An illustration of a Yellow-eyed Penguin for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. Since the penguin has both a dark and light color to its body, it was hard to figure out what kind of background should go behind it. I eventually went with a lighter background since the penguin is covered more by a darker color in general, and it also gave a chance to work in some highlights into the water.
Here is an illustration of a Xanthophryne tigerina for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. I got so distracted drawing the details of the toad that I didn’t have enough time to deal with the background as much as I would have liked. The skin on the toad was particularly challenging–such an interesting mix of stripes & warts to illustrate.
This week’s illustration for the Animal Alphabets art challenge was a Whooping Crane. I started this drawing with a similar approach to the crane I drew last year, drawing the bird with simple shapes and a minimal background. I really liked that early version to be honest, but since I’ve been doing realistic backgrounds for this series I thought it best to keep within that style and draw what you see here.
An illustration of a Vaquita for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. One of the most challenging aspects of drawing this animal is that there are very few reference photos available, probably due to the low number of animals out in the wild. Most of the animals we’ve been doing so far have had an abundance of photos, so I really enjoyed the challenge of researching and trying to get the details right with this one.
Here is an illustration of a Ulysses Butterfly for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. For some reason I had a hard time deciding on a good place to put my copyright notice in this one. I tried all kinds of places but ended up putting it just above the branch–kind of an obvious place I suppose. It’s always a bit of a battle between making it somewhat noticeable and somewhat hidden.
This week’s illustration for the Animal Alphabets art challenge was a Tansy Beetle. We hadn’t done an insect for this challenge yet, so I was pretty excited to draw this. The beetle seemed fairly detailed so I tried to make the background as simple as possible to not pull focus from the bug.
An illustration of a Snow Leopard for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. The pathos in this one wasn’t planned ahead of time, it just emerged as I started drawing the face. I haven’t focused much on emotions in my animal drawings so far, but it’d probably be a good idea to pay closer attention to this aspect in future drawings if I can.
Here is an illustration of a Red Panda for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. During this project I haven’t had a chance to do a Winter scene with snow yet, so I thought this would be a good time to try.
This week’s illustration for the Animal Alphabets art challenge was a Quoll. I had in mind a different background for this illustration, but switched close to the deadline because it wasn’t working out. Needless to say, I think the background could use some work. On the other hand, I feel like I got to practice with some shrubbery, which was a helpful exercise.
An illustration of a Proboscis Monkey for this week’s Animal Alphabets art challenge. I found that it was hard to create a dignified image of these creatures because of the comically large noses that they have, so I decided to go for a straight on view to hide the nose.
