1/3 fennec fox

Here's a little guy I started working on just before Christmas (needed a break from my child project.. the hip joints to be precise x_x). Foxes are my favorite animals and I've had plans for a larger fennec for a few months.. maybe twice the size as this, but decided on a wee version instead because I only had less than a block of the gray sculpey left. Maybe smaller is easier as a test piece anyway since construction is a bit different from human bjds. Pics!

The doodle it's based on :p


Day one. I sculpted over styrofoam balls and bamboo sticks to save on materials.












These pics are pretty old, he's got a bum now, extra tummy joint where it's marked, front ankle joints and almost a head. Still needs feet. I have no idea how I'm going to cast this @__@ Or what elastic to use, his leg channels are so small.

 

du-hast: wah thank you that's an amazing compliment >< idk but it helps there's so few quadruped fuzzy bjds out there I guess xP the only ones I've seen are those ndoll petdolls.
MisticUnicorn: Thank you I wasn't so sure of the texture actually and was thinking of making a smooth one too, but glad to hear some people like it.
TheStripyCat: Aha, it is >< I have to be restrain myself 'cause the sculpey is so fragile I've already chipped and cracked around the knee joints posing him. Even just while testing limits. Apoxie would be better but I find it so hard to sculpt with in it's soft stages..
kwmelvin: Thanks for the info! I'll keep an eye out for some. But it might still be too wide.. the stuff I have in the photos is slightly over 1/16", might need to get some 1mm and try it.
glimmer Thanks so much :3333 I'm not really looking forward to casting in some ways xD
Joankagami thank you!
Mittebam: Ooh I hope you do, I'd love to see how you tackle it! I'm not entirely happy with some of my jointing so far, but it's tough to get a full range since fennecs (and cats!) are so flexible Wish mine could curl up in a little snuggly ball for example..
JphobiaWow thank you so much! Well hopefully if the casts come out well, and if I ever get a pressure pot and all that xP I'm glad you like the fur texture too.. it's sort of a pain to sculpt and I still haven't gotten it quite how envisioned : \ keeping the joints mobile and the fur puffy is a dilemma. Ooh, so what kinda animal were you thinkg of? I hope you give it a try too, it feels like there's so few animal-kind bjds out there, I gave up while looking for joint inspiration for this one and winged it.
yukibombay Thanku
WeirdReality hee, glad you like him so far, thank you! I was actually hoping to get enough movement in his legs to be able to sit more like this.. but it's pretty tough :[

Okay so here's his in progress head.. I jammed my thumb into the cupboard door last night which apparently ripped part of my nail off it's bed, so sculpting was difficult.. I basically just cut the headcap away and chopped out his eyes, but more symmetry + etc needs to be done and idk yet ... It looks pretty even until you take a macro photo of it xP blah~

 

You guys... are amazing!! D: Thank you all for each and every wonderful comment they mean a lot & it's so so SO encouraging guess I'll get to work on this lil foxie some more now and make some progress... it's getting to the technical refinement parts and I usually seem to stutter and get lazy about now since it's the most boring and difficult part of sculpting for me xp. Hmm, I'm working on the faceplate system atm and will once that''s done there'll be pictures showing him assembled, see how it goes :] I'd also like to make another head, maybe with ears differently positioned. Originally he was going to have jointed ears but I couldn't figure out how to do it in a smooth and natural manner Also a hinged mouth, but that will have to wait for a future larger fox version.

