# First heads, Owl and Puffin - Seeking tips



## YuPuffin (Mar 9, 2013)

Hi guys! Yu here. As you probably guessed by the title, I'm currently working on my first two fursuit heads. Because they are my first two heads and I don't consider myself too good at foamworking or anything, I'd like some tips/critique for building them.

(The images are giant so I'm linking them.)

First off is a barn owl head for someone we will call Aki. I've already gotten a couple of pointers on it earlier and I was about to start the neck padding when I noticed that the eyes are too big and too low on the face and it looks rather like a short-eared owl. In the first image, the paper over the eye is my "dummy eye" I left on just for these pictures so I can estimate what the eye would look like. The little almond shape I drew on there is the location of Aki's actual eye when she wears the mask.
Because the proportions on the owl head are a little off, I was considering taking the "mask" (face disk) part off of the head and scooting it down a little bit so I could reposition the eyes and fix the face proportions at the same time. Is this a good idea, or should I just go with redoing the border a little bit and then repositioning the eyes alone?

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/barnowlwip3-1_zps3ee97b26.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/barnowlwip3-2_zps510b3326.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/barnowlwip3-3_zps8741ec0d.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/barnowlwip3-4_zpsa85ab31f.jpg

Below is my own redline doodle of my head to see how my proportions are going.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/barnowlwip3-2-a_zps38db46aa.png


And onto the tufted puffin. Vision is out the beak. Right now I'm working on giving the face some shape and also neck padding, but I'm having a little bit of trouble with the expression too. As you can probably see the cheek padding right now is blocky and incomplete. (I've only been trimming it down on one side right now but of course that will be fixed later. Also I'm going to move the padding on its left (our right) side of the face down a little bit because from the photos I noticed it was uneven.) I was wondering how far it would need to stick out to look good; puffins  do have some cheeks but they blend into the head a lot and aren't like  big fluffy wolf cheeks. On the other hand, I've read a lot about how fur  can hide features that aren't prominent enough. I was wondering how far  I should trim down the padding so it looks like a puffin but not like a  flat face?

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-1_zpscdd76e58.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-2_zpsfbbfdaa4.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-3_zps99aa28c8.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-4_zps34e870a2.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-5_zps91293bbb.jpg

And the redline doodle showing the expression and some other visual notes. The issue I'm encountering is that to me the puffin looks a little bit disgusted right now, but I was going for more of a timid look. ...help? Or does it look fine?
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii235/RockLeeAndToph/puffinwip2-1-a_zpsd9489682.png

I'm planning on taxidermy-style eyes for the puffin. Someone already gave me a link to a good-looking website which I have saved.


...So yes. Tips, critique? Please tell me if something is wrong with them. oAo


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## Dokid (Mar 10, 2013)

I did some redlines for you!











Okay so for the owl you have some really good proportions here. I'm just worried about airflow though. the beak looks really tiny and I'm not sure how air will escape. Also you might want to make the beak a bit larger so it doesn't get lost in the fabric. The eyes are a decent shape but they seem a bit far apart. You'll have a serious problem with vision here. 

Now with your puffin.






You're eyes are reallly off to the side. You'll either want to see out of the mouth or move it to face more forward. It also looks like it's terrified right now rather than...well..any emotion. So I did a typical happy emotion for you. I'm not sure what's going on the with cheek though. It just seems really out of place though.


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## YuPuffin (Mar 10, 2013)

Dokid said:


> I did some redlines for you!
> 
> [images]
> 
> ...



Thanks Dokid! I was having trouble getting advice for these (maybe because there aren't as many bird fursuits as there are, say dogs or cats), so I was looking forward to these kinds of tips.

Aki did mention that she couldn't breathe well through the owl mask, so I'm working on putting some more breathing space on the front (I was thinking behind the beak and under the nose-fluff where it would be hidden, if that would work?). I did get another suggestion to make the beak bigger, and... I guess I just didn't listen. |D I'll go do that. It's a relief to hear my eyes are at least the right shape, though. I don't have much experience with owls (at least, I haven't drawn them as much as I have puffins).


As for the puffin, the vision is out the mouth. When I'm looking at my reference photos, I noticed the puffin's face sticks out underneath its eyes and along its face almost like human cheeks, but studying it again I'm definitely going to have to trim them down in the front since they're not so noticeable until they actually reach the eyes.

I might have to end up going with the typical happy emotion. The puffin character is calm and a little awkward, but a "terrified" expression isn't going to work quite so well. xD

Thanks again for the tips! They were really helpful. I think I have more confidence about what I'm going to do with these guys now.


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## Dokid (Mar 10, 2013)

YuPuffin said:


> Thanks Dokid! I was having trouble getting advice for these (maybe because there aren't as many bird fursuits as there are, say dogs or cats), so I was looking forward to these kinds of tips.
> 
> Aki did mention that she couldn't breathe well through the owl mask, so I'm working on putting some more breathing space on the front (I was thinking behind the beak and under the nose-fluff where it would be hidden, if that would work?). I did get another suggestion to make the beak bigger, and... I guess I just didn't listen. |D I'll go do that. It's a relief to hear my eyes are at least the right shape, though. I don't have much experience with owls (at least, I haven't drawn them as much as I have puffins).
> 
> ...



Okay so to help with the barn owl I would say that you should extend the beak out more. 

See the foam work in this? 





Now when they fur it look how that giant gap is gone. 






Also the extended beak will allow for more nose room which then makes it easier to breath because of the airflow. You can also build the bottom of the beak with some sort of breathable fabric to make it easier to get some airflow.

that's all the ideas I have for now!


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