𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐅𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥

Meet the latest addition to the world I’m building, a dharkling. These dark faerie creatures are more your spooky fae spirits of old, along the lines of being strictly on the malicious side. Their wicked blades stab at dreams and they’ve certainly been known to carry out the abduction or two. But we shouldn’t hold it against them too much, it’s in their nature.

Watch the Crafting a Dark Faerie Creature with Polymer Clay

I played around with the design for this fantasy art doll in my sketchbook and I imagine them as a sort of race of dark faerie creatures. They might vary a bit and height and proportions, but they all have a similar look about them and even wear the same drab clothes. The dark upper part of the head was inspired by one of my favorite fantasy artists growing-up, Brom, though I hope I added enough of a twist with giving it a sort of dripping look. I also enjoyed this idea of the hair being these wispy tendrils that constantly languidly drift behind them. I imagine them having this unchanging neutral expression on their faces and they may not even speak at all. One element that I’m thrilled about is his dagger. I often end-up with a sharps container that little by little gets full of X-acto blades that I’ll have to eventually have to dispose of… but I figured I could make them the blades of tiny daggers, so now I can upcycle them into mini weaponry!

Darklings are said to be comprised of malignant shadows and spiteful dust. They are the Sleeping Emperor’s knives of the eventide. Though others might speculate that their under the sway of the nefarious and secretive Dream Syndicate. With their hateful blades they come and cut away at your dreams if they live you living at all. They come stepping out of shadows and are gone in a whisper. Their faces the most unnerving of all as they gaze at you with a soulless, remorseless visage. Be wary traveler of the shadow that looks as though it is following you!

Shadows Wake

Shadows bide and shadows lied

Shadows lurk and shadows slink

Shadows stride and shadows hide

Shadows trick and shadows prick

Shadows take and shadows wake

-Efraen Children’s Rhyme

Prints of “Dharkling” are available here:

Open edition printhttps://www.inprnt.com/gallery/thedreamsyndicate/dharkling-dark-faerie/

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here: https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

"𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆" | 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

I’m not sure what my latest polymer clay fantasy art doll Drust is… I think of him as some sort of goblin I suppose. If you asked Drust, I don’t know what he would tell you he is either. I imagine him to be adventurous and likely mischievous at times. One day in his boredom, a wayfly happened by and Drust couldn’t help but chase it!

In the scene captured in “Reaching”, I imagine that Drust has scaled a column of face vaults, statues with secrets of the ages locked away within, and finds his wayfly quarry just out of his grasp! Will he catch it or will it slip through his spindly little fingers?

A wayfly is a winged-key found in the wilds of the Dream Syndicate. Found individually, in pairs, or flying in flocks, wayflies often are found near ancient ruins or in catacombs. Capturing a wayfly takes guile, but the real clever feat is to determine which lock a given wayfly calls home.

Watch the process of how the poseable goblin art doll Drust was crafted

Prints of “Reaching” are available through my store here:

Limited Edition of 25 Print: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/thedreamsyndstore/reaching18x24print

Open Edition: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/thedreamsyndstore/reaching11x14print

Watch Details Being Added to the Face Vaults Polymer Clay Sculptures

Check-out a Winged Key Fantasy Stop-Motion Animation

Thanks for joining me so far and here’s to the adventures we have in future! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon. Catch all of my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. And sign-up for my newsletter (in the sidebar) to get the latest studio goings-on! Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and until next time: Make. Believe!

BRAMBLING 🌲| Making a Fantasy Art Doll

And finally, a brambling is full born... or is it sprouted from a little acorn? The biology of the little fae creatures aside, this fantasy art doll is completed! All told, he probably took around 16 hours to craft (including accidentally sculpting two right hands for him! Unfortunately, not the first time something like that's happened, I assure you!). In prior videos I shared the process of sculpting and painting him in-depth and in this most recent one, I sew his clothes and show-off a bit of the staged set that went into making the finished dimensional illustration.

Watch Brambling | Making a Fantasy Art Doll

I enjoy characters with fanciful clothing and while the brambling's clothes are meant to have a utilitarian, rustic look to them, I was able to add some visual interest with the fae creature's asymmetrical, tattered cloak. The clothing was distressed by wrinkling, staining with acrylic paint, sanding, and then hand-sewing the fabric directly on to the art doll's body. I usually make a point of distressing an art doll's fabric as i like the viewer to imagine the secret life that the art doll has when they're not around. A life with a bit of mystery and magic's a better one! Lastly I set-up the scene by arranging fabric, vines, butterflies, and even used some small tree stumps! I photographed this mixture of found objects and then spent a little time post-producing the image in Photoshop.

Here's the finished dimensional-illustration:

You can find a print of this illustration here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/601530840/brambling-fey-fantasy-fine-art-85x11?ref=listings_manager_grid

I hope you enjoyed exploring this magical fey creature as much as I have! To be the first to know when I launch new polymer clay art videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon (but because YouTube's wonky, you can also join the newsletter). Catch all of my videos here:  https://www.youtube.com/thedreamsyndicatearts. You can also find many of the supplies I use in crafting here: https://www.thedreamsyndarts.com/supplies-gear/. Until next time, make believe!