About: Artist in Residence at Instructables. I'm a hardware hacker, artist, illustrator, and cartoonist. I make things with whatever tools I can. I design and build interactive art pieces, from museums all the way up…

I've been having fun modeling anthropomorphic skulls for halloween lately, and I thought I'd share the basics of my process.Why skulls? Because it's easier to make a realistic anthro character/model going UP from a skull than to model them based on soft tissue (skin, cartilage) going down. It's also a great way to learn anatomy!

Please do note that is is an extremelly rough guide to, ahem, genetic splicing.There are many aspects of how to combine the two models, which aspects of each to keep, etc- you can make your own decisions. This instructable is to help get you on your way, or to make a little fun thing. Don't hunt me down with the finer points of anthro canon. Thanks.

I do a lot of additional modeling to add dimension and character, but for this Instructable I will try to help you go from 2 models (one animal and one human) to one completed anthropomorphic model with as few steps as possible and with as minimal sculpting as possible. That being said, go nuts! Meshmixer is fun. See what you can add and change.

I HIGHLY recommend that you watch at least the first few videos of 'Meshmixer 101' on YouTube. There are many quick keys and controls that will make this a much easier process.

Things you'll need for this Instructable:

Meshmixer (available from Autodesk for Mac and PC)

2 models of skulls (one human, one animal)

optional:

Mouse (way better than trackpad) or better yet, Wacom tablet

3d printer