SCULPTING LIVE JOURNAL

Having said all that tho..on to some preeeetty scaaaaary stuff!

Hazel in progress..

April 5th 2007

WOO HOO!!! It's soooo worthwhile to keep beating and beating at taking the real #s and finding the "ideal" for the pose.

What I've done is reset her neck up just a tad more. The real mare, being a Premarin foal with unknown/not very selective ancestry, has a lower set neck likely to be from QH parentage. That makes her suited for a lot, truthfully, BUT in this pose she was just looking sooooo heavy on the forehand. In pics and videos that type of build, as seen from the side, had a very short short neck. I like that push off but real life side views were not so attractive imo. They weren't inspiring me at least - how's that? lol!

Anyhow, I love how Hazel (real mare again) is a powerhouse but I've already promised myself I'd sit down with my books of proportions and really study how she deviates from the mean.. I'd already shortened her hind legs - downhill is realistic but I am aiming for the penulitmate all-around "sport horse". I like that draft crosses, and more pointedly these PMU grade foals have sooo much potential. That's what I am aiming to sculpt here. Potential.

Righto - well I'll settle down now and go eat my lunch but here's another horrid side view compared to two days ago before the (5) cuts were made and she was shifted up more:

above: left (today) and right (with inset purple pic is from two days ago)

It doesn't look very drastic but it's giving me the neck length/width I like to see on a draft cross while showing the type of rounding/abdominal tuck up and horse giving that extra omph would have. -> more importantly (!) things like ears and eyes are suddenly finding their "right place" better. Oooh I'm so excited! When things start to click together like this they go fast and don't feel forced at all! Woohoo! :)

Hazel in progress..

April 3rd 2007

I did say this could be painful to watch right? lol!

ya...

Well she's made some drastic changes. compare for yourself:

Hazel today:
(inverted color inset in this pic is also from today)

verses last week:
(what was killing me most here was how incredibly long that extended fore looked compared to everything else)

and her right side today:
sorry so dark!

verses last week:
and in last week's pic the length of the right hind isn't tooo distorted here but it was in other pics and I was just not satisfied with how wonky it was coming out, despite the measuring and remeasuring)

So what happened? Uh well.. proportioning back towards idea measurements from her veeeeery long leggedness. I still have to work out specific lengths very carefully. Real horses don't always look good from all angles in action and even if you are a perfect sculptor and match all body parts perfectly in proportion you still might be disappointed once you put the beast into motion..(I'm not just speaking of just skeletal lengths measurments or all those simple things you can measure; but also of the muscle mass that is crucial to making a sculpture look bloated, or too thin or otherwise extreme). The bottom line is that not all real horse lengths look good in 3D in all poses. Photographers of horses know this all too well; & that's why many poses are often only the 3/4 angles - because from the full side views the real horses look like spiders in some build/body types! lol! I went through this type of agony with my Duke sculpture the most. That resin (as I'm sure many owners of the big or little version know) is a tricky guy to photograph too with no two legs in the same plane.

Anyhow, so what happened here with Hazel? Well, I shortened the legs a lot and had to rework them into place to fit the pose... There's also been some serious refinements going on in the head, shoulders and hips but she's all patchy again and I still need to get the head/neck right before I'm ready to primer again and see if big masses are starting to fit together better imo. Oh, and the camera batteries are still a 'must buy' I haven't gotten to yet.

Oh ya, and I'm sure folks might be shocked at teh spindly hind pasterns but these are very very much in a tween stage as I get the hoof angles and all the final foot remeasuring biz reworked out again. They are all a good deal smaller than before but some parts are far too small atm. Like I said at the start of this entry - it can be painful to watch... much like watching paint dry. ;)

Hazel in progress..

March 29th 2007

Camera eeked out a few pics for me. Definitely batteries. Argh!

Anyhow, proportioning coming along ok. I am still at great odds with a good many parts of her. I threw the screen shot below closest in angle (which is to say not much since the real horse is turning anyhow), to compare. #s are great but you have to look at the real thing a million times, holding the horse up alongside horses in that pose in order to see. Sculpting from live horses is grand if it's a standing sculpture. You always have to look at real horses moving in real life to see where things are shifting about as muscles move. BUT.. these dynamic poses really need hundreds of photos of comparison at that exact shifting/turning/twisting/whatever part so you can really freeze frame the tension of the muscles & bones in that pose. Anatomy books and even cadavers just do not give an accurate depiction of how muscles, bones and tendons bunch and tighten in dynamic movement. So that's my random musing of the day as to why I keep going back to these. Those particular photos are not my favorites or actual "references" moreso than anythign else I've shared l - especially since the horse isn't quite the right build for Hazel,... lol - they were on hand and easy to copy paste tho. ;)

Speaking of that horse's awesome movement tho I did make this little educational snippet after I had to download that video to view it. I wanted to see how my computer's standard installion movie editor worked and it's quite nifty! SO, I can show the difference btwn a 3 beat canter and a 4 beat (canter some call it but it's not), "hand gallop":

To see a bigger & much longer animation in shockwave format CLICK HERE.

