Sculpture/Sketches Reference Information
Hopefully this won't be overwhelming, but I am trying to explain in as much detail as possible, exactly what I am looking for from my sculptures. By providing so much detail, I'm hopeful that your initial sketches/sculptures will turn out "perfect" the first time. Please feel free to contact me as much as you want if you have any clarification questions to ask.
There are four sculptures I need: frigates, artillery, infantry, and cavalry. Each game I will eventually sell will have four different colors (red, blue, green, yellow). Each color set will include 24 infantry, 8 frigates, 8 artillery, and 8 cavalry.
Frigates
1. No base - it should be able to stand on its own. The bottom should be wide enough to support the piece without an additional base.
2. Three masts, with three sails on each
3. Sails can be smooth
4. No pennants atop mast
5. Bow should have nice curve like in pictures of model USS Constitution below.
6. Only detail needed are gun ports along the side (2 rows), and a little detail on the stern of the boat.
7. The bowsprit is the large spar projecting off the front of a boat. It should stick out about the length of the bowsprits in the top three pictures, and be about half the length of the one in the USS Constitution model picture.
8. Sails should be fully displayed (NOT reefed or rolled up). There should be 10 sails. 9 rectangular ones (3 on each of 3 masts) and one triangular one in the front attached to the bowsprit.
9. Middle mast (main mast) should be slightly taller than the other two masts. The mizzen mast (furthest back) should be the shortest of the three (see USS Constitution picture below for relative heights)
10. Sails should fully spread perpendicular to length of frigate (see USS Constitution picture).
11. Sails should be fully billowed (where the wind is filling them and they are slightly curved), as opposed to just flat sails.
12. The overall height should be slightly taller than the cavalry figure.
13. Gun ports should be square
14. No flag off stern
Picture criticisms:
Cons - They are too squeezed lengthwise. It looks like the back got squished up into the front and the top is coming to a point. The height of the ship's body is too tall. It looks like it's completely out of the water.
Pros - Good height, no base, good bow with good triangular sail.
Cons - Bow is not curved/pointed enough. Sails are not perpendicular. Sails are not smooth. I don't want pennants at top of masts. Stern doesn't have any detail. Ship doesn't stand on its own but has its own base. Slightly taller than necessary. Gun points are rectangular, not square.
Pros - Two rows of gun ports, three clear masts with three sails on each, one forward triangular sail.
Pictures of model USS Constitution.
Pros - The sails (if they were fully let out) would be perpendicular to the length of the ship (which is good).
Cons - This obviously has WAY too much detail to be reflected in a little plastic piece.
Artillery
1. Single support coming down from gun to ground.
2. Not overly thick wheels
3. Not overly thick cannon
4. Small bump on back of cannon barrel
5. The mid point of the cannon barrel should be either no higher or just barely higher than the top of the wheels
These following two pictures show virtually exactly what I want, except I want a single support coming down, and not the two supports coming down off the back. Please sculpt something virtually identical to these red metal artillery pieces, but with a single support that slopes back a little more gradually and further back.
Picture of a real artillery cannon.
Pro - single support coming back.
Cons - Wheels too close together, artillery piece is overall too narrow, cannon aimed upwards too high, excessively large ring around cannon barrel near the mouth of the cannon.
Pros - single support coming back
Cons - Cannon barrel too big, single support doesn't come back far enough. Ball on back of cannon too large. Cannon barrel sits too high atop wheels.
Infantry
1. Napoleonic era uniforms
2. Bayonets on end of muskets
3. Round base
4. Hat with plume
5. Knapsack on back
6. Staggered stance moving forward
7. Body leaning slightly (and only slightly) forward
The simplest way to explain what I want would be to have the red metal soldier (shown below) in the positional stance of the figure in the immediately two following pictures.
Pros - perfect uniform, hat, clothing, musket/bayonet
Cons - wrong stance
Pros - perfect stance
Cons - wrong uniform, wrong gun, wrong helmet, etc.
Cavalry
1. No braided tail or mane
2. Horse in movement, not posing on a parade ground
3. Three legs attached (but in movement), only one leg in the air
4. Soldier facing forward, leaning slightly forward
5. Sword in right hand
6. Hat with plume
7. Blanket roll behind saddle
8. Gloves on soldier
9. Flat base should have no raised earth section. Three attached legs should go all the way down to the base. Base should be like base in red metal cavalry pics (not a true oval, but with rounded corners).
10. Scabbard showing hanging on left side of soldier, attached to from the waist
11. Tail slightly outstretched (not nearly as horizontal as the horse tail is in the gold soldier pic below)
12. Sword outstretched forward in a horizontal position, pointing at the enemy and tip of the sword near the horse's head
13. The cavalry piece is going to be a much larger piece than the soldier piece (because of the horse). However, both the infantry on the ground and the mounted cavalry soldier should be about the same size. I want it to appear that the infantry on the ground could actually mount the horse and ride it, because he's the same size as the cavalry rider. I don't want a tiny cavalry rider, and a giant infantry man, but I want the two soldiers to be about the same size, which means that when you add the horse, the cavalry sculpture will naturally be significantly bigger because of the horse.
The simplest way to explain what I want is for you to take the soldier/horse in the red metal pics, and have the soldier/horse in a position showing more movement, with soldier leaning forward with outstretched sword.
Pro - Great uniform, equipment, great base
Cons - Not enough movement, braided tail, sword held back and lowered
Pros - horse/soldier in action/movement, scabbard shown
Cons - Tail too high, sword raised too high (should be horizontal), soldier not facing forward, mound of earth under horse's hooves, uniform from earlier time period (Not Napoleonic).
Similar to metal pieces, just not metal.
