Help!-- My feathers don't match!
I am building magical creatures from a book that I am writing. For this creature, a realm-jumping bird called an Oracle, I have finished all the mechanisms, but have gotten stuck on the feathers. I have re-feathered this bird three times(!) to get the perfect look, but I fear 'perfect' or even somewhat close to 'perfect' might be impossible. I am looking for some advice. (I have already watched both of Deborah G's feathering tutorials--they were extremely helpful!).
Context: The wings and tail feathers are from a real crow pelt (and are what I am trying to get the other feathers to look like), but the breast, shoulder, and head feathers are currently Maribou feathers from a bait and tackle shop. There weren't enough feathers from the crow pelt to cover the animatronic.
Problem: the dyed Maribou feathers don't match the color/sheen of the crow feathers.
What I've already tried: (1) I bought a black rooster pelt (assuming real feathers would be better than dyed feathers)-- but those looked horrendous--didn't match at all (and I can't find crow hackle/breast feathers for sale online). (2) I then tried the black dyed Maribou feathers, and painted them with an extremely thinned acrylic airbrush paint to get the shade to match. Unfortunately, even with the paint being so thin, the feathers clumped together and looked awful. (3) My most recent attempt (which is in the attached pictures--sorry about the bad lighting) has been to get various colors of pigment powder, and brush them into the feathers (the powder is soft pastels that I shaved down into a powder). The color of the Maribou feathers with the pigment looks better than the painted Maribou or the rooster feathers did, but it still looks very fake--it doesn't match the crow feathers at all.
Question
How do I get these Maribou feathers to have a closer color/sheen match to the real crow feathers/ is it even possible? If not, are there any alternatives? Is there some place I could buy feathers that would match?
Secondary Question
Unrelated to the feather's color, I am not a huge fan of how 'fluffy' the feathers are on the head. Is there something I can put on them to help them hold down, while not taking away from the realism of the feathers. I'm afraid that if I sprayed something like hairspray on them, it would ruin the look of the feathers.
Tertiary Question
Do you have any other advice to help me with making the bird look more realistic? It looks a little too cartoony for my liking as it is. I am thinking about using my static applicator to get some smaller fibers on the head. I would punch them, but the head isn't a punchable material (it's epoxy clay).
Thank you for your help!
Cheers,
Jordan
.
Context: The wings and tail feathers are from a real crow pelt (and are what I am trying to get the other feathers to look like), but the breast, shoulder, and head feathers are currently Maribou feathers from a bait and tackle shop. There weren't enough feathers from the crow pelt to cover the animatronic.
Problem: the dyed Maribou feathers don't match the color/sheen of the crow feathers.
What I've already tried: (1) I bought a black rooster pelt (assuming real feathers would be better than dyed feathers)-- but those looked horrendous--didn't match at all (and I can't find crow hackle/breast feathers for sale online). (2) I then tried the black dyed Maribou feathers, and painted them with an extremely thinned acrylic airbrush paint to get the shade to match. Unfortunately, even with the paint being so thin, the feathers clumped together and looked awful. (3) My most recent attempt (which is in the attached pictures--sorry about the bad lighting) has been to get various colors of pigment powder, and brush them into the feathers (the powder is soft pastels that I shaved down into a powder). The color of the Maribou feathers with the pigment looks better than the painted Maribou or the rooster feathers did, but it still looks very fake--it doesn't match the crow feathers at all.
Question
How do I get these Maribou feathers to have a closer color/sheen match to the real crow feathers/ is it even possible? If not, are there any alternatives? Is there some place I could buy feathers that would match?
Secondary Question
Unrelated to the feather's color, I am not a huge fan of how 'fluffy' the feathers are on the head. Is there something I can put on them to help them hold down, while not taking away from the realism of the feathers. I'm afraid that if I sprayed something like hairspray on them, it would ruin the look of the feathers.
Tertiary Question
Do you have any other advice to help me with making the bird look more realistic? It looks a little too cartoony for my liking as it is. I am thinking about using my static applicator to get some smaller fibers on the head. I would punch them, but the head isn't a punchable material (it's epoxy clay).
Thank you for your help!
Cheers,
Jordan
. 0
Answers