Animal Project
By: Gia Marino
For the animal project, I am doing the Island Fox.
2/25/21
I am kinda nervous about collecting plastics. I don’t have many plastics right now and I have been trying to buy plastics more while grocery shopping but now that I know my animal I am a bit nervous. I have no idea what I will do for the snout. I think I may search around my house for a plastic that has a snout shape and then use my other plastics to build around it
2/28/21
So I looked at my plastics and around my house. Currently, I have no plastics that are used that have a snout shape. Not even close. However, I went downstairs and in our laundry room, we have a bleach bottle that kinda looks like a snout. It is still filled with bleach still so I am going to have to put it in jars, but I am desperate and this is the best shape I’ve found all weekend.
So I am looking at my bleach bottle and it is definitely a good shape for the bottom part of the snout (reference picture to see what I mean) but the snout kinda also goes up and the bleach bottle has that nice under the nose curve but I don’t think it goes up enough on the top part, because it needs to seamlessly flow into the forehead almost. Also, the bleach bottle's end doesn’t look pointy enough compared to the fox's nose. I think that is a really important feature of the fox. It is what makes a fox snout specifically a fox snout.
3/1/21
So currently my goal is to extend the top half of the snout and try and make the nose pointer. However, I do not know what pieces of plastics have a good pointy end. I may have to experiment and look around. Right now I haven’t found any good pieces either. I think I will have to try a couple of things before I find the right piece.
Now that I have made the snout from my bleach bottle I have to add on the top to make more of a forehead, but if you look at my fox it has a large forehead. So, I need to emphasize this in my fox head. I think I may just use the side of my tide pod container. It has a nice shape for a forehead and the curve works out pretty nicely. I think I will be able to emphasize the forehead with it.
The last thing I am concerned about emulating the form of is the ears. Their ears are a big identifying factor of foxes and my fox specifically. The pointy ears are what make the foxes distinct silhouette so it’s very important for my animal. The ears are definitely curved so I think I will have to use some sort of cup so it’s naturally curved and I will cut it out in a pointy ear shape.
This is the final product. I think the bottom mouth shape is nice a pretty accurate to a fox, but the snout or something makes the head look kinda like a wolf. From certain angles, I definitely see a wolf. Also, John is saying it looks kinda like a space fox because I never put any eyes where the forehead is so it looks like goggles or a helmet. Also, I could not find a pointy enough shape for the nose so I used the end of a Chobani flip cup. It’s not the best form for a fox nose. So I will have to keep searching. Also, the tape is temporary just because I don’t know if I like the ears so I did not want to make it permanent and glue it on. I feel like I have a lot of work but this is a good start. I am going to have to go dumpster diving I need more plastics and more options for shapes cause I am not getting the right forms !!
3/2/21
Okay so after the critic today I realize my fox head looks a lot like a German Shepard or wolf. I think it is quite accurate to those animals, but it is not a fox, sadly. Q mentioned that the face needs to go out more because it looks a lot like a dog or wolf because the face doesn’t go out on the sides. So I think that will be my first priority in the next iteration. Also, I think if I fixed the nose it would really make it look less like a wolf because right now it looks more like a hog nose or dog nose.
So, I have reevaluated my snout. I think I need to emphasize how the face goes out and is kinda wide and then make a distinct snout. So I went to the store and I found a spray bottle that had a really nice shape for the nose because it goes up nicely like the Island foxes snout (reference photo). I also noticed that in general, the head is wide, but the snout is kinda separate and is narrow and long. I think I have realized the snout looks more separate from the head than I realized. So I need to emphasize the snout more and make it look narrow. So, once I saw this spray bottle I connected dots and figured out I could keep the nice shape of the bleach bottle because it really does emulate the underside of the snout. So instead I combine the spray bottle and bleach bottle to make the snout and face shape much more accurate.
I think the craft of cutting the bleach bottle is awful. I may need to find a new bleach bottle, but this shape satisfies me a little bit more. I think I am on a good track.
3/3/21
I found a conditioner bottle that is a really nice shape. The end of the conditioner bottle looks like the point of the fox nose a bit so I think I will use this for the nose.