MisticUnicorn: Yes it's sculpey firm, but I only really like it because the grey colour makes it so much better to see what you're doing and exactly how the planes all look, as well as any bumps etc. I'm not sure if it actually holds better detail, but you can certainly see it easier. I had to buy this lot off ebay because they didn't have it in town when I needed it (I'm in Canada).. but it seems Michaels carries it now so with their regular coupons and sales it's a great medium to work with if you like baking clays as it's relatively cheap compared to other types since you can get the sculpt closer to finished before baking with less waste due to the nature of the clay. I made a whole 40 cm doll with two heads using less than 2 blocks of sculpey firm. The stuff I got is quite firm and tends to be crumbly before conditioning.. some people like this and like to 'carve' the clay to shape it, but I find myself loading it up with mineral oil to get it closer to a soft sculpey consistency.. which kinda defeats the purpose xp but it works for me. The mineral oil also sort of melts the surface of the clay so you can get it really smooth by smothering it, wiping it with a paintbrush or your fingers, then blotting the excess, though I think too much oil can make the baked piece even less durable. It's also more brittle/less flexible than super sculpey or cernit mixes by a long shot so you have to be quite careful test stringing and carving after it's baked, but maybe it's just the lot I got. /rambling.

And thank you very much for the info on that silicone, I'll definitely look into it! Minimal bubble problems sounds awesome as does the strength I paid a similar price for some molding rubber way back when (of which I still have half a bottle) so even that's not so bad.

liu484 tysm Yes, I'd like to actually, hopefully the casting isn't too difficult.

du-hast: lol I'm just kidding xP although I hope not, there's SO much further realistic critters can be taken and I love to see their possibilities from all angles. I have other animals in mind as well, hopefully I can get better at it too.

WeirdReality: Ooh I love that outstretched pose too! It's the cutest! This was a serious consideration when working on his shoulder and hip joints :3 And thanks, I'm mostly better now. I do something clumsy and stupid on a near daily basis, no one even bothers to ask I'm alright after hollering anymore xP

 

Thank you for all the wonderful comments ;~; I'm sorry I don't have any update pics, although I have been working on his joints a lot and also having to redo some of the fur sculpture due to that (which is harder when he's already baked). Also lots of work on his head plate, tail and the inside finishing. Its hard to take any pictures of it assembled before I can string him since there's so many tiny parts he just easily falls apart into a pile of bits even if propped laying down, so he needs feet first which are also coming along well. So anyway, more pics soon, is what I'm trying to say xP

Part of the delay is I went crazy one night and started /another/ project. So that makes at least 6.. 3 in advanced stages. Anyone know where you can buy focus? I seem to be lacking that. Anyway not much to see but it'll be a thylacine eventually, I'm super excited about this one since I've been mildly obsessed with the poor creatures since I was a kid. They're just so unique and prehistoric looking, but still really reminiscent of dogs, which I guess is why they trigger such an emotional response while most recently extinct animals seem to pass with little fuss, sadly.



Probably no one else will care about this obscure project xP I won't talk about it anymore in this thread.. might open a new one once it gets further along though.

Toruu Wow well that's the best compliment from someone who doesn't usually like the medium, thank you! I definitely have to cast him b/c sculpey gray is otherwise pretty useless stuff it's so fragile and ugly lol. So *crossing fingers it goes well*. haha I've often wished art could reproduce itself that way! Let me know if you figure out how
Ryuusei Nooo, make your own fennec anyway.. and make it better than mine! There's a million ways to make a fox, just like dolls. )

 

HystericalParoxysm ahh, thank you ><. I'm glad you're also interested in this critter's progress.. I'll def. make a new thread when more work is done on her I'm struggling with proportions a bit so had to glue all the pieces back together to sculpt the form whole so it just looks like less is done now. This thylacine is a 'small' 1/3 size according to wikipedia.. about 19cm tall, 33 long) I actually printed out several sizes based on their average recorded measurements and was horrified by how large it looked, so went with the smallest female size instead lol. Since then I've picked up some celluclay and wanted to try it out so made a larger male base too.. now sure if it'll get completed as well but maybe.

cheshirepanda thank you! Their jaw ability was I think the main reason for my interest, I was just like "awww so sad, poor creatures.. OMG JAW so amazing!" xP Hmm, they're been declared extinct since 1936 and though there's been a lot of 'sightings' over the years, no decisive proof. So no one knows. I hope they still exist, but it's a long shot :\

Leviathan Thankyou This is probably the best website for info on thylacines: http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/

du-hast TY! Ohhhh that would be so cool!! a griffin would be such a challenge especially with those wings, but I'd love to see that large tiger, they're such beautiful animals. And the world needs more 4 legged bjds!

