The Origami Forum

African Elephant
Designed and folded by me.
Medium: 48x48 cm lokta-tissue

The herring 8s great. The proportions of the elephant seem a bit off. Smaller head and bigger body might solve it. Good body size and shape for a rhino though...

@roodborst - I think the biggest problem is the legs actually. I like the shape of the body as well as the head - I can make the body bigger, but the length of the legs is a huge limiting factor. I went through multiple attempts at doing the legs, but they were either too short or just looked plain ugly. Even now I am not completely satisfied with them - I just shaped them rather than make actual folds.

What's probably bugging you the most is that the head is hung low (real elephants have heads at a higher position). I wish I could push the head higher, but since I used lokta, causing the head/shoulder region to be super thick, I am essentially trying to shape a rock with my bare hands. What I have done is reduce the amount of exposed paper on the underside of the elephant's neck to make its head appear higher (and smaller at the same time). I also added another curve to the trunk to make the head area appear a bit smaller.

Thank you for your feedback and constructive criticism. I may upload another shot of the elephant and hopefully the changes are noticeable. Maybe I will take on your challenge for a rhino with this base.

Getting a good elephant is really hard. I still have a bunch of test folds for my own elephant design. I have a great head, with colorchanges on the tusks, but I couldn't figure out the ears and body. Arthur biernacki has a nice elephant that would like too fold someday too figure out how he managed the volume of the body. Anyway good luck in trying perfect your design. Longer legs a more belly might just work.

@roodborst - I hope this fixes some of your concerns for the head of the model! I know it's only a temporary cure rather than a permanent fix, but I hope this will suffice for now until I find a better way to fold this model.



African Elephant Reshaped
Designed and folded by me.
Medium: 48x48 cm lokta-tissue

Aphid
Designed and folded by: me
Medium: 15x15 cm^2 Korean Hanji

That's a great looking elephant!

I have folded your diplodocus from the diagrams, I wrote in detail about it in a reply to your e-mail. I like the model a lot!