Sordes's amazing nautiloid models!

[Architeuthoceras]

Thank you Sordes, that is very informative. Keep up the good work.

 

[Sordes]

Just a small anachronistic "diorama" showing the giant orthocone feasting on a tasty little Cladoselache (which fits perfectly between the tentacles).

 

[Sordes]

I finally managed to paint one of the first three models I sculpted. It is not very nice I think, but perhaps it will interest some of you:
Mein erstes Nautiloiden-Modell | Bestiarium

 

[Phil]

Sir,

You are a genius! That orthocone looks absolutely fantastic in that diorama. You've painted it very well indeed. Love it.

By the way, some time ago Kevin posted some amazing information about patternation on these ancient nautiloids. I believe some incredibly preserved specimens have tracing of a zig-zag pattern on the shell as illustrated in some old engravings. I'm not sure where the old thread is, but it would be very interesting to see the images again. I wonder if that patternation has survived recent scientific scrutiny?

Please post the images of your painted models here too!

 

[Sordes]

Hallo Phil, thank you very much for this compliments! I have also already read somewhere about the preserved colour pattern, which show brown or brown-reddish colours and those denticulated patterns. I have a book with wonderful illustrations by Burian (one of the best paleo-illustrators of all times) which shows some of the nautiloids with such patterns and colours.
If I would make the model again, I wouldn´t make such bulbous eyes (I have no idea why I did this) and would make it more like the last big model. But for the big model I needed 7 hours or so, and for this small painted model I needed only a half hour to sculpt it. I would also sculpt it without nautilus-eyes, and probably without a hood. The big model would surely look ways better than this one if I would paint it, but I would never use water colours, but only airbrush, what I don´t have.
Here are again the pictures from my blog, I made also two uploads in the gallery. The two upper pictures show how I photographed it in front of a book about prehistoric marine life, the one left below shows it painted but still without finish, and the one right below shows it with finish on the base.

 

[OB]

Der Meister

Have you acquired an airbrush yet for the giant orthocone? Can't wait to see you tackle that with the same rigeur,

Brilliant stuff, Sordes.

PS: Burian was the one whose work truly introduced me to paleontology in the first place, after having been lured into a mesozoic dreamworld as a mere toddler by a mirrored print of the great Yale Peabody mural by Zallinger, "The Age of reptiles".

I still think it looks "wrong" printed right

 

[Sordes]

Thank you very much for the compliments! I still have no airbrush, and in fact I have no idea when I will buy such a system. I could use it very well for all the other models I made, because water colous are really not good to paint on sculpey.
The book "The age of reptiles" is really a great book, there are also several photos from the exhibition of the paleontological institute of Tübingen, where I photographed already many fossil cephalopods.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Fantastic, That is a very Beautiful model Sordes.

 

[Sordes]

I made again another model of an orthocone nautiloid. It was especially made for being comparably easily reproducable. I made it with another more "modern" design, with a plain skink and eyes more similar to modern squid, and more elongated, what made it much more elegant. I also made no highly structured hood like those of nautilus and my former models, but with a comparably plain hood. This makes the unpainted model still comparably boring looking. With colours it will look much nicer and more interesting. It is always a bit difficult if you have to sculpt a very smooth surface, because it looks not very interesting. When I sculpt whales, I always try to add some scars (like on this model of Baird´s beaked whale: Der Blainville-Schnabelwal (Mesoplodon densirostris) | Bestiarium ), but this doesn´t work on cephalopods...But I made a structured surface of the shell, and a fine inner structure of the tentacles, which can not be seen at the photos.
I will make molds of them in the next future to cast them in tin. Would anyone be interested in a cast of this sculpture? I will also probably add a base with a sea bottom. I am also currently working on a much more complex sculpture of a nautiloid which is with the tentacles attached at the sea bottom-base, similar to the one of Jeff Johnson.

 

[OB]

That beaked whale is so well rendered, but your take on the orthocone has gotten me seriously interested into understanding its actual appearance, way back in the early days... before the dark times, before the Empire...

 

[Sordes]

Okay I did it again...already some time ago. I scupted my first real mini-diorama with a nautiloid. As all the other models it looks boring at this unpainted stage, but I could imagine it could look well if I once manage to paint it. It was also a lot of fun to sculpt the base with all the little details. Here are some photos:

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Not boring at all Sordes Very nice detail!

 

[Phil]

Excellent work. You just get better and better at these! That shell looks really nice, even and smooth, I expect that must have been quite hard to do.

Fantastic job, well done again.

 

[Sordes]

Thanks for your compliments! In fact the shell is not completely plain as those of the other models too. I could make it completely smooth, but it looks much more interesting if it is a little "eroded", what looks much more natural. Something what was really hard was the arrangement of the tentacles, especially because some broke off during the first time in the oven and the attaching of the new sculpted ones was really not easy. Furthermore there were some problems with the flexibility of the unhardened tentacles, so there is still a gap between them and the ground on some regions. My idea was to sculpt it like it would be directly on the ground, similar to an octopus.

 

[DWhatley]

Sordes,
Do you know if the sculpty will hold up if kept in water? Your modeling has given me an inspiration to try to make something I can't find but I have never worked with the clay (not much with any clay really) and I want to use it for a fountain base.