Volpe

"So instead of calling me 'Dragon' in your tongue, you'll call me 'Dragon' in some other tongue?"

Yes, I know.

Calling a fox based doll by a word that means fox in another language is very lazy naming. 

But I don't care, I like the way it sounds.

Volpe is in my Etsy store right now.

My Fox Tattoo

So, last week the Husband, the Sprog, and I went down to my hometown of Timaru for my Mum's birthday.
(It was an Important Birthday).

The Birthday Girl and her Grand-imps-kids

While down there, I took the opportunity to get a new tattoo.

ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!

 As I mentioned a few posts back, my Dad is a tattooist - and he was more than happy to do it for me.

I was OK for the most part, but when he went over the Ulnar Styloid (the pokey-out bone on the outside of the wrist) I almost fainted/puked. It was weird - came on super fast, and lasted about 5 minutes (Dad went and had a smoke while waiting for me to come right). Other than that, it didn't really hurt.

The design

Just line work for now...

Kitsune Doll Progress

So, I've had a think about how best to approach this blogging every day business, and in order to make it as easy as possible, I have made myself a "menu" of things to post about.
I'm using a plug-in called Todoist on my Chrome browser, and have made a list of subjects.

I'm digging the to do list. I never used to see the point in them, because "Of course I'll remember!" (aaaand then I forget what I'm supposed to be remembering, but I'd remember that there was something I was supposed to be doing...). My Husband teases me about my bad memory constantly.
I'll show him!

ahem, sorry.

So, topic number three is a quick update on the Fox spirit themed doll I posted about, before I got distracted by tattoos.

I was intending to give her large pointed ears, but she refused to wear them. I tried for a vulpine look to her features, so she has a long nose and a pointed chin.

I'm really happy with her body, the torso joint is probably the most successful one I've made!

I have her proto-arms and hands on my TV tray, and am going to chip away at them tonight.

Foxes

I've been struck by a foxy bug recently - and it seems I'm seeing them everywhere I go online at the moment.

O HAI DERE!

I decided that the fact I see a fox online almost everyday without searching for them meant that I should make a fox-themed doll, so I've done some concepts for, and have started sculpting, a doll who is going to be a Kitsune - a fox spirit.

Multiple tails on the coat? What was I thinking?!?

Playing around with Kitsune and Masquerade mask forms.

"If I stand like this, no-one will notice how crappily  my feet are drawn."

Initial Sketch of doll with joints and junk.

 

But then, while researching for my doll, I came across this image of a tattoo by artist Zach Spurlock:

So freaking cool

Now, I've been contemplating getting a half-sleeve tattoo for a while now, but had been stuck on the content. I knew I wanted a traditional Irezumi style design (my father is a tattooist - and this is the style of his half-sleeves) and thought I'd get a horse (I was born in the year of the horse) or a dragon (because, Dragon).

And the idea of getting a nine-tailed fox has stuck. Every time I sit down with the intention to do some concept sketches for my tattoo, I end up drawing foxes.

urgh - those back legs!

Screw it - I'll just draw clouds or something ;D

The red pencil sketch is my favourite so far.

I'm going to nerd it up a bit - I'm an Animation Tutor as the Day Job, so the fox's tails will be enacting an animation technique called the Wave Principle. I might put an antique key in it's mouth or around it's neck (because Key poses, geddit?). 

One reason why a fox tattoo is appropriate for an animator...

And The Fox and The Hound is one of the first movies I remember seeing as a kid, so yeah. I toyed around with the idea of just getting a tattoo of Todd, but no, I'd rather get the traditional style rather than a cartoony one.