Forest Elephant Models

I was inspired by miniNature's post about 3D modelling of animals for printing and decided to try it.
I made a calf and bull, a cow elephant is next on my schedule. These models are not finished yet and need more work still.

Note these are African forest elephants (loxodonta cyclotis) with smaller rounded ears and downward pointing tusks.

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Gorgeous designs Andrew, this computer program is very intriguing. I'd like to have a go at it.

Very nice models  

I'm afraid they will be very expensive alas on shapeways  

Beautiful elephants! Amazing design! Congratulations (o)):

Great work Andrew! It's always nice to inspire people with your own designs :)
Is this your first experience with 3D modelling? Wich program(s) did you used? Is it Mudbox?
Do you have more ambitions for making other animals with 3D modelling?
I look forward to see your finished models!

They are BEAUTYFUL

Wow, that is very good!

These are stunning! Excellent work!

Was it difficult to switch from sculpting with clay to sculpting on the computer?

Wonderful elephants

HKHollinstone, Ana, SUSANNE, cattlecollector, bjarki12, widukind, thank you all for your comments.

Kikimalou wrote:

Very nice models (o)): (o)): (o)):

I'm afraid they will be very expensive alas on shapeways

Unfortunately that will probably be the case even for small prints.

miniNature wrote:

Great work Andrew! It's always nice to inspire people with your own designs :)
Is this your first experience with 3D modelling? Wich program(s) did you used? Is it Mudbox?
Do you have more ambitions for making other animals with 3D modelling?
I look forward to see your finished models!

I did a bit of 3D modelling a few years ago but just recently picked it up again, these were done in Maya and zBrush.
I may try some other species in the future after I get more comfortable with the programs.

bjarki12 wrote:

These are stunning! Excellent work!

Was it difficult to switch from sculpting with clay to sculpting on the computer?

The main obstacle to overcome was learning the new program but after a few days it became much more comfortable. I find sculpting on the computer is quicker as you only have to make one half which is mirrored on the other side. The ability to make subtle muscle tones or proportion adjustments is much easier in digital for me.

Bonjour,
I am from Canada and I saw your beautiful Elephant you made.I will like to know if you will make mould because I will be interrested to bay the Afican ,the indian and the forest and also I will like to know
what is the scale because I am building a miniature zoo betwen 1/22 scale and 1/15 scale.Hoping to hear
from you,
Best wishes
Littlebear
Claude Drolet

littlebear wrote:

Bonjour,
I am from Canada and I saw your beautiful Elephant you made.I will like to know if you will make mould because I will be interrested to bay the Afican ,the indian and the forest and also I will like to know
what is the scale because I am building a miniature zoo betwen 1/22 scale and 1/15 scale.Hoping to hear
from you,
Best wishes
Littlebear
Claude Drolet

Hi Claude, thanks for your interest. The clay Indian elephant is 1:20 scale, and I haven't yet finished sculpting it....I do hope to try making moulds of it when it is done.
The African is also 1:20 but no moulds will be made from it. The forest elephants are digital computer models not physical objects yet.

Did you finish the wonderful family? :)

Fantastic! I can't wait, I've been so busy I haven't had too much free time but now that it is dark early I should be able to work at night and would ove to make a forest dio for these guys!

Bacardi King wrote:

Did you finish the wonderful family? :)

These two were actually the first 3D models I created and I think they are not my best, I'll probably make new versions.  I haven't had the time to make a forest cow yet.

Philter4 wrote:

Fantastic!  I can't wait, I've been so busy I haven't had too much free time but now that it is dark early I should be able to work at night and would ove to make a forest dio for these guys!

Thanks Phil.

Although you're saying they're not your best. We can see perfectly that you know exactly how an elephant looks like. I call sculptures like that, even in 3d, a kind of antitoy figures. There's no comparison between these designs and what usually major brands make. This is much more in line with what Britains did in the past, thus much closer to real elephants. I hope you continue developing your 3d designs and I am sure soon we'll see works close to perfection.

Roger wrote:

Although you're saying they're not your best. We can see perfectly that you know exactly how an elephant looks like. I call sculptures like that, even in 3d, a kind of antitoy figures. There's no comparison between these designs and what usually major brands make. This is much more in line with what Britains did in the past, thus much closer to real elephants. I hope you continue developing your 3d designs and I am sure soon we'll see works close to perfection.

Thanks for the compliment Roger, Britains are a favourite brand for me.