Creating Toothless’s was made in one of the four classes I took whilst studying abroad in Hong Kong. I developed my skills in pattern making, foam work and detailed work. I wanted to challenge myself by creating a foam structure with a more complex shape so I took this opportunity to recreate one of my favourite characters of all time.

I started gathering reference images, focusing on close ups on the face. I also kept most references on the first or second movie because I preferred Toothless’ more angular look in those movies.

Final Renders

Using the references I sculpted Toothless’ face so that I could take a pattern from the sculpt to make the head out of foam.

I then took the pattern I had made, after making some alterations and enlarged the pattern onto large pieces of foam to then cut out and then assemble to get the base of my mascot head.

The next step was rendering. The plan was always to use a black leather, so I worked to mould the leather around the head, hiding any seam lines as best as I could or hiding them at the back.

After that, I then had to add all the scales, using the same black leather that I painted over with a glossy black to give it a shine.

Attaching each individual scale was the longest part of this project. Taking me a week to paint, cut and attach them all.

As for the eyes, I used a black mesh that I spray painted green and then attached the same black mesh for the pupil and then a white mesh to create the reflective spot

As for the clear dome over the eyes, this was done by vacuum forming over a shape that matched the shape and size of the eye.