Re: Work In Progress--Deryni Action Figure Project (was Duncan Action Figure)

[Evie]

Haven't read it, but it sounds intriguing.   

[Evie]

Border Folk--resized with fuzzy border by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

I had a little fun with an online photo editor called Pixlr (http://pixlr.com/editor/)  and one of my medieval doll photos.  This started out as a picture of Richenda and Duncan, and it was taken just after I finished making the great kilt.  I was trying to work out how to copy the figures from the original (mostly black) background and paste the copied images to something else.  The effort wasn't as successful as I'd hoped it would be, but I thought the resulting image looked interesting, so I added a fuzzy border to it for that little extra something it seemed to need, and then resized it smaller so it will fit into a suitable frame for a 1:6 scale painting or art print.  (For my modern littles, of course!  My medieval littles have a completely different art aesthetic.)

[tenworld]

so bigger horses are next?  apparently ability for using photoshop or pixar is carried on the X chromosome.  Is their a Haldane potential analog?

[Evie]

Bigger horses are next, yes, but no Photoshop tricks will be required.  Instead of my 1:9 Breyer horse, I'll be using 1:6 Marx and Barbie horses that are already properly sized for action figures and Barbies/Kens.  (Though the cute little Breyer horse will be kept as a "beginner rider pony" for Grub, who is child-sized, and also so I can study it to learn how to make the caparison and bridle for the bigger horses.  They seem to be cut on fairly simple patterns, so it's just a matter of sizing that pattern up to fit the 1:6 scale horses.) 

I think the Breyer horse is gorgeous in its own right, with or without the medieval trimmings, so that would earn it a permanent place in my stable despite it being the wrong size for most of my mini-Deryni!  Right now he's the only horse I have who isn't some sort of a fixer-upper!   

My talent on Photoshop is minimal, actually.  What I did in that 'art piece' happened by sheer accident, which is why the result was such a happy surprise.  If I were Deryni, I'd probably be closer to some quarter-breed and mostly untrained Deryni in terms of skill.  The Camberian Council would find me even more hopeless than Alaric and Duncan!  Vivienne would probably insist that I should have been drowned at birth. 

[Jerusha]

Maybe the Council would consider you a "fixer upper" and designate you for special instruction.  At which point, I suspect you might teach them a thing or two.   

[Evie]

So, this past weekend was Chattacon weekend, and I decided to take one of my Mini-Deryni with me to join in the fun.  Usually I pick Duncan, but I thought someone else needed a chance to have some fun, and since Bishop Arilan has already shown a fondness for that silly 1:6 Jayne hat I've got, and has been spotted in at least one photo reading fantasy novels, I decided he might enjoy a science fiction/fantasy convention.  So I geared him up in modern-day "civvies" rather than his usual cassock, and he went on a weekend adventure.

The poor guy, it turns out, doesn't have a head for modern-style beers.  Or at least he doesn't if they're served up in 1:1 size tankards rather than 1:6 ones.

The results were not pretty.  But since there is an entire photostory in incriminating pictures, I'll just link to the Flickr album here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9573389@N08/sets/72157632618168594/

Don't be too hard on the little guy.  He's just come back from Confession, and the last I saw of him, he was holding his head in his hands while Bishop Duncan stood patting his back, suppressing a smirk and shaking his head sadly....   

[Elkhound]

It looks like you've got some blackmail materiel there.

[tenworld]

I see Arilan shares your fascination with multicolored headwear:)

[Elkhound]

Somehow, I've never pictured Arilan as being quite so. .  .muscular.  He's a scholar and an administrator.  I'd always pictured him as being, not exactly FAT, but a little more. . . padded.

[Evie]

Well, when I first bought the figure, I had plans to use the body with a different head, but that didn't go as well as I hoped.  The only head with the right neck joint and skintone to work with that body ended up being the one it came with, and since his face has that serious, somewhat scowly expression that it's easier to imagine the curmudgeonly Arilan wearing than most of the other key characters, I repainted his hair and eyes to match that role.  But KK's bishops, despite being clerics, are depicted as more battle-seasoned than their modern counterparts (including having their own "Joshuic Foot" soldiers to bring to the King's aid), so I suppose it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that a bishop who started off life as a knight's son would continue to keep in fighting trim even after taking on holy vows, especially if he's risen to a position that might entail needing to lead men of the Church into battle from time to time.

[Evie]

Well, Candlemas has come and gone, and with it Duncan's birthday. 

But here's a short scene of how he celebrated the occasion:



Duncan spends a quiet evening with his son Dhugal, who came bearing a gift--the puppy in his lap.

And for those of you who like to study the photo details without the text getting in the way, see the original photos below:


Duncan's birthday by evian_delacourt, on Flickr


The new bookcase by evian_delacourt, on Flickr

I suppose it's time to start making a bunch of books for all that nice shelving!

[Jerusha]

Happy belated birthday to Bishop Duncan!  Did you make the flooring for the photo shoot, too?  All the wood matches nicely (unlike the furniture in my real study.) 

[Evie]

Yes, I made the flooring.  Believe it or not, that's actually gift wrap. I just used some double-sided craft tape to stick the gift wrap to some foamcore board, and called it a day.  The gift wrap was even the same width as the foamcore board, so I just had to cut the paper to the right length and apply it.  Easiest craft project ever!     WHY someone would want gift wrap that looks like miniature floor boards, I have no idea.  Maybe that's why I managed to find a roll of it at a discount store.  It has a very slight metallic gold sheen to it when viewed in person, but you can't see the metallic sheen from a few feet away, or in the photos.

[Elkhound]

Is there some way you could age Duncan a bit?  They look more like brothers than father and son.

[Evie]

True, although they are only 15-16 years apart in age, but you'd expect Duncan to at least look more like an elder brother at the very least.  But the main problem with trying to age Duncan is that every attempt I've seen to "age" a doll's face just looks really hokey to me, so I'd rather just imagine he's very well preserved for his age than risk a repaint that makes him look like a caricature.  Kelson, for example, originally came to me with painted on wrinkles that didn't look at all convincing.  He looked like he was wearing very badly done stage makeup or something, so I wiped them off with acetone as soon as I got a chance.  And while it's possible to add a bit of color to hair with an acrylic paint wash (that's how I turned Duncan from a blond to a light brunet, and Dhugal from having dark brown hair to a very dark auburn, which was as close to "copper-bronze" as I could manage for him), I don't think there's any way to get enough gray over the current shade of brown without risking his hair turning stiff as a helmet.  Fortunately it's at least semi-canonically established (in the RPG book, if I remember correctly) that Deryni tend to be long-lived, barring unfortunate accidents, and a bit more illness-resistant than normal humans, so maybe that would help to account for some of Duncan's youthful appearance.  If there is some safe way to add individual gray strands of hair by rooting them in, I might attempt that on a spare head sometime to see if it looks good, and if it does, that might age Duncan a bit.  But having ruined my original Duncan head already by too many experiments, I'm reluctant to make any changes unless I know they are low- to no-risk ones.