"Automaton" #8: cowboy boots

I’m continuing the painting portion of this toy. I’ve stained and finished all the mechanical pieces and almost have the man painted and ready for assembly. One of the elements important to me was the boots. I have several other carvings planned with boots, so I wanted to try something detailed, as far as the appearance of the boots. I did some research and thought this guy would look good in some Lucchese lizard-skin boots! I spent about 3 hours drawing and burning the designs on the boots.

I wanted enough details to make them appear realistic. But that doesn’t always mean putting in every detail. On a larger boot, I would have did the stitching and other things, but on something this small, the stitching would be too small to see, if it was in porportion to the rest of the things. I used to try to put in almost every single hair on something I was carving, but sometimes just indicating a feature or a shape is more realistic.

I spent about and hour and a half painting the first one, trying to get the colors and stuff like I wanted them. The other boot only took a half hour! I didn’t want them too wild, but I didn’t want just plain boots either. This guy is not shy about standing out in a crowd! Not much more to go! Thanks for looking!

-- Mike P., Arkansas, http://mpounders1.blogspot.com