Fox on a Log

ZBrush, Photoshop (2014 - 2015)

(Photo reference by Francois Ribeaudeau)

After graduating, I explored sculpting through a series of projects driven by my own interests . This sculpture was, from the start, intended to be 3D printable, so my forms were more solid by necessity.

Design Process

Once I landed on a fox as my subject, I started with a series of sketches to get the important forms in my mind. I considered various compositions, eventually choosing a that of a curious fox staring into a shallow river. I blocked out the more apparent and visibly elements of the photo, then sketched over a set of quick renders to help guide the design of the final piece.

I found the water ripples to be the most interesting and unusual part of the sculpt, in part because they actually worked out which I wasn’t expecting. I used radial symmetry and a few reference images to create a drop pattern which I then layered in several places near where the water contacts the various objects in the sculpt. You can see some secondary ripples cast from the rocks, for example. Beneath these was a basic ZBrush noise pattern.

As always, I found the fur to be difficult. The thick, long fur of a fox would have required deep carved edges which just wouldn’t balance out when I tried them. After many experiments, I managed to get the entire fox looking and feeling right. Starting with a strong silhouette and sticking to it was what inevitably held the piece together through all of my attempts.

3D Printing

The 3D print, like most of my prints at the time, had a strange marred surface that was a result of the contact points used during the printing process which were later removed. At the time, I thought trying different methods for cleaning the surface might fix it but, in hindsight, I should have instead looked into ways of cutting the model to avoid the need for those contact points in the first place. An alternate solution would be use the print to make a mold, then use the mold to cast duplicates in a material of my choice.