Ok, in truth I was just enjoying studying his movement frame by frame really as it's one of the longest/best quality video snippets I've seen in a long long time. What I like most is how well the rider is bringing out his gait and not stifling it in the front end with excessive hands. Provided for your educational pleasure primarily tho. It's not a primary reference again, please do keep that in mind. :)

March 27th 2007

Camera has been dead since I shot 101 pics last week for an auction... probablyhave got to get new batteries (I hope!). Anyhow, so here's a horse worth sharing, and if you read his write up in EuroDressage you'll see they thought his canter was "to die for" too. Hazel won't be leaping in the air quite that much but "perfect" lift and lightness is always worth having in mind.

http://eurodressage.com/news/breeding/oldenburg/2006/06stallic/althengstparade.html

To see this video go here: http://www.eurobreederstour.com/EBT-News.htm and click on "Quaterback"

This, minus the coming around a corner is exactly the moment in time I'm looking for: he's speeding up here and it shows in his reach and flexion through the hind end.

See, now he's up to speed - I love riding horses in this mode, it's like flying, they don't rock you to peices, they almost seem to float when they've got their hind ends truly engaged and are truly forward. :) I'm wondering how many folks will recognise the "Show Jumper" look here too. :) A good horse can do anything fairly well.

I almost didn't include this last one because it's not what I'm aiming for at all except to share how the hind end is still engaged and is being used now to slow him down, rather than letting him go onto the forehand, in other words the proper way to give the breaks a little tap no matter what you're doing (such as a good check to give to regulate stride to a fence). The rider's half halt in the corner coming around to this short side helped to prevent the horse from careening around it by using himself - and LOOK at that TUCK! (swoons) Such a nice nice fellow.

A lot has been done to Hazel since those last pics were taken but I'll wait and surprise folks, again, not really by choice - I need to get new batteries. I really took the knife to her (ok, diamond cutter bit) and chopped heavily to get to my ideal measurements in some spots instead of just working off entirely the actual measurements. I have, man, I think 4 books that lay out proportions and what strikes me as funniest is that they don't all match 100% either. So this obviously means "ideal" is relative! ;) Most proportion charts give TB proportions (that's kinda out of wack imo - TBs vary a lot from say Arabs or Draft horses, or gah - ponies!). Anyhow, one area driving me insane was her hind leg measurements; if you look here you'll see what I mean http://www.artbymorgen.com/galleries/real_hazel/slides/DSCN1446.JPG even though in motion, she doesn't look downhill at ALL because of her ability to flex, as you can see here; http://www.artbymorgen.com/galleries/real_hazel/slides/DSCN1416.JPG and here; http://www.artbymorgen.com/galleries/real_hazel/slides/DSCN1417.JPG I learned with Flitwick to take a loooong hard look at my real numbers. Even still, I may remeasure a few more real horses or Hazel again before I'm done.

Hazel in progress..

March 21th 2007

Ok well the neck reduction is going well but she's still got holes, yes, open gaps into the foam/hollows! I inverted these pics so they were less distracting.. what I'm trying to get right is the neck's "beefy" look while actually being rather small and narrow.. it's so easy to make necks too thick coming out of the shoulder - espcially by the wither and for a mare..

and yes, sorry - they were just more "from the computer desk across the room" quickies! have such a long way to go.. heck, I'm still sculpting with fingers and hardly even using tools yes except the big chisel/files and dremel sanders!

& now for more Bob Tarr pics that I've found fascinating (primarily in the differences of heads & necks and faces).. such awesome detail but saving these for later referral on that...

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GM_15068.jpg (as he's cantering his shoulders are kind of interesting to me but ouch! poll tho)

http://www.bobtarr.com/2005boyAll/FE_07718.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2005boyAll/FF_02865.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2005boyAll/FJ_06801.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2004boyheads/bofy04h_14.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofyheads/bestof2003-hs_19.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofyheads/bestof2003-hs_05.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofyheads/bestof2003-hs_53.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofyheads/bestof2003-hs_56.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofyheads/bestof2003-hs_49.jpg

What an interesting variety of front ends!

Hazel in progress..

March 19th 2007

Photoshop touch ups to the above are:

Blended neck at poll since at the moment it's a bigger section sticking out - I am much happier and can't wait for the apoxie sculpt to set so I can do this!

Belly/underline flattened (should be obvious but I just wanted to check and see what she'd look like without the bigger pasture muffin look ;) before I took off that much)

Somewhat used side by side and overlay comparisons such as the outline/real horse overlay comparison shown below to to help decide that this neck is the type I want (obviously not going for that stallion's crest here but he's got a decent amount of gap btwn his jowl and neck and is pushing up through the poll and not fighting his rider so much).. see many pic links below for the newest collection of favorites! :)

Hazel before her eyes were reset (I did say nothing is "permanent" as of yet right?). Her ear bulbs were proper distance from her eyebrows BUT her ear bulbs sat behind her jowl line.. a grave mistake: they end above the jowl/neck juncture. That's one of those "non conformational" absolutes that doesn't vary from horse to horse. I always want to set those too far back too.. :/ Oh, so anyhow, once the ears were moved it became pretty clear the zygomatic arch wasn't nearly long enough and that the eyes (whole face!) needed to shift forward a tad. The size of the gouges/holes there don't reflect the distance moved tho - they reflect carving them out. Fun is. ;)

Here's also a quick picture of the very miniscule (on this mare) ear bulb ending where (if you tucked her head) where the back of the jowl line would extend to:

click to enlarge

Real Hazel, who has almost no "bulge" from which the ear cartilage comes out of shows that perfectly:

More reams of links - just putting URLs this time as it's easier & in case the sites change maybe I can find the pics again later on..

