One of the things that I love so much about ravens (and there are many things that I love about ravens) is how they seem to change how they look, sometimes appearing very sleek and streamlined, other times appearing with their feathers all ruffled up by the wind or their mood, as in this wonderful photo entitled "All Chuffed Up" by Paul Lantz. I love the textures and patterns the feathers create, and how I feel looking at them...And maybe that chuffed up look enhances the feistiness of these feisty beings.
Here I am just kind of roughing the feather forms in below the raven's wing. If you look carefully, you might see the beginnings of what will be the raven's outer left toe poking out from amongst the feathers.
I have placed the carving so I can work on the raven's throat and breast feathers...
Working on the throat feathers. The raven's outer toe has been defined a bit more and its middle toe is also beginning to emerge from feathers....
It might not be apparent in these photos, but after working on the throat feathers a while, I didn't like so much what was happening, and so I decided to rework much of that area. This photo shows more clearly the raven's left foot.
And here you can see that I have also started carving in the raven's right foot. Note the original, still un-fired terracotta maquette on the modeling stand behind the carving. Though I have not stuck very closely to the maquette in the carving, it still helps me to look at it from time to time.
And here is a closer view showing some of those ruffled feathers....