the effects here and judge if any look more or less natural to your eyes?

This is original, not changed horse:
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This one has bigger hindquarter and head
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This one has thinner neck
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And the last one has more rounded belly and hindquarters AND thinner neck
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Any ideas?    

I think the thinner neck looks good, but I'll leave that up to the people much more knowledgeable about horses and their anatomy than me.

I'm really impressed with all of the detail you get into your animals. The muscles all look so realistic!

I'm sorry: I don't think I'm much help on the size changes. After doing an image search for Hucul ponies, it looks to me like maybe the one with the bigger hindquarters and head looks better.

I'm also voting for thinner neck version :)

Thanks so much for comments friends!  

Mangalarga wrote:

I'm also voting for thinner neck version :)

Yes, after reviewing today I think I will do that way  

Hi, I have photos of Hucul after few more steps. Still several things to do before finish but I thought I will share photos of him at this level  

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Also I found website of good polish photographer, plenty of Huculs' photos there, have a look and enjoy     http://peckiel.pl/huculy/

I'm thinking about name for him as most of artist resin horses do have own name. I consider slavic name would fit best, something like Halny (it's name of wind blowing in mountains) Triglav (one of slavic gods) or Perun (also slavic god, one of his symbols was black horse) I don't know which one would be best, probably native English speakers could tell me more about which one sounds interesting? :DI can consider other options if none of them is good.

Beautiful as always Anna! You are a master of sculpting  The horse looks absolutely amazing!