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GB_02923.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GE_09768.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003boyvert/bestof2003-vert_18.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GB_06392.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GB_09879.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GB_11766.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GH_11172.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GI_12352.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GL_11265.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GM_07306.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GM_16457.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2006boyall/GN_13972.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2005boyAll/FD_01001.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2004boyhoriz/bofy04l_012.jpg

http://www.bobtarr.com/2003bofy/bestof2003_51.jpg

http://www.archivboiselle.com/details.php?l=e&a=h&pic=124463&n=133

http://www.archivboiselle.com/details.php?l=e&a=h&pic=117912&n=301#

http://www.dressuurstal.be/images/IMG_4876.JPG had a big discussion with my primary critique person about this photo and where it differs and where it's similar to what I'm aiming for. Anyhow, short synopsis: notice how thin that neck really is (thin and maybe short but that could be rider positioning of it too). Also very high set. Quite the typical variation you see in draft crosses (around my parts anyhow) with more TB in them than not.

http://www.dressuurstal.be/images/IMG_9102b.jpg I love this horse's build but oh does it scream stallion! So robust tho!

http://www.dressuurstal.be/images/IMG_7475.JPG photo I used before in overlay of what I don't want to be doing with her neck. Awesome body but I would stop at the middle of the neck forward if I could. Also want to give Hazel slightly less extreme variation between muscle up top and bone below. My guess is that this horse looks a bit like a stock horse when standing still: lots of muscle on a smaller boned frame.

http://www.dressuurstal.be/images/IMG_7387.JPG

http://www.dressuurstal.be/images/IMG_6437.JPG closer but aiming for less cresty

http://www.dressuurstal.be/webalbum_dressuurstal/Beker_v_Belgie_2006_(Dressuurstal_Oosterhof)
_Beker/images/delphine_meiresonne___janssen_ckc_8360b_v.jpg
WOW! :D

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004Rolex/pages/4r3d3700.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004%20GP%20Devon/pages/4gpd0551.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004%20Dressage%20Trials/Sunday/pages/4dst4373.htm but with stallion crest

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004%20Dressage%20Trials/Sunday/pages/4dst5396.htm very nice neck!

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004%20Dressage%20Trials/Sunday/pages/4dst5368.htm other side

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004%20Dressage%20Trials/Sunday/pages/4dst5619.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Photoshop%20pages/2004_Oaks/pages/4obi3702.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/FS_Dressage/pages/4aog22779.htm Kennedy!

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/GPS_Dressage/pages/4aog17705.htm very helpful view of those front legs

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/GPS_Dressage/pages/4aog18598.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/GP_Dressage/pages/4aog13805.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/GP_Dressage/pages/4aog14560.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ2/pages/4aog19258.htm there's the turning I was initially putting in more to this sculpture

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJTeam_Finals/pages/4aog21119.htm what a pretty chest this fellow has

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/Dressage_Eventing/pages/4aog5382.htm I'm getting stuck on the rider's hat a bit but what's interesting here is how thin the horse's raised right hind is (there's a lot of TB tho in this lil guy, you can see it here: http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/Dressage_Eventing/pages/4aog5399.htm )

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ1/pages/4aog15700.htm this is why horses wear brushing boots - lol!

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ1/pages/4aog15872.htm

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/XC_Eventing/pages/4aog6617.htm turning tho...

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/XC_Eventing/pages/4aog6620.htm straighter

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ2_Eventing/pages/4aog10263.htm same horse as last but stadium now

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ2_Eventing/pages/4aog10274.htm and his head/neck - almost at the same amount of pushing forward through the neck but higher reach with legs obviously

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ2_Eventing/pages/4aog10291.htm this one horse provides a lot of material, eh?

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJ2_Eventing/pages/4aog10808.htm can't tell but the same horse again taking a medal home for germany?

http://www.cmannphoto.com/Athens/SJB_Final/pages/4aog25941.htm I was telling friends how I wanted to sculpt this picture back when I first saw it..how FUNNY! I guess those subconscious things don't go away! Course without the rider such an undisciplined looking horse would be viewed as "too out of control" to be a "sport horse" in anything but his pasture - but nifty energy there!

March 16th 2007

Sometimes you get too myopic on one particular area with anything and drive yourself crazy going back and forth. I've done that a LOT with Hazel.. more than is entirely shown here too but I'm sure you have seen plenty to be chuckling/laughing/shaking your head.

Anyhow, to focus on some good things since the left side is agony for me (was for Duke and Flitwick to actually)...

The neck, I am finally pleased with where her neck is getting to. It's a delicate mix to not have a forced "break" at the 3rd cervical vertebrae (as riders call it when horses are in overflexion), but also not being wrenched too much down at the poll. I have a picture below that illustrates the poll forward extreme flexion (chestnut horse in trot overlay), with her.

Above is the Hazel as of this AM overlaid with a trotting horse See I'm trying to find thin necked horses from the side who are either mares or geldings without massive crests. I use an outline to gauge where Hazel stacks up to this horse by aligning the withers and the neck underline. Interesting to see how close in "ideal body type" the two are despite the real horse having a more Thoroughbredish head (at least it sits within which helps. What I see is that I don't have such a hyperflexion at the poll as the real horse: that is what I was shooting for. It also helped me see where I wanted to go with the shaping of the withers a bit more. Result tonight below:

Interesting side note for those who wonder why on earth it takes so long to get proportions right if you have measurements... no matter how you start your armature, and add muscles over the "bones".. when you flex a horse in something like a gallop those muscle with measurements change drastically! Tie something tight around your bicep and flex it and you'll see what I mean.

