February Coronation 2016 Archery Targets
Feb. 22nd, 2016 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqOne of my duties as Champing of Arrows is running archery tournaments at Kingdom-level events. That means I have to come up with targets for them. For this event I thought of this playing card theme for the timed end:
And then I went completely overboard on a playing card theme. This was both good and bad. Good in the sense that I pushed my boundaries somewhat in pursuit of really good targets. Bad in that one of the targets was rather expensive.
What do I mean by pushing my boundaries? I'm not someone who's good at art - I can kinda do things if it involves straight lines, but things I make are never pretty. I recognize that I lack talent (and will often lampshade that when people ask me to do things. Instead, when I make art that's not straight lines I'll do things like compose on a computer first and then trace, or work from a static model of some kind, and pencil it over and over again until such time as it's at some intersection of recognizable and something-I-can-do. So much of what I want to make I see in my minds eye, perfectly done, and my hands simply cannot do it. I want to art, but it's supremely frustrating so I give up.
If I was just doing these targets for the hell of it, I'd have given up. Since I had to do the shoot, I forced myself to keep working on it until I actually got something I wanted. Surprisingly, I'm happy with the results - a rare occurrence when I'm trying to art.
Aside: I have more ways of being creative than "traditional" arts (drawing/painting/sculpture) that are less personally frustrating. Mostly, I write. I'm practiced enough at it that, when I'm in the zone, the words just leap from my fingers to the screen. Why can't I draw like that?
Anyway, I came up with some targets, made them on the computer, then went to Michael's for art supplies. Damn near paid full price for everything, but had the following exchange while waiting on a price check:
Next I took everything to work (it was late Saturday night, so no one was there). Went into the room we use for demoing our software for clients that's set up to project everything on the wall. Then I proceeded to trace the pictures. Next day I inked them in, which took several hours while I watched the last few episodes of my cheesy 70's cop drama.
On to the targets, plus the gorgeous target I *didn't* make...
First up is the "suits" target. They range from one to four points as you go from larger to smaller. This was simple to make since the shapes are pretty simple.
Next was a wand shoot made up of cards. Cards were face value, with aces being one. This was the last target I made, so I was getting bored with regular suits by then. No reason I couldn't make my one, so we have the Ace of suns, the two of spawns, three of stars, two of fish and Ace of Earth.
I wanted a friend of foe shoot, so I took this picture of myself holding some cards.
Next I traced and inked it, adding a jester's cap (J can stand for James or Joker, just sayin') and making the cards a little bigger. Each card has a surface area a little bigger than the bullseye of a 60 cm target.
You got a bonus for getting all four targets, but you lost the bonus if you nicked me.
Turns out that was a lot harder to do than to plan. That or I owe someone money.
I did make a quip on Facebook about how art was "just" patience and repetition. This was meant to be self-deprecating in the sense that, if I'd have realized this years ago, I wouldn't have been building it up into such a big thing in my head. In the end, I did it and they turned out great. Of course, that was apt to upset real artists, who have a combination of raw talent, years of learning and dedication, and oh so much more patience than I have. Sorry about that - I really am a little in awe of what you can do. But hey, if you need someone to debug 3000 lines of spaghetti code, I'm your man.
Speaking of real artists, the final target was the refined version of the four face cards I showed above. I did not do them - I got the lovely Reva Diana to do them. They ended up about ten times better than I envisioned. I was expecting the same resolution as a playing card, just enough to recognize the royals if you concentrated. Instead, I got this beautiful piece. She even had it printed on some nice arrow-friendly paper for me. All I had to do was describe what I wanted and direct her to some picture online of the four royals.
The object was to shoot as many arrows into the hole between the four cards as you can manage in 30 seconds. Three points for hitting the hole, and you lose three points if you hit one of the cards.
To end the pictures, here is the wonderful Kashie Machiavelli, Mea Culpa-ing something fierce.
And now I have to start thinking about my championship tournament at June Crown (assuming Kingdom law doesn't change in the meantime, in which case it will be at August Coronation)
And then I went completely overboard on a playing card theme. This was both good and bad. Good in the sense that I pushed my boundaries somewhat in pursuit of really good targets. Bad in that one of the targets was rather expensive.
