Nathan, it’s pretty much all about the order of operations. Here’s part 2 of a multi-part discussion that I used as my guide, which gets you up to the point of carving the ears. Part 3 covers the ears themselves.

But yeah, the ears take almost as long as roughing the body. I spent some time making a small shadow of the rear legs too. Next mouse will probably have whiskers and eyes.

Thanks, Ryan!

May you have the day you deserve!