Here is why it also is SO much easier/faster for people to customize plastic bodies - the basic proportions are all there and generally even if you make a standing factor plastic horse turn into an all out galloping one, you still have knees and pastures and hooves etc already really close to the final shape.

I'm just a masochist! lol! Still, it's rewarding to take foam, wire and form a horse out of nothing. Sometimes the shapes come relatively easily, like Bosco was for me.. othertimes, especially with a very dynamic pose, the measurements keep checking out but when you stand back and look you say "good god that's hideous"! lol!

Anyhow, I find that once you go "viola!" and find those proportions in relation to the pose, the detailing on every level falls into place perfectly. What I need to invent for myself is a flexible armature that actually really looks like a horse. I have a "rubber" Duke from an early reduction experiment but he's all kinds of disproportionate! Too bad. :)

March 15th 2007 addenum..

Woohoo progress today.. ok, I'll just go about it in pictures since she's got to "cure" now (apoxie is a pain that way).

now she looks like this:

after further study of more energetic/limber uses of shoulders, I am planning on rotating her from the elbow down the amount you see here in the gray line (in other words that's a photoshopped rotation shown below)

for further understanding of the bones I am trying to rotate to make the "off" side less stiff and have the same energy as the right.. superimposed bone structure (pirated from a rather rough shaped bone overlay of a real horse - in other words very "diagramatic".. not the lack of knees and pastern bones for example and I "erased" some arrows and things that made a lot go missing here too)...

for fun, Hazel attacking Bosco before her surgery was complete tonight (and for scale to Bosco for those who were curious) :)

March 15th 2007

State of affairs at the moment (view album):

& where I would like to go with her:

Well it's time to sit back and really look at what I've done.. since the big body twist adjustment (which looked a lot more minor on film), I've done much. But since I didn't fully get into it before I should explain now: MANY pictures of horses show them going on a curve - I think that's where I got "off" in my references the most. This mare definitely is on the right lead in her hand gallop but she's meant to be traveling in a straight line. I also don't sculpt "for performance" or specifically "for" anything but rather to capture a moment that inspires me, this pose I've seen horses doing in show jumping, dressage western events and in the field.. so it's more about that than attempting to be correct for one event. Regardless; if I get the biomechanics right for a hand gallop/extended canter (which very often is slightly 4 beat), in a straight line it should be correct for all kinds of hobby purposes too. :)

Ok, so here's what's gone on;

I have been brutally attacking the neck, most especially around her crest to make her more marelike and also just not about to founder.. lol!

For those who were distraught about the ugly head, I've juuuust sorta started balancing it out a bit better. Measuring/refining jowls, filling in the right side that was just roughly hashed out.. matching up the ears.. nostrils still awry tho (crooked). Long long way to go there still - I'm still agonizing over her body issues! :)

The haunches and shoulders on both sides have also seen a lot of attention. Shoulders being taken in a lot, hauches on left being refilled with muscle and on right being wittled away at further. The stifle in that particular angle shifts up and it's pretty easy to mistake that bulge of muscle over it for the little "knee cap". At any rate I found that only the pudgiest (word?) draft horses had that much muscle so that needed a lot of thinning.

These are things that are hard to see in pictures. It's why some photos of sculptures amaze you but then you see them in person and the horse "feels" more narrow than you expected (or more bloated). It's also DAMN hard (forgive the strong language!), to measure through a horse it's "width" in so many places. I got Sue to hold Hazel still while I measured some pretty tricky areas (she's such a good mare). Rarely do I get to go that far with most horses. Anyhow, so when I say "balancing" I'm going back to the overall points of the horse I've measured and that do not change so much with muscling: like the points of hips from each other.

I still have too much "poll" imo. It's a very easy mistake to make and I seem to wrestle with it on every sculpture at some point. I also think I've made the neck come out of the chest a tad high (that is one I've heard from several people), and a slight increase there too would do wonders imo.

Part of the reasoning behind stopping to take pics today was because I am totally up in the air about the extent of muscling on the shoulders of both sides. There is one thing that changes so easily in horses (from horse to horse, and from level of fitness within any horse at a given point in it's training). I do think I might "find" this easier if I can get the neck to where I'd like it though.

I've also recently gotten a ton of books on tape from the library so I am most inspired to hide in the studio and work these things out.. ;)

March 12th 2007 addenum!

Ok, well I had a little "eureka" moment of insight.. I think btwn the AM/PM pics above you can see it best in the angle of the hind leg coming forward. You might also notice the topline looks a bit different here and the abdomen has more in the croup area. If you're really observant you'll see the slightly smaller gap of space btwn the jaw and the neck or how you can't see that one hair point now in the tail and that the planted hind leg appears slightly farther back. The peg on the raised hind also had to be pared down about 2cm. What I realized is that the hind leg needed to be coming down underneath the body more.. BUT, when the leg is bent at all the right angles, well why doesn't it? Answer: body twists some. I went back through a bunch of refences and more helpfully: video. Spotted it. Before she was stiffer through the body: most especially through the hips. These are the things you can't spot from still photos the way you can from pausing video and I just didn't save what I got (sorry no pics iow) - I was looking at a bunch and pausing every stride anyhow. Looking up at that it's so funny to me how it "appears" to be that I've changed the angle of the right hind leg. Nope, not a bit. I sawed the horse in half at the girth and twisted her a cm or so sideways (the amount I had to shave off the hind leg peg). Hmmm...

