Latest progress:
Hey everybody
After not being active here for quite a while I thought I might share my latest project with you: At the moment I am working on a female Castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus). My goal is to have it fully animated in the end. Here is how far I got until now:
So modelling and unwraping is done but I have to figure out how to copy all my vertex groups to the other side now when I apply the mirror modifier. Any ideas would be appreciated: Mirroring vertex groups
Working on the materials at the moment (hand painted in PaintShopPro). I think it is difficult to achive a natural look.
I have another problem over here: All the bones are gone 
I unhid everything but they are still not visible. They do still appear in the collection though so they should still be somewhere around, right? 
Any ideas will be highly appreciated!
So the next step: I created a slider that controls the shape key as well as the displacement and material in order to animate the process of feeding.
I did not rediscover the bones so I had to redo all of them. But now the model is ready for animation. Here is a quick first test of some of the movements:
Looks real good. 
But I have hard time liking this infectious bestiality as they are now everywhere even in the grass of homes in my location.
Thanks a lot! Yes, I agree, it is not the most likeable character from all animal kingdom to depict 
So here comes a quick test animation. Hair and skin materials are switched off but you can see them in the pictures below. I would be happy to hear your opinions…
Well… Never seen this creature up so close. Looks nice, can’t seem to find a way how to get more progress in it. Btw, do you study biology or something of that sort, when you are doing this project? 