So, I put the conditioner bottle on the sides because the bleach bottle just wasn’t looking wide enough for the face. I decided I had to add something to the sides to make the head look wider. So I decided to add the conditioner bottle to widen the face. I think it looks kinda bulky in general. I am going to have to reevaluate how to get the right form with the plastics I have. I think the conditioner bottle does not look right for the nose because it's too wide and big for the whole face, so that is also not good but I have no other plastics for the nose so I am going to have to deal with it for now sadly. I think it was a good experiment but I need a smaller nose/snout. I have to move on for now.
So I added on the same ears as last time because I am more experimenting with the face right now and I am not too worried about the ears, but I do think they will need some work on the final iteration.
I think overall iteration 2 looks more fox-like but it’s not as neat or clean as iteration 1. I like iteration 1’s execution much better because it utilized the original forms of plastic much better and it was neater in craft, version 2 definitely is closer to looking like a fox. I guess I have to be okay with the poor craft for right now because I am making progress in what's more important: making a good, proportional fox. I think I need to find better shapes in the plastic forms and utilize that instead of cutting out plastics and trying to make my own shape. Also, next time I have to not put ears on the back burner. There is definitely not something right with them. Also, the back part to me looks unfinished and it really bothers me so I will have to figure out to fix that because it is difficult to connect plastics in the back without looking funky and messy.
3/4/21
Today’s critique went well. I have a lot to work on but I know exactly what is wrong at least.
In the critique, Q drew on my picture on miro and it helped me see a lot of things that I kinda knew were a problem but I didn’t see it clearly until now or I didn’t know to fix it till now. First thing Q pointed how the face needs to be more triangle-like, so the nose needs to be pointier and the face needs to be wider because right now it still kinda looks like a wolf or dog. I agree. I think if I fixed the nose to be more pointy it may make the proportions more correct. Also, Q pointed out that the ears needed to wrap around more and be wider. Now when I look at the ears I realize I have been looking at the ears all wrong. They definitely curve and wrap around way more than I realized. They are like a cone almost. Now I see why my original ears look so wrong and make my fox look less fox-like. They were way too thin. Also, they may need to turn outward a bit more. Lastly, Q said to extend to the neck because it will look more complete and give more context. It seems like giving the proportions of the neck is important to communicate too for the form.
3/6/21
So I am reevaluating my whole animal and I started to take it apart. I definitely need to restart completely. So I took my thing apart and looked at each piece. I then printed out a bunch of pictures of the island fox and drew all over it so I couple better understand the proportions and form. I think this really helped break the head up into sections and shapes. It also helped clear my mind and really evaluate the fox’s face and see what proportions I was completely ignoring and getting wrong.
After looking at my dissembled pieces and drawings I noticed that there a couple of things wrong with the bleach bottle. It is one, too thin and small especially for the other plastics I am using. I need a fatter and wider bleach bottle to represent the face better. Also, I totally messed this bleach bottle up while cutting it. So I think I should just get a new bleach bottle either way.
So I found a bigger bleach bottle in our dumpster diving trash bag and I think it’s perfect. It is definitely wider than the smaller bleach bottle I was using. Hopefully, now I don’t need to find smaller plastics for the nose and eyes.
3/6/21
Okay, I found a larger black bottle and I am MUCH more satisfied. I feel like it will go out wide as I need it too. Also, after a time of reevaluation, I think the spray bottle piece is really fitting and I think on the larger bleach bottle it definitely causes the form to look correct and nice. I was skeptical at first I thought it looks too big and makes the face look narrow again, but it is small enough where the face will look like it is getting wide but the nose still gets a nice narrow nose and bridge. I think it’s the perfect balance between nose and face. Also, I finally found the perfect nose piece. I saw the bottom of a clear plastic soda bottle and I think how that may be a good shape for the nose tip. It is just small enough to make the nose look pointy. So I got a Sprite because that was the only none clear plastic soda bottle and I think it actually works even more perfectly than I thought it would. Later I asked Dani if she thought the green was distracting because I was stressing out, but she thought it wasn’t and she thinks it was a perfect nose piece too. So I kept it and glued it on.