Oh, and ya, the mane and tail are going to remain honking large blobs until I'm really at the very very end for hte most part. Otherwise they break off to easy in all this yanking and wrenching biz. ;)

March 12th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

Well I have been not doing much with photographing because I'm still wavering around some aspects of this sculpture so I keep returning to tid-bits of body parts to wittle down or shape up that I know need to be done.. until I get some inspirational insights and get over this hurdle. Anyhow, here's a different way of looking at her that I like to do in photoshop sometimes; extreme color contrasting and outlining in order to see positive and negative forms clearer.

Sorry to torture you with silly unhelpful pictures that arent' clear. The primer has once more been sanded patchy with the epoxie everywhere and thus she is in between stage in coat. lol! No seriously, I can't primer too often as the smell when sanding for the next couple of days is horrible. Even when I wear a respirator (which sucks after a few hours of wearing one), the smell is all over me. I'm sure it's not too healthy so I try to limit it until I am satisfied with what I'm doing. Clearly I'm still all over the place and certainly not getting the look I want on both sides. Whilst matching the volume of muscles on both sides properly.. when I get one side muscled asthetically pleasingly, the other side looks too big/small in proportion.. since they are soooome what similar in the shoulder lift on both sides, they shouldn't be too far off from each other - some yes, but not drastically so in the front end. Anyhow, so there ya go. Hair ripping moments from me. :-P

March 1st 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:
Whew so much is going on now! lol! I have other hobby stuff that's keeping me busy but I got a chance to primer her again after more work to her "shape".. I see plenty of spots that need toning down still, and some that need beefing up. The hind feet shapes are driving me craaaaaaazy and the straight foreleg really needs to have that knee joint pinned down and all tendons tying in addressed... there's sooo much more to do but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel! (which is to say I am seeing the horse take form in the shape & spirit that I've envisioned). Once more tho the roughness and ill proportioned parts are still probably too scary for some. lol! Anyhow, here's another gallery (click)

Feb 27th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

It's funny to me that her head angle looks lower as you go more towards the front but it's still like this below (& I "think" I'm happy there with the neck set and can resume defining it again.. ;) !)

I haven't updated the reference links in a while so here goes... 1) shoulders! 2)this set of shoulders is more enlightening bone wise 3) Holsteins are apparently the body type I'm aiming towards given how many I've got in my refs 4) another of him 5) head and shoulders knees and toes! 6) helpful point of shoulders 7) ligher/more refined horses help all around to find the "form" 8) this horse could be Hazel but it's not - young too - check out the tiny feet and baby face! 9) again with the cute kid 10) too fast/too thin but helpful all the same 11) I'll stop here b/c I have so much to do but this picture is just too cool for me (it's actually one of the ones that inspired me to go this route over the flying lead change I'd initially thought of..but clearly his almost "too hot" to ride end-of-round-excitement is not what I'm entirely aiming for).

Feb 25th-26th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

Well after a long discussion with my self-designated "primary critiquer" I made a big deviation from the original mare's conformation (anyone wants a referal please let me know, I've met only a few people who can find the anatomical weak points - and aren't afraid to tell you too I guess ;) very quickly when things are overall wonky. I'm sure I'm really biased there of course - how can't you be? But she is one who understands the biomechanics and delights in discussing them and speaks a language of movement that makes sense to me! I mention it primarily b/c she has said she'd help other's if they're interested).

Anyhow, so the bottom line is with the anatomy true to the original mare I was just unavoidably going to have a horse more on the forehand with this length of neck (like this ) Below shows how I tried to change the neck set a tad but just wasn't happy with that because it makes her topline and neck just extremely long and overall looks unbalanced to me.

So after some heart and soul searching I decided that the real to form lower set neck and in essence shorten the neck which also blends the big dip in front of the wither that made her weaker looking imo and brought her up off the forehand more. Overall I think it brings a LOT more balance back to the horse and makes her look lighter:

I dunno if you can see it but the flicking extended foreleg will also be toned down (bent just a hair at the knee) soon as well (for a couple of reasons).

I also straightened the neck some more (on a sagital plane) as the nod was exaggerated and confusing imo to the direction of action. I got a lot of "they don't do that's" despite the photos I show below where they do do that (riders holding strongly with the outside rein to help a horse balance around curves or otherwise just pushing them forward more into the bridle, or at liberty horses tucking their heads in a fiesty manner and turning their heads away from their highest raised leading leg as they dash off)... but even when something is plausible it doens't mean it's conveying what you want it too. The horse is hand galloping on the right lead and I could see many folks announcing it looks like it's on the wrong lead for the neck movement - lol. Hey, you picture these things and wonder if people will notice - that's a big part of sculpting. But in truth, all input is sooooo valid because I find that if many someones are focusing on any area it tends to mean that area overall dominates the sculpture and takes away from the feeling you want it to impart. So fwiw, some thoughts on why I toned down that. Her neck is now to the position of just moving with the high front action of the right leg and not playing "shy head" silly horse in pasture or "strong rein" in the ring. Bottom line there is now there's obviously more adjustments needed to remove the curve from the muscle.

