my wildlife

[DirtRunner]

Hi JMENNA- Thank you, I really like your work as well.

dhruvsm- Thank you, and thanks for the input. I will go back and check my reference for the spine.

Well, here is a little update:
I have refined the sculpt a little more and am working on adding different characteristics to make each bull more individual.
I also have tested doing some polypainting, but honestly it is not something I am comfortable with yet. Perhaps I will spend some more time on it, I don't know. Any tips and critiques are welcome.

The material is made by Ralf Stumpf, my new favorite.

[dude5487]

This is really cool! Something without armor hehe. Its nice to see an animal in a pose like this.

What do you think about maybe rotating the hooves in the front, maybe just one of them slightly off the ground. Give some more life, add to what the heads are doing already! Just a suggestion .

Keep it up!

[icaruz01]

wow, nice works dude, this is awesome, over all i like the heads

[Intervain]

simply beautiful Heather! As always

[Fabricio Torres]

As much as i like this piece, i'm in doubt of what's happening.
I mean, they're too static, if they're fighting each other, why are they so calm, where's the tension in the muscles, skin.. i know that they can be pushing each other, but what if you portrait the exact moment they knocked heads? It would give more "action" to your scene. Right now they seem to be scratching each other :P

I grabbed some refs for you.






Do you see the torsion of the backs/necks? The legs showing they were going into each other direction? The tension?

Anyways, it's all about the intention of the artist. As i said, i liked your piece a lot

I'm afraid on how talented your kids are going to be with such a pair of parents...

[womball]

What a wonderful buffalo! The only thing I can think of is to make the poses more different. Like has one with its toes pointed out a lot, and the other with the toes pointed inward. And maybe the one leg is shorter than the others?

[SIWEB]

Great forms and weight going on here heather - I thought this looked like your handywork ! Nice work, keep it up !
- S

[Lucky_1]

I like the interaction like it is, the way I see it..."I'm bored so I give you a bump", a bit of playing, softly challenging...they look somehow sweet to me...

Polypainting, dont know much about it, but I think the material you paint on is crucial...

Keep going Heather !

L

[DirtRunner]

dude5487- Thanks! Yes, I can see a little more variety in the placement of the hooves, thanks for the suggestion.What I have noticed in the reference is that all four feet are usually planted on the ground in this kind of interaction and they are just pushing.

icaruz01- Thank you,dude.

Intervain-Thank you, I appreciate it very much.

Fabricio Torres- I am glad to hear your thoughts on this. I do see what you are saying, but the idea that I am showing is a different energy, not the clash of a fight. They sometimes just push each other around a bit, displaying dominance and practicing casually.
I do think that I could add some more tension in some of the muscles though and maybe exaggerate the folds where the bodies meet.
Here is some of the reference I used just to show what I was going for.


Thank you for taking the time to express what you are seeing, I really do appreciate it.

womball- I have been thinking about more head tilt on one of them as well to give it more variation. Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

SIWEB- Hey there, thanks so much!

Lucky- Hey Lucky,yes that is sort of the feel.
As for polypainting, I don't know how to get the results I'm looking for yet. I hope to spend some more time learning about it soon, but I will probably postpone the painting of this for a while until I can. I will be starting to learn photoshop next month, so I am happy about that.

[spaceboy412]

great work heather, look forward to the finished version

[kursadk]

This one is going very well. You really understand and know animal anatomy very well(not surprising after seeing your portfolio really) . My only comment would a slight suggestion actually. The eyes and ears can play more role, since animals generally use both to express simple expressions.

As far as the model goes, I think it has very good proportion and more importantly, it has "real" weight.

[Aumakua]

wow Heather, awesome animals ! I should have known it's your work when I saw this style in sculpting I guess you captured these guys a couple of moments before they turn really mad with each other, right?

[dude5487]

I see what you mean about them being firmly planted, point taken .

I noticed in the images you posted that you matched wrinkles on the neck, head placement and other features pretty well.

I think it would look pretty good if you added a deeper cut in the sculpt on the shoulder like in the second reference photo you posted. Maybe that would add some more tension. What do you think?

[renderdemon]

Heather,I think Fabricio Torres is right,more dynamic could improve the work you have done(btw I really like it,it's clean and I think you have a special talent in sculpting animals ).
Photographs aren't so good in capturing movements,you have to exaggerate it a bit,so don't trust too much on them(In comics it's one of the most important rule,to give illusion of movements you sometimes have to create really new pose that give the idea)
My 2 cents
Bye

[DirtRunner]

Hi spaceboy, thanks. Work is busy so hopefully I will be able to get back to this in the next week or so. Thanks for looking.

kursadk- Thank you, I do see what you mean about the eyes and ears.

Hi Aumakua- Thanks! Not really aggressive, just pushy.

Dude5847- Yes, I believe you are right.

rendermon- very good points. I am not discounting Fabricio's advice at all, it is excellent.(or yours )I just don't want to make this an all out fight scene. But I do understand that more tension and dynamic lines can help.

I do thank you all for your input.
Hopefully I will have an update soon.