Werewolf Head Questions
I got those figures from a chart listing brain and body mass for a bunch of different species. The wolf brain was 119.5g and the human brain was 1320g, so I was already cheating with the 10-20% figure.
A wolf's head is already larger than a human's head, so scaling it up would make it enormous.
Wolves weigh half to a third as much as people because they have much narrower bodies and thinner, shorter legs. Much of a wolf's apparent volume is actually thick fur (up to 3 inches long). Still, like most quadrupedal animals, they're very strong for their size. It's a matter of leverage.
(I tend to give wolf form somewhat more human proportions, giving them heavier bodies and longer, thicker legs than a normal wolf, but that's a deliberate artistic decision. My werewolves aren't "really" wolves, but large, intelligent, wolflike creatures. Goldenwolf does something similar with her Kierrn.)
A wolf's head is already larger than a human's head, so scaling it up would make it enormous.
Wolves weigh half to a third as much as people because they have much narrower bodies and thinner, shorter legs. Much of a wolf's apparent volume is actually thick fur (up to 3 inches long). Still, like most quadrupedal animals, they're very strong for their size. It's a matter of leverage.
(I tend to give wolf form somewhat more human proportions, giving them heavier bodies and longer, thicker legs than a normal wolf, but that's a deliberate artistic decision. My werewolves aren't "really" wolves, but large, intelligent, wolflike creatures. Goldenwolf does something similar with her Kierrn.)
I finally found cranial volume measurements! (Harder than I expected...)
Wolf: 150 to 170 cm3 (from here)
Human: 1200 to 1500 cm3 (from here
Cranial volume is not quite the same as brain size, as there's a fair amount of cerebrospinal fluid in there as padding. Still, it's close enough for our purposes.
That yields a wolf cranial volume of 11-12% of human cranial volume, 15% if you're generous and match large wolf to small human cranial volume. That's fairly close to the previous measurements based on brain weight, and within the "fudge factor" I provided earlier.
On the other hand, you could easily increase a wolf's cranial volume by a fairly large factor without significantly affecting its appearance. I'd say you could double its cranium in each dimension for a total factor of eight, putting it very close to human range. Because of bone thickness, the external size of the cranium wouldn't increase quite as much, so the visible change isn't overwhelmingly large. It'd be very easy to hide that under thick fur, especially if the body were larger.
OK, I'm happy now.
Wolf: 150 to 170 cm3 (from here)
Human: 1200 to 1500 cm3 (from here
Cranial volume is not quite the same as brain size, as there's a fair amount of cerebrospinal fluid in there as padding. Still, it's close enough for our purposes.
That yields a wolf cranial volume of 11-12% of human cranial volume, 15% if you're generous and match large wolf to small human cranial volume. That's fairly close to the previous measurements based on brain weight, and within the "fudge factor" I provided earlier.
On the other hand, you could easily increase a wolf's cranial volume by a fairly large factor without significantly affecting its appearance. I'd say you could double its cranium in each dimension for a total factor of eight, putting it very close to human range. Because of bone thickness, the external size of the cranium wouldn't increase quite as much, so the visible change isn't overwhelmingly large. It'd be very easy to hide that under thick fur, especially if the body were larger.
OK, I'm happy now.
Would it? Remember; fur realli increases apparent size, and digitigrade legs would make one significantly taller.
I didn't think the volume difference would be so large! But, as you said, change could be made to accomidate and hidden under fur. The head might end up looking a bit big once things are adjusted to make enough room, but that's tolerable.
I didn't think the volume difference would be so large! But, as you said, change could be made to accomidate and hidden under fur. The head might end up looking a bit big once things are adjusted to make enough room, but that's tolerable.
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I'd say that the 100 percent wolf look is cool looking, but in respects to realism a line must be drawn.
Mentioning the weight of a wolf's head and a human head there is a great difference. The placement of the brain, frontal facial features and the spinal column are alein to each other.
