This Is So Lovely

Gem's lighthouse

Behold the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself…

Toothless!

The process is under the break!

Made this in my dorm room last November with crayola air dry clay and an attitude of, “I’ve never done this before, but how hard could it be?”

I wouldn’t say it was difficult, but it was definitely a learning experience! I learned that crayola air dry clay is really brittle and also, the sculpture shouldn’t be solidly made of clay.

The body and legs kept cracking, and I ended up patching them with acrylic paint that halfway worked lol

And I didn’t know another way I could make the wings, so what I did was hot glue fabric to the wing fingers, soak the fabric with water, and then apply the clay on top so the texture was more uniform.

Then I did the details and the paint.

I want to make another Toothless once school is over. Had to give this one away pretty much as soon as I finished for a Secret Santa.

But yeah! That’s how I made my first sculpture!

Saint Pearl! This design is truly amazing I’m so glad I finally got to draw it digitally lol

In my early teens, I thought myself completely average. I was acing my classes, advanced in three subjects, in band, jazz band, and archery. I qualified for the archery state tournament and I got the highest mark at contest with my clarinet ensemble. And I thought all of it average. I felt good about those accomplishments, but I didn’t let myself feel special for having done them.

There’s nothing wrong with being humble, but I wasn’t letting myself be proud of my accomplishments. I started to think differently when my art teacher in my senior year of high school commended me for my knowledge in both the arts and in academics. What she told me was the most influential thing an educator has ever told me. She admired my willingness to learn about a subject I already had great experience in and my ability to critique and take criticism. She said that I had great potential and that I had the mind to be like Leonardo da Vinci.

Just,,

I had never been told something like that before. Whenever I think college is too difficult, I think back to her.

I try to give people compliments like that now. Knowing how well it resonated with me and inspired me, just think of what others could do with such a push.

consider: teenagers aren’t apathetic about everything they’re just used to you shitting all over whatever they show excitement about

Double life Pearl is perfect in every way and there’s no way to change my mind she’s done NOTHING wrong

...this parallel right here.

Caleb's ghost with the bloody knife hanging over his head, coldly staring at the brother who murdered him.

Luz, back from the dead and infused with the Titan's powers, the ball of light floating above her head, the same thing Belos reduced her to, giving him that same cold stare.

Both of them killed by the same man, one of them coming back to haunt him, the other coming back to put an end to him.

PEARL OMG OMG OMG

She so evil on this picture

Deadly nadder

Ah beans

☀️🌸 Okami Amaterasu 🌸☀️

Sculpting process is under the break!

I made this during winter break using what I learned from making the Toothless sculpture. I used polymer clay this time and didn’t make it solid clay, which really helps the clay not crack.

I did not end up using the armature pictured above because the proportions were off and it was unbalanced.

I finished the details and put it in the oven along with her shield and rosary beads. In hindsight, I should have baked the base clay on and then added the details to that to bake again so I didn’t have to worry about ruining my work. Next time!

I made the beads hoping I could make the rosary work, but I didn’t have the right tools. Sent the beads to my friend to put holes in. I hope to finish that after the semester is over.

Once baked, I started painting. I got a new, thin brush just for this lol. I’m super happy with how I painted this whole thing, but oh my goodness I am so proud of that shield!

I also intended on the fire being translucent as I got translucent polymer clay for it, but not only was it crumbly and very hard to work with, it’s not even translucent!! At least not noticeably. Alas 😔

The shield is fully removable so I can swap out Okami’s weapons. Again, hoping to get the rosary to work, but I would also love to make one of the swords!

And that’s how I made an Okami sculpture! I wanna do a photo shoot with her now that it’s spring and there are flowers growing outside

Edit: I forgot to mention that I actually got sculpting tools for this too (great time for my combination Christmas and birthday gifts) so the details were much easier to make.

For Toothless, I used my tiny screwdriver I use for my clarinet screws and a mechanical pencil to get the details. It… worked I guess? Still not great lmao

Because why not, here’s my Pinterest board full of art references and techniques.

It has over 3.5k pins that are all meticulously organized into 25 categories. I make an effort to include a multitude of different styles, reference types, and rendering techniques.

Pinterest

900+ Things to Draw ideas in 2025 | art reference, art reference poses, creature art

Mar 28, 2025 - Over 3k meticulously organized pins to help you with your art. Enjoy!. See more ideas about art reference, art reference pose

Feel free to browse it for inspiration or for any reference needs. If you need something, it probably has at least one pin that can help.