Iron Painter - onto round 2!

The results are in and my piece got through to the second round. I got 72 points from the judges, which meant I had the third result overall (there were 96 in total). It doesn't really mean much at this point as all of those who got to round 2 were paired up randomly. I'm facing a guy who won the whole thing two editions ago and is definitely an excellent painter so it's going to be an interesting and very competitive match up. You can see my entry in the pics below:



For some reason blogger always decreases the size of pics when I upload them so you can see a bigger one in the competition gallery. And a quick comment from me. It seemed to me that the theme for this round indicated the use of engines, vehicles, robots and other type of heavy machinery. I decided to go for something a bit more subtle.
I created a small diorama that shows Gepetto and his creation - Pinocchio. The creation seems a tad unwilling to start but the Cricket has an idea how to help it get its engine started...
I used a steampunk convention for the piece. First of all, I thought that it would be a good idea to tie my entry to the theme in this way. Secondly, in truth these models left me no other choice. I had to alter the models slightly as in the original version Pinochio had a much more dynamic pose and carries a big gun. I also added steam to the exhaust pipe on Gepetto's arm. After that it was just a matter of preparing the base and adding more details.
The theme for round is "The Next Step". It gives plenty of possibilities for interpretation and I have a crazy idea for my entry. It will involve ridiculous amount of work but if I manage to find enough time, it should be a nice one.