What do I mean by pushing my boundaries? I'm not someone who's good at art - I can kinda do things if it involves straight lines, but things I make are never pretty. I recognize that I lack talent (and will often lampshade that when people ask me to do things. Instead, when I make art that's not straight lines I'll do things like compose on a computer first and then trace, or work from a static model of some kind, and pencil it over and over again until such time as it's at some intersection of recognizable and something-I-can-do. So much of what I want to make I see in my minds eye, perfectly done, and my hands simply cannot do it. I want to art, but it's supremely frustrating so I give up.
If I was just doing these targets for the hell of it, I'd have given up. Since I had to do the shoot, I forced myself to keep working on it until I actually got something I wanted. Surprisingly, I'm happy with the results - a rare occurrence when I'm trying to art.
Aside: I have more ways of being creative than "traditional" arts (drawing/painting/sculpture) that are less personally frustrating. Mostly, I write. I'm practiced enough at it that, when I'm in the zone, the words just leap from my fingers to the screen. Why can't I draw like that?
Anyway, I came up with some targets, made them on the computer, then went to Michael's for art supplies. Damn near paid full price for everything, but had the following exchange while waiting on a price check:
"I see you've got a stack of coupons here - I don't suppose I could snag one for this order?"In the end I got everything for about a third off. Score. Though I suspect she wasn't going to volunteer that information if I hadn't been chatty.
"No, because those are for next week. But if you have a cell phone, I can look up this week's coupons."
Next I took everything to work (it was late Saturday night, so no one was there). Went into the room we use for demoing our software for clients that's set up to project everything on the wall. Then I proceeded to trace the pictures. Next day I inked them in, which took several hours while I watched the last few episodes of my cheesy 70's cop drama.
On to the targets, plus the gorgeous target I *didn't* make...
First up is the "suits" target. They range from one to four points as you go from larger to smaller. This was simple to make since the shapes are pretty simple.
Next was a wand shoot made up of cards. Cards were face value, with aces being one. This was the last target I made, so I was getting bored with regular suits by then. No reason I couldn't make my one, so we have the Ace of suns, the two of spawns, three of stars, two of fish and Ace of Earth.
I wanted a friend of foe shoot, so I took this picture of myself holding some cards.
Next I traced and inked it, adding a jester's cap (J can stand for James or Joker, just sayin') and making the cards a little bigger. Each card has a surface area a little bigger than the bullseye of a 60 cm target.
You got a bonus for getting all four targets, but you lost the bonus if you nicked me.
Turns out that was a lot harder to do than to plan. That or I owe someone money.
I did make a quip on Facebook about how art was "just" patience and repetition. This was meant to be self-deprecating in the sense that, if I'd have realized this years ago, I wouldn't have been building it up into such a big thing in my head. In the end, I did it and they turned out great. Of course, that was apt to upset real artists, who have a combination of raw talent, years of learning and dedication, and oh so much more patience than I have. Sorry about that - I really am a little in awe of what you can do. But hey, if you need someone to debug 3000 lines of spaghetti code, I'm your man.
Speaking of real artists, the final target was the refined version of the four face cards I showed above. I did not do them - I got the lovely Reva Diana to do them. They ended up about ten times better than I envisioned. I was expecting the same resolution as a playing card, just enough to recognize the royals if you concentrated. Instead, I got this beautiful piece. She even had it printed on some nice arrow-friendly paper for me. All I had to do was describe what I wanted and direct her to some picture online of the four royals.
The object was to shoot as many arrows into the hole between the four cards as you can manage in 30 seconds. Three points for hitting the hole, and you lose three points if you hit one of the cards.
- The King of Spades is Albrecht von Rugen, first King of Avacal.
- The Queen of Diamonds is Nasheeta al-Rakkasa.
- The King of Clubs is Werner Ivarsson. Sadly, I had no pictures of the Muckin' Tall Maul for Reva to use as the club.
- The Queen of Hearts is Hélène Charisse.
To end the pictures, here is the wonderful Kashie Machiavelli, Mea Culpa-ing something fierce.
And now I have to start thinking about my championship tournament at June Crown (assuming Kingdom law doesn't change in the meantime, in which case it will be at August Coronation)