So, look at other movies and see how they did it. Van Hellsing, even through it sucked up to 90% of the way, was a good concept in dealing with the transition of the head. To give it the full wolf head would make the werewolf mentally impartialed to humans. The brain would shrink if one would try to change like that. The mass of the head should stay pretty much the same. Yes, it does make it look like it is a gorilla in some aspect, but it does have the appearence of the cross between human and wolf.
The final form should be a cross between those two. The jaw would be fixed into place, with little movement to sway back and forth. Brain pan would be unaltered. Spinal column would cock forward, giving the hunched and making it possible for even more neck movement than before. I tried drawing werewolves and I have yet to come to a sketch that really represents it to the proper degree. The muzzle is my main concern.
I'd say that the 100 percent wolf look is cool looking, but in respects to realism a line must be drawn.
Mentioning the weight of a wolf's head and a human head there is a great difference. The placement of the brain, frontal facial features and the spinal column are alein to each other.
So, look at other movies and see how they did it. Van Hellsing, even through it sucked up to 90% of the way, was a good concept in dealing with the transition of the head. To give it the full wolf head would make the werewolf mentally impartialed to humans. The brain would shrink if one would try to change like that. The mass of the head should stay pretty much the same. Yes, it does make it look like it is a gorilla in some aspect, but it does have the appearence of the cross between human and wolf.
The final form should be a cross between those two. The jaw would be fixed into place, with little movement to sway back and forth. Brain pan would be unaltered. Spinal column would cock forward, giving the hunched and making it possible for even more neck movement than before. I tried drawing werewolves and I have yet to come to a sketch that really represents it to the proper degree. The muzzle is my main concern.
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At last I have found a nice head!
This is a reasonable approximation of what I think a werewolf' head should look like. Not completely and totally wolven, but definitely similar. Somehow, more primal and beastly. If this werewolf were to relax it's facial muscles, it would still look intimidating, without looking scary. However, if it snarls, it will be scary. That's kindof a requirement for me. If it's not busy looking scary, then it should be looking intimidating or impressive. Anyway, enjoy!
http://us-p.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Mythray/red.jpg
Edit: Okay, maybe those canines are a little long. But, whatever!
This is a reasonable approximation of what I think a werewolf' head should look like. Not completely and totally wolven, but definitely similar. Somehow, more primal and beastly. If this werewolf were to relax it's facial muscles, it would still look intimidating, without looking scary. However, if it snarls, it will be scary. That's kindof a requirement for me. If it's not busy looking scary, then it should be looking intimidating or impressive. Anyway, enjoy!
http://us-p.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Mythray/red.jpg
Edit: Okay, maybe those canines are a little long. But, whatever!
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Excelsia wrote: http://us-p.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Mythray/red.jpg
Edit: Okay, maybe those canines are a little long. But, whatever!
It does make for a nice picture, though.
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Both hand and foot paws are off to me, but other than that it looks good.Excelsia wrote:wolfbound wrote:http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/ ... Xiraco.jpg
This is roughly what I think a werewolf should look like. Not exactly, but darn close.
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Lupin wrote:Both hand and foot paws are off to me, but other than that it looks good.Excelsia wrote:wolfbound wrote:http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/ ... Xiraco.jpg
This is roughly what I think a werewolf should look like. Not exactly, but darn close.
Hmm..I know there is 2 types of chests for the werewolf. Is there two types of head positions as well? Or does that depend on the different type of chests?
The position of the head on my avatar doesn't match the one in the picture above.
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Ralith wrote:There's barreled and humanish chests, and there's heads attached to the spine by the bottom, humanish, and those attached by the back, lupine. Your avatar appears to be the latter, while that model's the former.
Oh...so can there be a combination of the 2?
like this...
barreled chest, head attached on the bottom
barreled chest, head attached on the back.
Humanish chest, head attached on the bottom
Humanish chest, head attached by the back.