English Coat of Arms, Lions

For this project I was assigned one of the three coat of arms shields for the Eleanor cross Project, the coat of arms representing England with three lions. After constructing the base for the sculpture last semester, this semester the goal is to finalize the lions themselves on the front of the shield. First a rough drawing was done to figure out the proportions and spacing and style of the lions, then a final scale drawing was done. After the drawing was complete a grid pattern was traced on to the shield to help with the spacing. Templates were then made and traced on to the clay, and then the rough forms of the lion were laid out in the clay. At this point the project is not completed, but the bottom lion is almost in a final state. The leaves on the top of the shield will also be passed over again before the project is complete.

The grid pattern is traced in the shield to help with spacing

A template is traced from the final drawing and then inscribed on the clay.

A rough version of the head was made to check the proportions

once the tracing is complete clay is appled to fill in the spaces on the sheild

This sculpture was used as a reference for the styling. Because the original cross has been destroyed we researched several contemporary versions. The final draft drawing was a combination of several contemporary shields, but still trying to capture the same feeling.

Initially the goal is just to get the clay on the sculpture at the proper points and details are not done. once all the clay has been applied the grid pattern is erased from the shield.

Here the grid pattern is removed and the lions are all in the correct positions in rough form.

Here I start work on the details for the lions. The lion at the bottom is smaller and in a different position from the other two which are mostly identical, so I started work on the bottom lion first. I will then copy the details from the bottom lion on to the other two using calipers to help make sure they are all very similar in apperance.

At this point the Lions are complete, however I decided to revisit the ivy leaves as I was not happy with the design over time.

Here I used a real ivy leaf to help with the design.

Finished design