Ophexis It's way too easy to start projects and I'm feeling overwhelmed now so that's probably a good idea, though if you do I'd love to see what you do. Think I'm gonna just focus on the fox and push everything else aside right now... too much on one plate ><.

Jphobia Lol it must have been that documentary that aired years ago and captured so many kid's imaginations! They did a good job!! xP Ah TY , I'm not sculpting with the intent to sell, (just makin what I love), but if I ever get there and others want them too then that's also good.

 

Aha, thank you Morgan!

This isn't really an update although I suppose you can see some of the new work done on the fennec, but anyway I just thought it was a neat comparison. The fox's body is about as big as the thylacine's head! lol.

I got pretty frustrated with this little guy and put him on hold (it was the joints again.. it's always the joints...), this is a nice thing about making many projects at once i suppose. You can just forget about it for a month or so, then come back and see all the problems and don't feel anxious about correcting them drastically. Whereas for me, like.. I'll see a mistake right after I sculpt it and go "Oh man, that's not too bad is it? I don't want to cut it off and sculpt it again, what if it's not as good the second time maybe i'm being too fussy..." etc etc But if I let things rest for a bit I can come back and go "oh hell that's crap, X-ACTO TIME" and feel pretty good about it. So I'm still working on the leg joints-he needs proper working locks to be able to stand, and I think the forelegs need to be closer together. And I'll probably sculpt a better tail, that's what the blobs on stick in the background is. But otherwise this lil one is hopefully nearing completion since I don't want to obsess over it too much :]

 

Thank you all for the super nice comments, they're really motivating and I appreciate them all!! =^^= This one and my fairy are my top priority right now since they're small and more easily cast.. maybe. I'm still not sure which one will be ready to be the first casting test subject yet.

HystericalParoxysm: That is so true, I've made a few (seemingly) drastic changes on him recently with less floundering because of the time off.. (hopefully for the better haha). Also I think it feels less precious if I give it a bit of time to settle, easier to make revisions. I'm glad you love him that much TY ;__; I'd love to offer casts if everything goes well (touch wood like mad! I'm so superstitious and hate to make promises when it's not even completed yet xD).. so I'll post info about that somewhere.. probably on a website.. when the time is right.

Eldurwen: Thank you! I really love animals and just want to give them the same attention to detail and movement as their human bjd counterparts. I haven't seen many jointed tails, but i guess it's the fur texture that helps hide the jointing.. I almost feel like it's cheating it helps so much hehe.

Kittywolf13: Me too! Foxes are my ABSOLUTE FAVE ANIMAL EVAR, I've been fascinated by their beauty and dual feline/canine-ness since I was at least 4. I'd like to make a red fox too at some point.

Here's a lil bone. He can't really stand yet, I'm still working on the leg locks and his body is heavy enough that his legs just collapse under the weight ~can't wait until they're working properly to get a good standing pose photo to share~ For now, here's another reclining pic. It's not much but..

 

Uwa, thanks guys! ><; I can't wait for him to be finished and have at least one (or two) projects official under my belt. This has been a great learning experience too, I have a lot of knowledge to take over to my thylacine now.

HystericalParoxysm: Thanks for the input! Oh now, I know there's TONS of points that can be critiqued about him xP In fact there isn't a single aspect about him I'm satisfied with, there's always something a little.. or a lot off.
About the ear hair, do you mean the 'uniformness' of it? Sorry, I'm trying to visualize it but I'm not sure if I'm understanding what you mean, but if so yeah that's one of the things I'm not happy with too. On other faceplates I'll do something different, more varied, but for now I'm afraid to chop it off and start over, it might just completely ruin it. At least not until it's cast and there's that safety net.