Scenic Creature

For our set unit our teacher had us create a scenic creature. We not only learned the safety needed to work in the shop but, we learned to identify different materials used.

Reference and History

Whenever our teacher gave us the liberty to create whatever creature we wanted I immediately thought about our choir mascot. The choir mascot was chosen by a previous officer. Although, it is clearly the Minecraft llama, choir members were quick to fall in love with this small animal. I wanted to pay homage to the previous officer as well as the mascot itself and create a sculpture of him.

Design Process

After learning the different wood pieces I made a rough sketch of the pieces I would need and the rough measurements needed to build this animal. I wanted to use a 4x4 for his body and a 2x4 for his head. Everything else was theoretical.

Construction

My construction process was very fast since I only had to cut four pieces of wood using the chop saw. I found the four scrap pieces I could use for the legs. This was my first time using a chop saw. Although it was very big loud and scary I managed to muster the courage needed to chop my first piece. I chopped a 4x4 to 8 inches and a 2x4 to 9 inches. I also chopped a skinny piece of wood down to 2 inches twice to use for the ears.

Painting

My process in painting was very lengthy and tedious. Since it is a Minecraft mob, the design is very particular and the details are all perfect squares. The issue I ran into while painting is that paint has a mind of its own. The paint would run or it would lay on how id want it to. However, when I painted slowly the paint would somewhat cooperate. I sketched out the larger details like the hat, scarf, eyes and facial features. Then I went in and painted all of the smaller details like the fur.

End Product

Overall, I was very proud of the outcome. I think that the finished product was very well-made. However, if I were to do this project all over again, I would do a lot differently. Firstly, my teacher gave me the idea that if I wanted straight paint lines I could have used painters tape or a stencil. If I had more time I would have meticulously focused on the paint job more than anything. Lastly, I think instead of using scrap pieces I would have cut the pieces so I would get a more balanced build.The legs were probably half an inch off however it played a huge part in unbalancing the whole thing.