Feb 23th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel: Addenum...

I'm throwing this new album up because I've been working with a couple folks for input and have asked for their thoughts at this stage... figured I'd share here too since I took the trouble to primer and do the 360 view today after all.

link to album

Few thoughts I'll add here: interesting to compare the transition (Nov 24th, Feb 12th, Feb 14th, Feb 23rd/current).. almost seems to be out of sequence except that you'll (hopefully!) note that many things have gotten more balanced and now measure up to each other again after fiddling with the pose so much.. But not all has even been tackled to date hence the roughness that appears in some of those. Not all of the muscles are on her yet still either (!) - or at least not defined and in the right places... some of things about her earlier phases I want to recapture but just haven't addressed yet. Anyhow, so here she is at the moment..

Feb 23th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

Funny, somethings that look different btwn Tuesday's and today's (Fri's) am-over-coffee-photo that actually haven't been changed at all, (an effect of lighting).. other drastic things that I have changed in today's (the darker) pics don't show up b/c they are darker. Still not quite ready for primer but soon I hope. Then I'll do a gallery 360 thing again. Right now, as typical, there is just soooo much to correct still. Despite being a draft cross I'd like to tone down the crest more while still having that nice arch that depicts a horse that has developed a good topline through proper work and getting under herself. People just expect a mare to be less cresty and while the real horse puts weight on in her crest I'd like to get that happy medium. Too much more tho and she'll start erring to the draft cross side of horses that look like Heinz 57 creatures. ;) (Tues pics on left - Fri pics on right)

Feb 20th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

You probably can't see much difference yet without primer but I've been working on the shape of the abdomen, neck and a tad more addressing of matching up the feet.. no point in primering at the moment b/c there's so much I can see to do without it.

A bazillion more links (only 48). I'm sure by the end of this I'll have shared hundreds. I usually just print immediately and save the most useful ones to my favorites. This results in hundreds of links by the time I'm done sculpting. I'm not going back and relinking all the ones I've gotten before I started the journal but should mention that I've got printouts/books &posters of some of my best ones..

Why so many? Well because just the same as you can recognise a human friend by their walk, animals each have signatures and varieties to their movements.. even horses that move vastly different from what I'm aiming for help me to see WHY they are different and thus sculpt the conformational differences accordingly. So for example a stock horse moves wildly differently from a spanish breed.. so studying how the upright pasterns and the shorter back are pretty easy comparisons to make. I have tons of books that break down movement via breeds/conformational anomolies but they just don't tend to be in depth enough or focus on all gaits well enough to use the information too much. In the case of this cross breed of Hazel, the real horse does have some very stock breed tendencies from her lineage appearing in her gait but I'd like to portray more of her drafty breed traits that most sport horses have. . Anyhow, blah blah blah, here are some of the nifty links I've gotten lately, I love the Arnd Bronkhorst Database because you can search very fast for a pose and I've always seemed to have found hundreds in just the exact position after a little guess work. The most useful references of these get copied into Word and bumped up until the contrast highlights the muscles I'm looking at. Then the pictures are flipped if necessary to put on the correct lead. Sm badly rasterized jpgs are no issue b/c I am not working for details at this point, it's only a matter of shapes and depth. References from all angles are soo soo important. Anyhow, enjoy!

Link 1 Link 2 wet horses show off muscles so much better! :)Link 3 Link 4 Link 5 Link 6 not the right pose but that's just cool! :) Link 7 Link 8 very useful to see belly shape (to some degree anyhow) Link 9 lunch on the run.. Link 10 Link 11 head down… Link 12 head UP! Link 13 leeettle stiff through the body.. ;) Link 14 Link 15 Link 16 Teke's rock for seeing basic anatomy.. this one, ok not so helpful but still.. ;) Link 17 I wish this horse was more energized, he's almost exactly the build (too heavy crested) that I want to go for Link 18 ditto for this fellow! Link 19 I have to settle for this angle :( Link 20 Link 21 this one's pretty useful! Link 22 random arab thrown in for fun Link 23 random horse sans bridle and rider.. Link 24 Link 25 Link 26 now that's some shoulder action! Link 27 Link 28 Link 29 Link 30 far too stiff ;) Link 31 interesting.. Link 32 Link 33 go team usa! :) Link 34 Link 35 sometimes those "victory laps" have a bit too much energy tho.. Link 36 Link 37 Link 38 Link 39 Link 40 Link 41 ohh, flip this one around and I've almost got a good neck reference! (dang hair!)Link 42 Link 43 Link 44 Link 45 Link 46 Link 47 (hahaha! i'd run too) ;) Link 48

Feb 18th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

Well as you can see I do take a pic daily as well as keep the sculpture around the house where I can see it from many angles when I start buckling down b/c I've got the inspiration I want to realize.

In looking hard at yesterday's pics and the real horse in general aside from the 'to do' list I gave myself I also was just aggitated immensely about the lack of action in the straight left forleg. So here's what happened with that:

Well flash & blurry natural light pics of unprimered apoxie horses in progress probably don't tell you too much but for me it shows me the overall "omph" is coming back into the work. Have a great deal of matching up of feet and hoof angles I want to focus on next, keeps drawing my eye. I photoshopped some of that first pic to see what I want to fix next (or not but what measurements tell me I've got to figure out). How silly is it that I'm basically back to the movement I was shooting for ages ago (pretty sure this was late fall/early winter b/c that's when I got that red plant):

Of course there is a significant difference in her from this but the leg angles are closest to this.

