Model Fox: Adding body

I've started adding paper to the fox model as time is moving on. I decided to go as I had done before and start putting pieces together and see how it all went. It's a lot easier to see how things work when you have pieces infront of you to fit together so I used drawings in my book to help aid the features and shapes but also adjusted things as I went along.

I just started shaping pieces and putting them together. I wanted to make sure I got the eyes in the right place and the right slope of the snout. I could add the sides of the snout once these where in place as it would help with proportion. 

At first I was getting the rough shape, and creating sections of the head where contours change, like the long side of the snout into the curve under the eye and around the head as seen in the bottom photo.

Progress made at the end of day 1.

I went through a few different choices for the nose. Here the first way was to create full folded shape with a tab at the top and sides which curled around and were glued to close. I thought I could do better, but didn't quite know how so I left it for a bit. I also took the ears off as I could see they were too small.

I painted the pieces already attached to see what a finished piece would look like a little better and also if I added parts on top it would be harder (and messier) to paint underneath.

Then I came across an artist called Anna-Wili Highfield and cried.

I am so in awe of her work. I love the way she has created creatures with great attention to their shape and movement and still retained a handmade aesthetic. For bigger pieces there are larger bits of paper like the horses neck and with the birds, like the sparrow the pieces of paper are much smaller and piece together. This is something I can take from seeing this work; the paper tends to bend easier for bigger curves and shapes. 

I worked out a better way to add the nose, I ripped a piece of paper into a 'T' shape and folded around the corners to create the nostrils. I prefer this way as it's more in-keeping with the way of making the rest of the head and chest. the parts where you can see through are similar to Highfields work, and I like how the shadow creates the depth. This was something I had hoped to do with this model. I've noticed on the eyes the brass hoop behind curves around and gives a slight hint at an eye shape which would be nice to pick up when photographing it.

I've also started adding the chest area with larger sheets of paper. I was really concentrating on creating the turn in the neck as the fox is looking around, they have quite large necks and chest which come straight out from the head almost.

Towards the end of day 2 I began wrapping thin wire around the hoops on the tail so I can attach strips of paper for the bushy tail. I tangled it quite a lot so it should hopefully hold it's place when I tie thread to it. The trouble with the brass wire is that anything tied can just slide and fall at the bottom. I created this makeshift mesh to attach the tail to. At the moment it looks slightly alarming and reminds me something in Alien. 

End of the 3rd day and I've redone the ears, added a lot of the body and am happy with the nose. I've removed the sides of the snout as I want to redo them in a better fitting size. I did have a big strip of paper folded under the top of the snout and attached so it appeared either side but that didn't really suit the face. Now I have the shape needing to be filled I can adjust paper to fit it. 

I've put this to one side for the moment to look at other pieces of work. I think it will be better to come back to it fresh.