Geospiza fortis' Animal Models

I don't think I've properly introduced myself yet. I am pachyrhinosaurus over on the Dinosaur/Animal toy forums, from Pennsylvania in the US.
I feel its time I started showing my animal art here. Its not mind-blowing like that of others' work here, but I thought I'd show it anyway. This is the first to be finished of my set of my more serious animal models, and I have a rhinoceros and reindeer in progress at the moment.  
Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri):
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^Sorry about the last two, I forgot to rotate them.
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Comments, criticism, and critique are welcome and appreciated.  
I will have a male to accompany her in a couple weeks.

Hello and wellcome here

It is absolutely marvellous   
A male with an egg, isn't it ?

It looks like  it is going to the head, so lifelike  

Nice to meet you.
Wow, it's beautiful, fantastic work! Can't wait to see the Caribou, they're a favourite of mine;)

Hi, welcome! I think this penguin is very good work! Congratulations!

A very good penguin     

SUSANNE wrote:

Hello and wellcome here

It is absolutely marvellous   
A male with an egg, isn't it ?

It looks like  it is going to the head, so lifelike  

No, I made this one to be the female, the male will be soon to follow, he will be in  walking pose (unless there's something I don't know about which makes this a male).

HKHollinstone wrote:

Nice to meet you.
Wow, it's beautiful, fantastic work!  Can't wait to see the Caribou, they're a favourite of mine;)

I am aiming on having the caribou done before Christmas, putting my rhino in limbo until its done.   

I thank everyone for their kind words. I'm not sure, though, do penguins have more exaggerated pectoral muscles and shoulders than I have in mine? I know the one in the picture I was using didn't, but some models do.

Wow, wonderful penguin!    

Schleich_Figures_4U wrote:

Wow, wonderful penguin!    

Thank you.   

welcome here! nice work   

Hello Medium Ground Finch and Welcome on STS village   

I rotated the two pics   

About the Emperor penguin, of course you are more talented than I am but I have a few suggestions.

IMHO the head is too big, the wings are too long or the body is too short (I guess the body is a bit too short). More, on the back it looks like a fat penguin and on the front more like a slender one. I mean your model is nicely made, it is only some details but I wish I could help.   

A few pics will explain better than my English   

Welcome, and nice sculpture

welcome here nice model by the way

Thanks for the compliments! I do agree with you, Kikimalou, that there are proportions I got wrong. I actually used two different photos, one for the profile, and another for more frontal areas (as well as a third for the face, but that is irrelevant.) I primarily used the middle penguin in this picture:

http://www.arkive.org/emperor-penguin/aptenodytes-forsteri/image-G56240.html

Nice looking penguin! It has a lot of character - can't wait to see it finished!

^Thanks. I have been working on my caribou (although it doesn't look like 13 days' work) and here it is so far:
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I'm currently working on making the femur/tibia shorter and metatarsals longer. Any thoughts?

Looking good so far! Can't wait to see it finished!

I am almost finished:
With antlers:
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I must admit that that 'sweep' on the front of the head was quite difficult, especially because the antlers weren't anchored to the armature, but that won't be the case next time. What do you think?

Are you going to make his legs longer? They just look a little short right now, otherwise wonderful job!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Are you going to make his legs longer? They just look a little short right now, otherwise wonderful job!

Thanks. I really wish I could make them longer, My torso is also a bit long, but I do agree the legs are too short, but unfortunately I cannot make them much longer or else he won't be able to sand properly. I give it a try, though.   

I think his body is alright, though if you could add maybe about a centimeter or two it would look wonderful. I do really like the antlers.   

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I think his body is alright, though if you could add maybe about a centimeter or two it would look wonderful. I do really like the antlers.   

Thank you. The antlers, though, aren't anchored into the armature, so I hope they stay! As for his height, I could'nt add any, since the wire supports I'm using aren't long enough. I do understand, its a real pain in the neck to have your proportions wrong, but I have learnt I shouldn't make my proportions based solely off Schleich pieces.

Also very nice:-)

      The antlers look awesome!

Geospiza fortis wrote:

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Are you going to make his legs longer? They just look a little short right now, otherwise wonderful job!

Thanks. I really wish I could make them longer, My torso is also a bit long, but I do agree the legs are too short, but unfortunately I cannot make them much longer or else he won't be able to sand properly. I give it a try, though.   

If you can't make the legs longer, you could make a sort of diorama with the reindeer in the snow, and the snow would cover the length of the legs that is not there.   It just depends on what you're going to use the figure for, if that will work or not.

^I have thought of making mini single-animal dioramas with some landscaping and painted board for background, I might do it for my rhinoceros as well.

Thanks for the compliments. He should be done sculpted this week, but there's no guarantee you'll have pictures right away, as my USB ports aren't at their best right now.

Geospiza fortis wrote:

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I think his body is alright, though if you could add maybe about a centimeter or two it would look wonderful. I do really like the antlers.   

Thank you. The antlers, though, aren't anchored into the armature, so I hope they stay! As for his height, I could'nt add any, since the wire supports I'm using aren't long enough. I do understand, its a real pain in the neck to have your proportions wrong, but I have learnt I shouldn't make my proportions based solely off Schleich pieces.

Just to be clear I meant to add a centimeter or two to the legs, not the body.   Anyways, I still think he looks really nice, I can't wait to see him painted. And as 4U mentioned, if nothing else works you could always place him in a snowy diorama and then you wouldn't notice. In fact that is what I thought you were doing in the first place, but as far structure with the wires etc. I understand now. Good luck, and I cannot wait to see it done!