3/8/21
Next is the forehead
As you see above, the fox has a flat head. The forehead only goes a little bit up in a seamless curve, but it’s subtle. I think to make this fox look specifically like an Island fox, I have to get this head proportion down for sure.
So I scavenged around the studio and the best I could find was a vinegar bottle.
I think it actually turned out to be a really nice curve for the forehead because it was subtle and not too much but it was still a lovely curve. I was able to put the plastic forehead low enough so the head still had that flat shape so there is only a slight slope between the nose and forehead transition like the actual Island foxes face. I asked the TAs as I positioned the forehead before I glued it, and they agree that to emulate the Island Foxe side profile I needed to glue the plastic low on the face so the forehead curve doesn’t slope up too drastically.
Then I needed the back of the head. And looking at the photo, this is also a subtle nice curve. But this is a little bit more of a curve than the forehead I think. I had a hard time finding a curve that looked like it would work. I searched and I took a chance with a milk jug because it was the only plastic I could find that was big enough and close enough to the kind of curve I was looking for.
Now that I glued on the back headpiece I think the milk jug was way more successful than I expected. After positioning it right. I think the curve turned out to be nearly perfect. So I am happier about the head than I ever thought I was going to be
Also, I have decided to cut out the eyes and use negative space to show eyes. My thought process on this was that I need to show eyes. John kept saying my best iterations look space fox-like because I never had eyes so it looked like the fox was wearing some kind of eyewear. I thought about it and I think black spoons or other kinds of plastic would look too cartoony and too much so I was stuck. Q mentioned to me that if I used brads to make the eyes in some sort of way that looked almost unintentional that would be good, but I couldn’t figure out to do that and make it look good. The problem is eyes are actually quite an identifying feature of the fox. The “fox eye” is definitely kind of a known thing. So, I thought it was important to give my fox proper eyes. So, my next best solution tonight was cutting out negative space. I just went for it and now I am glad did it. I think this was a good solution because it’s such a specific feature on the fox I had to do it justice.
Next, I had to make this neck. I thought it is pretty simple just but a cylinder on and it’s good but it took more work and thinking. Especially since It was going to be my interaction. So, first of all, had to look at the fox and I saw that for this small flathead, it had a wide neck. This seemed very important to get the head proportions right so I got a couple of cylinders and found a large bleach bottle cylinder part was the shape I needed because it was just big enough.
However, this still wasn’t right, something seemed off. So after some contemplating and staring at fox pictures once again, I decided I just needed to extend the front part of the neck to represent the neck turning into the chest because the neck seamlessly turns into the chest on an Island fox’s body cause it has such a fat neck.
Also, to make the interaction I connected the head and neck with brads so it would be stable but still move nicely, but when I first did the interaction there was this weird gap I did not account for. I almost panicked but my brain quickly problem solved and realize I could glue another cylinder smaller and inside the neck so when the neck lifts up it doesn’t look as odd.
Last, once again was the ears. This time I had a solid plan though. I found two decent-sized yogurt containers that I was going to cut into ear shapes. I decided on these because when I looked at the Island fox the ears were like 1/3 to 1/2 of the whole head. So they are pretty big for its head. After some drawing on the fox, I tried to imagine the size cylinders that would be on its head, and after comparing many cylinders on my plastic fox’s head I found that yogurt containers were a perfect size. They also had just the amount of curve I would want so it worked out nicely. They did have a lot of print on them so I had to acetone the labels off. I also had to cut the edge of the plastic a bit so it would form to the head better. Lastly, I made sure the ears looked like they were turned out enough because I know Q mentioned that to me in the critique and Dani emphasized that to me later.
3/12/21
~Final~
Overall, I am quite happy. I think my system of working on the fox by each part of its head worked really well for me. I think once I figured out the snout, everything finally started coming together. I am happy I spent so much time on the head proportions with the flatness and forehead because I think it paid off and now it genuinely does emulate an island fox. Also, I think using the bleach bottle was a nice use of form and I am happy I figured that out so early on. Even my interaction I like even though I wish I was able to figure something out with the ears or snout. In the end, I am pretty proud, even though I could still pick out a couple of flaws, I think for a short project I am satisfied with my work and the process I had, even though I had to make my fox look like a wolf before I figured it out.
