New Jersey Hunters banner
21 - 40 of 63 Posts
Ken I have to say your coming along well.I have to say though honestly about your whitetail.He needs work.I mean that is a constructive way not to be negative.The eyes you need to angle the lashes downward more.Looks like there is paint on the glass eye. the shape is off a little. Lower lip is showing too much.Do you use reference photos when mounting?The mount itself overall needs to be cleaned up a bit.This is not meant to be nasty at all.Just an honest critique of Ken's work.By telling him everything looks great is not what he needs to hear sorry.Keep at Ken you will only get better if you strive for it.
 
Either everyone is being nice or nobody on here knows what they are looking for when it comes to taxidermy. Hate to say it but the deer and coyote are shoddy. The bucks nose should be translucent grey/black, fading to flesh color with a lot more, smaller, flatter nodules. Around the eyes is too dark with paint glooped on too thick. Eye shape and lid angle are off. Antler skull cap wrong angle. Ears need grooming or hair patterns are off. The coyote ears are off and weren't turned all the way. Something is amiss with the eyes&face but could be becuase of grrooming. Are you just starting taxidrmy or do people pay you? Don't take offense I I've seen people pay big money for stuff ten times worse. you just need some fine tuning. Yyou won't get better if no one tells you about the flaws and just gives you thumbs ups.
 
Liberty4ALL, there is definitely room for improvement with the mounts but, why be so negative? I have learned a lot from some of the best taxidermist around and I have never had one critique my work the way you just did to this taxidermist. And if you want to know if I am qualified to question you about this just PM me and I will give you a list of my accomplishments.
 
Ken,
looks like you are getting plenty of practice, and your work is great for the amount of time you have been doing taxidermy.
A few tips were mentioned above, and he is right, don't take it as offensive, take the information and use it to your advantage next time you work on a piece.

Here are a few tips I can mention to see if it helps your work improve to the next step:

-Normally, the 1st few inches of the anler bases flow parrallel with the bridge of the snout. (keep that in mind if you cant tell from the skull cap)

-notice the front corner of the eye on the deer, you can see where the magic sculpt ends and the real skin starts... (try your best to not need putty there, BUT if you MUST, mix the magic sculpt with critter clay to dull your paint job so it doesnt shine like it does).. (also, blend edges with water or windex)

-as for the magic sculpt i notice on the eyeball of the deer, (above the lower lid) leave that space between the lid and glass eye empty, once painted and glossed, then apply modge podge with a needle in that gap to give it a wet look, (be sure the eyelid is the highest point on the glass eye, not the fill)

-rebuild the nosepad to the VERY EDGE of the existing nose pad. paint the nosepad Fleshy, then rebuild nodules with mod podge and syringe, then airbrush something along the lines of paynes grey (skim across nodules to leave fleshy look on lower points) More fleshy as you go towards the lip line.

-paint deer eyes: start by painting touchup white, then add flesh in the front corner and fade out as you get towards the center of the eye. next step is a color along the lines of burnt umber, fade it over the flesh, leaving the front corner brighter than the rest.

- get plenty of glue along the lipline so the lower lip doesnt pull out any, you dont want to paint a smile on the mount.

-the black stripe around the muzzle should like up at the lip tuck area (upper and lower jaw, the black should be even, your lower jaw has the black set too far back)

- blend those earbutts (clay) onto the earliner and look at many photos of how the earbutts react towards different ear poses.

-Keep in mind, when claying eyes, once you think everything is perfect (even after you tuck the skin around the eyes) step back, look at the deer head on, and notice the back corner of the eye. From the front, you should NOT see any skin on the back corner of the eye, if you do, squeeze out some clay (to almost no clay is left)

- when painting striped patterns on fish, paint a spot on each scale individually until a stripe is created.

- try using artificcial noses for coyote/fox. you will find they can look a ton better.

Good luck! and please dont hesitate to ask for both good and bad critisism, they both help.[up]

call, email, or PM if you would like.. i am always glad to help.

keep up the good work[up]
 
I didn't see any body (Ken included)ask for a critique of his work, yet some people feel necessary to post there opinions.Ken has only been doing taxidermy for 8 months. I feel if he needs any more help he is sitting right next to me and I can give him the help. Some of the posts are helpful, but when you try to bury the guy with your comments I think you need to back off.I was taught that you let a person do his thing and let qualified people critique his work when he asks. We (all the people that work in my shop and at home)are going down to the North Carolina mini classes in May and we all will be judged by experts. Then the people at my shop will be judged by professionally trained judges,and learn much more, then only one person can teach them. I just feel some of you guys are way out of line when somebody posts photos and you tear it apart. Try understanding what is going on here, and say "good job" or any other accolade to boaster the individual. When we all get back from the classes we will post the outcomes of all our mounts.The guys at my shop are only starting out and they will get better as time goes on. Give them a chance.
 
I didn't see any body (Ken included)ask for a critique of his work, yet some people feel necessary to post there opinions
[confused]Whats wrong with some of the other guys giving him some pointers?[Like Jay]They are only trying to help.Your work certainly is not the BEST OF THE BEST on this site. Anyway,I give him credit for posting HIS closeups!!!!
 
First off I don't see anyone tearing his work apart Rich.Giving someone some tips I don't see anything wrong with it.Second anyone that posts pics of their work is looking for a response be it negative or positive.If you think this is tearing someone up just go to Taxidermy.net forums I know you lurk there.You know there are many on that site that don't sugar coat anything.
 
Whats wrong with some of the other guys giving him some pointers?[Like Jay]They are only trying to help.Your work certainly is not the BEST OF THE BEST on this site. Anyway,I give him credit for posting HIS closeups!!!!
All you care about is closeups, and when I learn to walk on water you will be the first to know.
First off I don't see anyone tearing his work apart Rich.Giving someone some tips I don't see anything wrong with it.Second anyone that posts pics of their work is looking for a response be it negative or positive.If you think this is tearing someone up just go to Taxidermy.net forums I know you lurk there.You know there are many on that site that don't sugar coat anything.
Artie and Jay my response was not toward you two, if you read the whole thread you can pick out the people that were addressed. Lets not get all bent out of shape. And yes taxidermy.net would bury most of the taxidermist on the web.
 
Hmmm, why do I think you're referring to G.R. over there Artie???
 
21 - 40 of 63 Posts