#md dragons

[[ Sculptor:MD Dragons

Post-bake touched up version:

Another commission by Maga of MD Dragons! For the previous and first commission I got from her, visit here. That older post also includes more information about the artist and the process of commissioning her. Since I don’t have anything to say that wasn’t said before, please refer to that post for those details.

I really wanted another piece by Maga (and of course, more Artemis). This is also, as far as I’m aware, the first of her mounted character sculptures, so I really didn’t know what to expect. She’d done characters sitting in chairs before, but for this concept, the Nightmare was more of an entity than an object/prop, so the commission was treated as a two characters project. Maga was as wonderful as ever and discussed ideas with me before starting, I originally wanted another Artemis and Jarlaxle piece with both of them mounted on their respective Nightmares, but that concept wasn’t viable because as a singular piece, it would be too crowded. I could always commission a companion piece to this one of mounted Jarlaxle, but I don’t think that I will since I’m not as invested in his character.

Since I’d already given Maga all the various art references for the first commission, I left the design of this one entirely to her artistic liberty. She still ran some details through me to approve first, such as her idea for the background, but otherwise, the pose, expressions, and all the details were entirely her creativity. I did ask her to darken his skin after she showed me the original finished images (the first bunch). Even though she’d used the same clay for his skin as she did for my first commission, apparently clay colors can differ quite a bit from batch to batch despite being marketed as the same color. I was a bit worried about how the post-bake darkening would look, but it came out really well and I like it more than a straight up uniform color. The manual coloration adds a sense of texture and shade differentials as would be seen in real skin, so I’m quite happy with it.

As with the first commissions, there are so many wonderful little details, even in areas that aren’t readily visible, which really adds to the quality and sense of life of Maga’s creation. Observe the texturing on the saddle in the below image, with a belt strapping it to the Nightmare, the braided reins and cords, and the suggestion of additional supplies tucked beneath it on the Nightmare’s rear. Note also the details on Artemis’ boot: the belt, the kneepad, and higher up, the belts on his thighs. There’s also the end of a belt, knotted realistically, and the bone hilt of Charon’s Claw unforgotten despite the blade being sheathed.

The above picture was taken with normal ambient light and shows how harmonious the color is. Under camera flash, we can see all that there’s quite the range of hue. It’s also really cool that the Nightmare is a very dark midnight blue rather than pitch black. It also has an iridescent quality to it, similar to Jarlaxle’s skin in the previous sculpture.

In the below image, although mostly hidden away by other parts of the sculpture, is Artemis’ jeweled dagger, with its green gem. Beneath the sheathed dagger we can see the twin belts over his other thigh, and while the flash from the camera garishly makes everything too bright, it enables us to see that in all of these seeming shades of darkness, there’s actually a lot of different tones, with none of them being a pure black. You can also see the texturing on the tiny scabbard.

The next photo shows the details of an area that isn’t visible unless you’re looking straight down into the sculpture. You also need to be pretty close to it to see these details. Yet, despite this, Maga did not cut any corners. 

Here is one of the differences in Artemis’ armor from the previous sculpture: two belts emanating out of his cloak clasp insignia instead of one. I’d commented in my post about the first sculpture that this is how I prefer Artemis to be depicted since that is how he appears in Lockwood’s paintings, so I wonder if Maga saw my previous review? It’s pretty amazing either way. In any case, note the other details in this shot: the shoulderpads, the elbowpad and the cuirass. Each piece has been carefully and attentively worked.

Another shot from the same angle, tipping the camera further in. Note Artemis’ twin leg belts on both thighs. The buckles of the left ones are visible from the side, but the belt loop on his inner thigh isn’t, yet it’s still fully formed. The twin belts on his right thigh aren’t really visible from the outside, but they’re fully formed as well. Remarkable.

With the “Summer of Drizzt” announced, I wonder if some of the merch will be of Artemis and/or Jarlaxle. I had these, as well as many other items, done because there wasn’t any official merch, and honestly, I think that they’ll still be centerpieces in my collection even if official merch of Artemis is released. 

Again, here’s Maga’s site: https://mddragons.com/en/

I can’t recommend her enough. ]]