Bear Heads From Picture to Fabric

This is installment number two on “What I Have Learned This Year”

Just like I draw bear bodies from the internet I do the same with heads.  I keep a large folder of pictures for reference that I got from the Lily the Black Bear fan page on Facebook.  If you are not on Facebook the North American Bear Center is another great resource for pictures of Black Bears.  I love black bears. And unless I am making a panda it is a picture of a black bear I am working from, no matter what the mohair color.

Here is a picture of Lily and her cub Hope.  When I look at this profile picture this is what I see,  I see on both bears a nose that sits much lower than the eyes.  I see eyes that sitting close in depth to the bridge of the muzzle. (they are not sunk deeply)  I see that there is not a lot of space between the nose and mouth.  And I see that the slope of the head is very subtle, even in the cub there is not a large rounded forehead.  Can you see it?  One more thing, the ears, they are large on black bears, but what I am looking at is where they are sitting on their head, they sit far back on their heads. 

So here is my head pattern again.  You can see the nose is sloping down and will sit much lower than the eyes.  I do not have a rounded bridge, it is much more subtle.  I have a dart on the bottom that will help shape the cheek, and I will be adding another dart at the top of the head.  Because of that I have added just a little extra length to the top of the head. (towards the back)  That way when I take that dart in it will not pull the back of the head in to much. 

You probably notice that the muzzle seems short, the bears in the picture have long muzzles.  I needle felt the whole muzzle.

Another picture of Hope,  I think this is the picture I used to draw this.

Here is what I can see,  I see a very round head.  The pattern will need to be rounded across that top where the ears sit.  The dart I built into the pattern helps to push out the cheeks.

Here is Hope again as a very young baby.

The lines of the bear are really visible if you can see it in a drawing.

After the bear is sewed, I add a dart across the top of the head to help round out the top.  I do not have a picture of a sewn head, so a drawing is going to have to do here.

I want to stop right here and remind everyone that this is my way, probably not the right way.  I am sure that there will be some who are going to cringe right now, but this is what works for me.  It is the beauty of learning on your own. (no one to tell you NO)

When the bear’s head is sewn I lay the piece down in on the table in front of me so the bear head is folded and laying flat.  I pull the cheeks out, and right across the top of the head I will see corners.  Looks something like the picture.

I follow the line of the fabric threads to make sure the fabric is straight, then I open the seam allowance I put a pin through the front and back to hold it.  I then decide where I want the darts and I put pins in to mark.  I use a pencil to draw a rounded dart.  It is not straight across, it is rounded,  I have highlighted the dart in yellow.  I have found that if I don’t round the dart I end up with points on the top of the head.  The other highlighted area is where the darts are sewn at the neck.  You can see how this helps shape the head.

I know that I have said this before, but if you can see this and know how to work it into the pattern before hand, by all means do it.  I have tried and I can’t.  I need to see where the darts need to go in a 3 dimensional shape.

I try very hard to keep the darts in the middle of the head. Usually by laying it down, folding and pulling the sides out this just happens.

After the dart is sewn in.  I cut open the top of the dart and use a needle to pull the fur to the wrong side of the fabric.  After the head is turned I use a needle to pull more fur and I will pluck any furs trapped in the seam. 



I drew a line here so you can see right where that dart is. I use this spot, (because I know that it is even on both sides) to place the front of the ears.

Sometimes even the dart is not enough.  This fellow had a wide gusset and even with the dart the head was not rounded enough.

 

I needed it to look like this.

So I needle sculpted between the ears to pull the head in more.  I also trimmed the fur in front of the ears and under the chin.

I do think the trimming and sculpting made a huge difference.

And just one last picture to show you, this is my bulletin board.  It sits right in front of my desk. I really do draw a lot right on my computer screen. These little pictures remind me when I am making patterns what it is I need to see in the finished bear. 

The picture on the far right of the whole bear is from the day I went to Cabellas Sporting Goods.  They have a huge taxidermy display, I took my notebook to the store and studied and drew.  It really helped to see the bear in 3D. 

Next post will be on my favorite new toy this year, how to use lockline. I have found a much easier way.