Hello all,
Well... here is my first coyote mount. It is 1/2 lifesize that I did for a friend of mine. Please give me your tips, pointers, critiques, etc. I bondoed the ears, but next time I am going to use Apoxy Sculpt or EAr Magic. I really had a hard time deciding what to do with the canine teeth. Some people say let them show, others say not too. I wanted to make the coyote look as if he was seeing some prey off in a distance. Just copy and paste the links in your browser and hit "go".
Thanks in advance.
Mark
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount1.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount2.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount3.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount4.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount5.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount6.jpg
http://www.one-eleven.net/~mroberts/TaxidermyStuff/coyotemount7.jpg
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Many times people would rather have roses blown up their butts that to have an honest critique. I'm going to give you the last.
You dog has several problems that I can see.
1. The muzzle seems twisted. It seems to rotate toward the right int he picture while the head is to the left. This is probably because of skin placement.
2. The nose looks bulbous. I don't know if you used an artificial nose or not, but it just looks somewhat oversized.
3. The right eye is closed more than the left throwing you symmetry off.
4. The ears are too far towards the top of the head. Remember, the ear canals come out on the sides of the skull and when the ears are erect, the ear butts are still attached to the side of the skull.
5. I don't know if there's anything you can do about the grooming as it may be an off-season yote, but back brushing softens a lot of features on this animal. A winter killed coyote, tanned and washed with a good hair conditioner will look almost plush.
I don't pretend to be any expert and I'm certainly not "qualified" as several people will tell you, to make quick judgements, but those are the things that stood out when I looked at your piece. The quality of the photos was exceptional and you certainly give any judge a good view of your piece.
I just noticed initially from the first photo that the eyes do not appear focused, the pupils do not look in synch. But that's just from a photo.
I'm only a beginner too, but I have done a few coyotes and here is what I see:
George is right, the muzzle is sort of twisted, also, hasn't been mentioned yet, the paw that is off the ground looks too almost tight, it should be more loose and more plump, it's like the claws and the whole paw are curved upwards too much.
the main thing i see wrong (other that what has been mentioned) is the ear edges - i do all bondo ears and card till they are dry with screen wire - again EXCELLENT 1st coyote