Thursday 21 March 2019

Aurochs model: Work in progress

Here are a few work in progress photos of my new aurochs bull model from air-drying modelling clay that I started in December 2018:

And you see, it is really moving on. The body is almost done, I just started on meaking the ribcage and abdomen a little bit broader as I felt it was too sleek for an adult bull. I use Lidia bulls and extant wild bovines a lot as a comparison. When the body and head is completely done, I will start doing the horns (originally, I planned to make replaceable horns in order to appreciate the variation within aurochs, but that turned out as too complicated so I will sculpt the most common type). After that, the last details that I am going to add will be wrinkles in the skin and hair.
The last step will be to paint it with acrylic colours. I will pay a lot of attention to make a truly convincing colouration.
The model measures 33cm at the withers, and you won't believe that I already incorporated about 10 liters of modelling clay into it.

I am really looking forward to see the model finished and it is great fun watching it progress. I am very, very happy that the model is arithmetically wonderfully anatomically correct, at least I was not able to find any mistakes. Actually, the model so far matches 100% what I imagine a grown aurochs bull to have looked like.

8 comments:

  1. Sieht super aus, ich bin sehr gespannt wie er fertig aussieht.

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  2. Wir haben ein Beweidungsprojekt bei Hannover gestartet. Für die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit hätten wir sehr gerne ein Auerochsenmodell. Wäre es möglich 3d-Daten zu bekommen oder mehr Fotos um die Daten zu erstellen?

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  3. Cis Van Vuure told me that aurochs had a straight muzzle profile, neither concave nor convex.

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    1. And aurochs skulls tell me that this is not necessarily the case ;-).

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    2. Not necessarily always the case, you mean? It should be interesting to check the variations on this aspect, in my opinion. Also on muzzle lenght, trunk lenght and so on...

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    3. Exactly, there was variation (which was my initial answer) and looking at actual skulls reveals what the snouts looked like.

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  4. Correction: an (almost)straight skull profile.

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