There are times, just some, where I would rather be working in a nice soft clay that I could mush around. Eh, maybe.. I still think apoxie is far more gratifying in the end. (and I really love to crunch and break bits off)

Feb 17th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

Warmer but still have too much to do at farm to get much pc time today. Found some other pics on youtube & webshots to study. Played with some comparisons to the loveable awesomely moving Martin. Not the best b/c she's traveling straight down the long side and Hazel is angled and turning just a shade.

overlay of real mare and sculpture is always fun to do, if tho at different angles/bend..

photoshopped Hazel

Notes to self before I head into the studio to try these on what I want to change (on left side photoshopped view -last pic)..

• rotate hind right at hock a tad more
• file shoulder back
• more depth up by elbow
• recheck femur/stifle measurements but try to make left slightly higher
• slight dip to back tapering into loin (iow not too straight or looks a bit roached)
• further define jowl down
• readjustments of neck muscling to poll

Too much varies (primarily that this fellow is being ridden with a heavier hand than I want ot portray), but intersting comparison of builds for me. should bone structure approx at what I hope for and can see how much muscle I could add. Little too much flexion at left pastern and not enough through hock tho for my asthetic tastes. I could really add a lot more to the belly tho if I want to it seems apparent enough.

cute & fun! Spotted this on a thread, at the end they piaffe pretty well without reins.

Addenum to this: hock angle opening went well but pastern (narrowest point in armature and wire long removed - perils of epoxies) popped off and have to resculpt hoof. No biggie there. Shoulder angle and further work on barrel (in some and out some) went really well.

Feb 16th 2007 thoughts/updates on Hazel:

The real story of the past 2 days is I haven't had more than a few hours tonight to finally saw at/rip off that hind leg and address it. Gotta go start dinner in a half hour now too so who knows what more I'll get done today... When you are chomping at the bit to sculpt, everything in the world comes up! I am freezing cold from being outside most of the day too so that isn't helping.. stiff fingers! lol!

I have to laugh.. am I a dressage rider at heart or what. I promised my friends I would avoid dressagie type horses for a while and focus on more divergent breeds. Apparently not. I tossed this resin rider on Hazel for fun (don't know who sculpted it but it's pretty cool and fits Duke too).

Photoshopping here to see if I want to move the whole shoulder back some since her swinging fwd leg was brought down.. I might. This angle is a bit decieving tho so measurements required there. Also photoshopped back in some hamstring flesh on that raised right hind. Just not there yet. Hope to bust out with the expoxie to smooth out the massive reshaped areas tonight...

This shot isn't telling me what I'd hoped it would, but I am seeing that I won't want to add to much back onto the broken leg (kinda knew that already - it was globbed on there before and now I think I've refound the stifle)

More random screen shots from videos of sport horses on youtube. I just missed the frame I wanted with this guy but it's an interesting comparison for body length in some aspects.

Feb 13-15th 2007 thoughts on Hazel:

Well I am just not easily satisfied here. I've gotten really awesome input but I hate to disappoint people by even asking honestly when I'm so ticked at not having fully captured the lofty (high knee and hock action) draft-cross gait. Sometimes when I take pics they really surprise me as the horse seemed to look better in hand. I also have to thank artists like Sarah Rose for sharing their tips on using a mirror (for me I use photoshop to flip the image)... but when it's this wonky still that isn't helping. What I've decided today I sincerely need to do is settle on the gait and have it be very clear. Bosco was about the only horse with a very vague gait (tense jig) that I've done where it didn't matter much... but here the "feeling" of thundering yet agile power I want to capture is just not there yet.

Lets look at the incarnations of Hazel b/c I keep floating around it really..

I mean how cute is that.. but well it's partly photoshopped and I look at this now and think, damn(!), I should've just stuck with that and started the cantering horse on something different.. but noooooooo, I thought I could make this a bit more lively than it was turning out. That was 2 years ago (again, note all the smudging and you can see that a LOT was photoshopped.. If I recall correctly there was another resin very similar to this that also made me shy away from doing this pose..

last fall? Was aiming for a lighter horse doing a flying lead change. Uhm yaaa. lol!

(a few days later from the above) Weeeee! now we're getting some fun feeling there. I look at what I have now and back at this and think how funny it is b/c I keep coming back to this pose almost. Note that the head here is flexed to the inside or to the lead she is cantering towards. After watching lots of live horses I've noted that they tend to tilt their heads out naturally for the most part depending on what they are doing, but if they are being fresh, they tend to turn it out away from the leading foreleg.. also, for those riders of dressage, how many times have you heard that you need to flex your horses head with the outside rein? I can see now how that allows for better pushing upwards towards the poll and more channeling of that power. But as usual I then exaggerated too much for a bit the other way. chuckles ruefully....

There, see. Somehow I have gone too far astray from this. I like this feeling quite a bit and dang.. it's not as bad as what I have going now.. shoot! lol! What I think I missed here is the length of the ribcage on this side is too long& angled wrong for the hips and the femur length on both sides wound up being hugely different from my initial measurements (gee, just look back one pic!). So instead of spotting that issue with the long femur right away I worked on areas around it, I was trying to make her more crouched on the other side which didn't work for this pose. I worked it out better on the other side eventually but this side kept getting wonkier and wonkier.. Hmmmmm..... when I just would've been better off attacking the stilfes/femur joint length and then the abdomen swing/bulge.

