I thought I'd show the progress of what I'm doing so far.
First, an image showed up in my head of this character's head on a hunting plaque. I thought it'd be sort of funny and interesting, so I set about looking for methods of making it.
Interestingly, someone had made a tutorial on a similar thing a couple years ago (for a werewolf head). However, I wasn't going to make a hairy creature, so I need to figure some things out on my own.
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First I made some sketches to get a feel for what animal I'm basing this off of. FlowerFace's body seems to be an awkward combination of a rabbit and deer, and the base of it's head is more like a coyote with longer ears.Since I'm only making a head, it was easy to just get a foam-ish-plastic-probably-toxic-material in the shape of a coyote. I used Van Dyke's because they were having a sale.
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After I ordered the coyote form, I made a few more sketches of just the head, planning out specifics like the ears, eyes, and face. I used different colored pens to get a better understanding of the structure on the face. Like the picture on the top right, I used a red pen to determine the parts I would probably have to modify from the coyote form. I didn't actually look at a photo of a coyote, since they're hairy and that wouldn't help me much. I just used my basic knowledge of dog-like heads.-----
So, once the forms arrived in the mail (I also ordered a rabbit and full sized fox form, but those are for another post), I set up my "workspace". I used the ping-pong table in my basement, since nobody uses it anyway. I put down a lot of newspaper. This is a photo of what the form looked like before I changed any of it. Later I realized that instead of ordering a "wall mount" it was more of a "pedestal" form which wasn't intended for a wall. Shows how much I know about taxidermy. But I'll fix that bit later.-----
Since I had sketched the head before, I got my sketchbook out and looked at the head studies I had done. Going from my imagination and the sketches, I took a Sharpie and drew some outlines of where I was going to add some bulk to the form. Places like the lips, muzzle, and above the eyes. Then I molded some Super Sculpey over the indicated spaces. I also hacked off the nose with a knife (and re-did it with the Sculpey) and scraped off some of the area around the ear which I knew I wouldn't want. In addition to that I also sanded down some of the lines from the molding (you can see them on the neck and head in the previous photo). Also, following the other guide (which I linked above), I did insert little bits of wire to anchor the teeth (which aren't finished in this photo). However, I don't know if it was necessary since FlowerFace doesn't have very large teeth.-----
So now I have to dry on the clay. I found a way to prop up the hair drier with a garden glove and the head mold with some pliers. I only did this because otherwise the drier and head would fall over and move. In this picture, I'm drying the nose. Since I was paranoid about overheating the hair drier and blowing a fuse, I timed it by listening to my iPod and turning the drier off every 5-10 mintes, or if the drier seemed too hot.-----
While I was drying the parts of the face, I went to work on the ears. First I bent some wire into the basic outline. Then I folded wire mesh (WHICH IS EVIL) over it. Then I filled it in with some more clay. Once they were both done I stuck them in the over for the amount of time it said to on the box.-----
Remember when I said that the form I ordered wasn't intended for a wall? Well, it is now. I drew a line and sawed off the excess with a knife, and then sanded it so it was even.-----
Now it's time to insert the ears. After taking them out of the oven I sanded them a little, just because I'm kind of OCD and I know I'm not going to be covering them with fur, so it'd be easier to see bumps and such. Using a clay molding tool I carved 2 holes where the ears go. I left some wire sticking out the bottom of the ears so I could keep it in place. Eventually I ended up hot gluing one of the ears in place because it was wobbling, which would be bad when adding the rest of the clay around it. This picture shows the mold with one of the ears "finished" being dried with the hair drier, which I propped up on a box with various stuff that was lying around.-----
That's it for now. It's still a work on progress as I wait for the glass eyes that I ordered. After that it should be done pretty quickly and be in its new home on my wall.
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