# Help with my first fursuit - foam head base



## Cami (Apr 12, 2013)

Hey everyone! So I've decided to start making my first fursuit. I'm pretty excited. I'll document the whole process here, and post any questions when I'm stuck.

I'm starting with the head base. Its all foam. I got a HUGE bag of foam scraps, all shapes and sizes for $4! I've heard that foam can be quite expensive and I read a tip somewhere that before going to buy foam try checking out upholstery shops because they often have scrap foam left over that cant be used. Thats exactly what I did, this shop that I went to sold me a giant bag of their scraps. Others may have been giving it away or recycling but I think I got a good deal. It may take a bit more shaping, piecing together and work but its a lot cheaper.


Sorry the pics are so huge and blurry, I took them with my ipod. Next time I'll resize.

















So heres what I have so far. I'm stuck already, I'm not sure how to construct the bottom jaw in a way that wont look stupid. Should I add the foam to the cheeks first then do the jaw? You can kinda see in pic 2 that I'm holding the muzzle up. Its not very sturdy and needs something below to support it (like the jaw). The top jaw curves up like a smile so I'm wondering if the cheeks should go over that to fill the space? Im working with pretty thick foam and I have a lot of blocks I can shape. Its taking a bit of time with theses dull crappy scissors and an even crappier little xacto knife I'm working with. 

Any tips or critiques are greatly appreciated thanks!


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## DerpyTurtle (Apr 14, 2013)

Before you try to do the bottom jaw, I think you're going to have a lot more luck actually carving out the whole muzzle instead of using a thin folded piece on the top jaw otherwise with what you have now, no matter what you do it's going to look strange, especially with how far down the front of the muzzle comes and how high up the back of it is. It should be about the same height for the whole thing and should not practically be touching the eye like that. A fursuit's smile isn't so much in the muzzle as it is in the cheeks. Plus, a nose and even fur itself will  probably weigh that muzzle down pretty easily, especially if you also plan to have any teeth or anything inside it as well.

The ears also shouldn't hang back like that, they should be straight or even point forward a little and have much more shape. Ears have a lot of depth. At the very least, if you do want to use thin foam for them you'll want to curve and point them forward more, but ears have a lot more shape on the back so they'd look better if you added more foam and carved them a little.


I used a lot of the same methods in my first head and I'm not happy with how it turned out. In fact I never finished it. XD So I'd be happy to help you keep from making many of the same mistakes.


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## Nataku (Apr 15, 2013)

As DerpyTurtle said, I think you need to work more on the head before moving on to a bottom jaw, which you should also decided if you want it closed, partially open, or on some specific expression. Here's a quick little redline to help show you a shape you might want to try working towards.




By adding some strips to the top of the snout up the forehead, you can create that more sloping shape, which looks much better than an abrupt, sharp angle from the snot to the forehead.
Yes, you should add cheek foam to the sides and shape the mouth through that area. The mouth is longer on a canine than on a human and that long mouth line helps make the two 'parts' of the face (snout and head) look more like one.
Also, ears, they don't sit on top of the head.


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