I have always made heads using longpile and shaved it down, but this next head i’m planning I’m going to use short and long furs with the intent of not shaving an inch, as I think it’ll create a smooth finish quite easily. I’ve run into two curiosities in my pursuit
-How do I make sure handsewn shortpile doesn’t dramatically show seams, or is this not an issue? I am familiar with the matrices tutorial on making short fur more seamless using machine sewing, but it’s not really applicable to hand sewn fur like I do on my heads. Is this even an issue with handsewing, does the fur still get caught in the seams and create an awkward gap? My instinct is it’ll be fine but I wanted to double check!
-pile length variant. An interesting point of working with short fur is the dramatic transition between short and long furs without gradations, i was wondering things like how to go about ears? The ears will be semi-floppy (like on a collie or Australian Shepard) so would a stylistic approach like long at the bottom short at the top look good or jarring? Would there be a stylistic benifit on pile length variation for the neck? Like a patch of short/long fur and such. Thanks in advance!
Mock-up: (overlayed on the base i'm using)
https://imgur.com/a/VDz2Th1