haHA! Finis!

Quite happy to say I finished this little guy. This is not to imply he was a pain to work on (it was a decent challenge and one that was enjoyed), but I think I dragged it on longer than I should have and I like finishing things off within a reasonable amount of time before jumping on to something else.

I'm pretty happy with how he turned out; being more of a learning-curve project, I started with a loose image in mind and wasn't entirely sure how the final product was going to shape up. If I made a second version, I'd opt for a larger size (looking back, I don't know why I made him so small - he's not tiny, but still pushes the small end of the spectrum for practicality vs. design functions. (Ex: Feet magnet size - had I made his body somewhat larger, it would have emphasized the what-I-hoped-to-be 'tiny feet' look a bit more, his legs could have been made a little thicker without looking bulky in comparison, sewing the fur on might have been easier, and so on). Also, I would have focussed on a more replacement-friendly design: as it stands, this one isn't so much. Overall though he works for my purposes, and I think he turned out rather cute.


Getting a nice even skin tone with my new airbrush.


Adding the deets.


Cutting out the fur: made a paper pattern, used an old fur coat sleeve I got from my great-aunt who had unfulfilled aspirations of turning it into some sort of hand muff. For all I know, it could very well be actual opossum fur. I got in some experience working with fun-fur during a short little stint at Banjo Puppets, and that helped with knowing how to work with the fur here (small snips close to the leather so you don't end up giving it a haircut at the same time, and de-fluffing after cutting).


I was originally going to give him fur all around; fur under-belly, fur legs. Found out (as I kinda suspected) it gets way too thick for the size I'm dealing with. Felt turned out to be a nice alternative. Felt, if it's used out of a proper context or setting tends to look cheap and tacky, but I think it works fine here since it has a rough texture that offsets the fur nicely. (Comparatively smoother, but not T00 smooth).


Made a small stitch down the back to keep the fur in place, which helped when stitching down the sides as well.


And reference!