Modelling the Bat's Head

I started to model the bat's head using this reference image:



I want my characters to have a 'Wallace & Gromit' theme so basing my bat's features on the were-rabbit seemed to fit suitably. Using planes I carefully modelled the outline of the face..



Modelling only half of the head allows me to use the symmetry modifier to get a perfect outline on either side of the face. Note the head is currently at an angle, this was simply to re-create a face from the ref image.

Next the nose was created using the same 'planes' technique..



With the nose and head outlines finished - I can now give each section it's 3D shape..




I did this using the extrude tool and altering the settings carefully to get the result you can see in the screenshots above. The back of the head was smoothed off by adding more polygons using the extrude tool.

To follow this, both sections were 'attached' to become one editable polygon. this was done to ensure the vertices on the ends of both shapes could be connected properly without error or messy mesh results when a smooth modifier is applied.



The weld tool was used to connect each verticie - this took slightly longer than expected as some lines and verticies needed to be reshaped or removed to get a good result..