Modeling

Sketching tortoise's shell.

The past couple weeks, I've been steadily working on my own picture book. Some questions which keep appearing in my head consist of:

• Can a tortoise REALLY balance like that?
• If a giraffe could move like that, how would his legs bend?
• Should the tortoise have a top hat?

I want my characters to look playful, but have some realistic value, so the top hat is a no-go. As for movement questions, I cannot rely on image searches, nor do I have regular interactions with these animals, so I'm making my own models:

Giraffe skeleton doodle (left) and giraffe wire armature.

I'm still working on this little guy (above). So far, I've bulked up his torso to help me with scale. Ideally, the giraffe will serve as a resource for consistent spot placement... same with the tortoise, who's still in the works - currently just a paper shell form.

I am looking for some assistance with one of my animal studies. The giraffe has been VERY helpful, but now I am in need of a Wildebeest. The Harvard Museum of Natural History has a taxidermy wildebeest on display, but I haven't had any success finding a skeletal study. If anyone has a reference I can follow or can point out a good resource, you'll get a *gold star from me!

Thank you!

*Gold star not actually "gold" but faux gold glitter. Also, it's paper.