The first element I started working on is the articulating spine. I started with some simple shapes to get the general structure of the vertebrae.
I also decided to do a test print of a spine STL available on thingiverse. This model is split into two halves that would need to be glued together after printing, which may be a technique I use moving forward in order to minimize the necessity for printing support material. This particular file has the vertebrae fused together, but will be helpful for prototyping the final look and size for my future modeling.