Taxidermy Mount Critique

I like the overall effect of this mount. it does not appear too "busy", and seems to be well-balanced.

the pics make it a little hard for me to give a good critique, as they do not provide me with a good close-up look at him.

the only thing I can notice from the pics is the eyes, and all of the following points could be from the angle of the shots.

the right eye of the fox looks SLIGHTLY bulged, or overly wide, as if he is shocked. I cannot make a good judgement from the angle of the pic. to me, it could be the angle of the picture, as this shows in the first pic but not in the second. looking at all of the pics, I would be tempted to say possibly the overly wide opinion.

Jerry Lawson

Not a bad job for a first mount, but here's what I noticed:

You need good reference pictures to go by, that will solve some of these problems:

1. Ears are too large, they've been overfilled at the bases, paint in ears is to thick and not the right color.

2. Eyes are to buggy plus the shape isn't quite right, need to close them more and add detail around the eye lids.

3. Lip line looks like it pulled on you, or you made the opening to large and you used fill to correct it. The lipline should hardly be noticeable, hair-on-hair.

4. Grooming, the fur is a little to flat, back brush more especially on the head, neck and shoulders. This requires several passes over days to attain the proper look.

Keep it up, it's a good start, you'll only improve over time...….

Tom Desnoyers

hi just wanted to say that he looks good but I noticed that it looks like

you did not use any clay for the eye brows on my first like 5 mounts I used

no clay but with out it the eyes have no depth and mabe there to open I like

it when they look sleepy other than that he is great

Stanley Kirby

First thing that jumps out at me is the ears. A little too large and the color isn't quite right. Just need to tone down the color a bit.

The eyes are also open a little too much, and I agree with the bulging look.

The fur around the shoulders should be fluffed a little also.

The tail, shoulders and back fur looks good though, and I like the pose you chose. I think too many people try to do the open mouth "thingy" and don't get good enough references to get it right.

I bought a really good book on Ebay thats nothing but fox pictures and it's got some really good closeups.

I think for your first fox you did pretty good, the problems listed above are minor and easy fixes..

Bobbi Meyer

Bobbi's Wildlife Artistry

I'm not sure how to post a critique, but it appears both of the mounts are missing the secondary auricular cartilage, and the inner ear is the wrong color on the fox.

Being a first mount, it's really got more good points than mine did; I like that Warren used a wood base, and the habitat is clean, neat and simple-- i would have went with a walnut or cherry finish to echo the fox's coloration and contrast with the habitat, though... on second thought, much darker habitat and the base used.

I've also enclosed two reference pictures that would have been useful for this mount for facial detail. I think the body contours and hair patterns on the mount are basically good, and thought i'd mention that. I'm not sure, but i'm wondering if the fox was slightly undersized? I think I see some extra skin, but I'm too much a novice myself to feel certain of it at all.

One thing that helps me a lot in studying and interpreting reference is to sit down with a pencil and draw a copy of the reference photo. I take notes as i go, make corrections, then do it over again, until I have a satsfactory drawing. I figure by the time I have a good drawing, I'm prepared to use the reference properly when I mount.

Thanks for your time.

Richard Stanton Click here for fox reference photos here