Fur density

Here I was looking at how furry I wanted the character to be. I wanted him to have enough thickness that he seemed as though he could withstand the cold, but not fluffy where he seemed like he could be cuddly and too friendly. 

Directional fur

The below images show the different tests I did to make the fur move the right way and sit naturally. On the back I had the fur following the spine downwards and outwards to give even coverage. On the front, the majority of the fur just lay flat down. I made sure to keep his 4 paws clear of fur as they need to grip on the ice but have also left a small layering on the back of the hand and leading down onto the feet. 

UV maps and fur maps

Throughout these iterations I was looking at how bright or dark the fur and skin of the character was going to be. Through making adjustments I found that having brighter skin and then slightly darker fur to overlay the skin and dull it down looked the most natural. Making sure to counter the colours with the overlaying fur became really important because otherwise he started to look too cartoony in his colours. 

Face fur development