See that, I think this is going to help me tremendously to keep track of how far off track I'm getting. I'm terribly scattered sometimes. One of the art directors I used to work for used to tell me to try changing ONE thing at a time instead of ten. Mmmm.. blushes. Anyhow, I still think putting this online will be beneficial. I've gotten such awesome insights randomly volunteered that would've taken me months to discover on my own.

Anyhow, here she is today:

Did anyone start crying? Mmm.. here's a tissue. Don't worry - I am not pleased myself. ;) How funny (not if you consider how much time I spend spinning my wheels) it is that she's almost the same as the above again. Hmph. Whole gallery from today is here but obviously a LOT is being addressed at the moment. I work in Apoxie Sculpt so after a while it's very marble looking when smoothed and I need to pause, primer and see where I'm at better. This is a very disappointing state... chuckles darkly. Here are Feb 12th and early Feb pics too (this page is full enough of history).

Fun comparisons of the day:
CHARGE!!!

(ok, ok, the sculpture is still going to need some serious work, but it's fun to hold pics side by side and see what you've got there.. ya ya it's still a far cry from these real horses and Andy's and Friesans aren't really like the realHazel in type either but you get the idea of what I'm aiming at, no? No??! That's ok, I understand ;) lol!)

SO, what I *think* I need to do here is thus, shorten that right femur a good deal and figure out why it's not measuring up right - a few commentaries about bringing it lower to the ground that I've gotten seem to be spot on to me too... Now that I've sawed her in half and got the bend in the body better imo (than this , no really! it's shorter but the lack of depth at the moment makes it look almost the same), what I pretty much think I just need to give up the ghost of what I was attempting to show with the high hock action and push that hind right down almost to the ground. Then she'll be off the forehand too which she is technically now and I've seen a lot in the draft breed and crosses videos (thus why I kept feeling like I needed to have more bend to the inside hind leg). And why does she look like she laid on her side for too long? lol! B/c I really pushed around in on the body to match it up (there's foam under the epoxie so it crushes), but yes, she needs a good deal more"filling" too. I'm just waiting until I get a better 2D version back. Wow can getting those necks right mess you up (which is why I deviated so much from that red tailed version above).

Righto, well here's some other fun things to look at. I did some screen captures off of videos:

(she's just about to take a jump)

And then I have a ton of links and comments I'll toss in here too. You would think that will all these references and about 17 horses I see daily that I'd be able to work out anatomical issues that much faster. Truth is it's hard to find that perfect angle that conveys all the expression I want. Anyhow, compiling them here is a chore that will clear out my Favorites links for once. ;) I have sooo many more printed out and taken from magazines but I just can't possible collect them all here too. Anyhow, eye candy galore!

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1463609183064787300FcXZKr hahaha! love that face!

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1057517298040039630MnnsnA did I put this down already?

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1032729484034855433BVLrvh I'd wager this horse has some drafty/carriage breeding in his background.. shows the interesting difference - possibly more on the forehand?

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1086101439043990196MkexdF little too slow leeettle less oomph but close

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1237007916054238801zgagsC useful ref of the stifle

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1428156802073521747gGMLyf eh.. doesn't have enough animation..

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1435803376061531861bPEDEo cute cute cute! Just a hair less lift than I want but helpful build (too ponified but close)

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1445040022062643503QJujJM

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1451398599078331634acUTiA

http://www.webshots.com/g/25/525-sh/56310.html arab but has that oomph! :D

I collect pictures when I'm working on a sculpture and these are a few of my favs for various reasons I've added in the notes. http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1016959273030170293poAcWxTNrR basically the speed but hazel has a tad more hock flexion in her movement than this fellow

http://www.terrimiller.com/gallery/gallery.php?galleryid=345&photoid=5WCJ-2424Pessoa I see so many performance possibilities that I'm trying to leave a little gap in the mane for a martingale! Lol!

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1360197839043301556JSZBhC pretty close to the speed but slowing to the corner I'm guessing? Useful all the same especially for the top of butt muscling views! :)

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1433143203077075518nkwkmN this horse is only a TAD bit heavier than the draft cross build I'm aiming for – when Hazel was a little less fit and a LOT heavier she looked like the female counterpart to this fellow

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1062494522033872508OFVtJM obviously the confirmation of a walker filly isn't what I was looking at here – hehehe!

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1356625957071353725yyunhP awesome back and butt muscle reference but Ben here looks like he's really ready to scooch off in a different direction given how his front legs are pausing and his hind end is tilted..

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1363301865035112302jrnwuE speaking of titled hind ends.. check out this foals' hips as they rotate to really launch off.

http://www.terrimiller.com/gallery/gallery.php?galleryid=7&photoid=3FLI-637-Kingston-Sepia awesome rippling/taught muscling and wrinkles.. obviously I'm not trying to sculpt a flying change tho! ;)

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1020768419028631509LmgrUeeYkq darn close to what I'm aiming for.. but what is that, a midget horse spotted on a trail ride? Really! Lol!

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1017216724029824179OACeqOddVd ah! here we go – uhm gee.. I had a bit of a panic when I first so the thumbnail and then I recognized the scene