Wildlife Sketches

These are studies from my sketchbook done from photograph reference. I don't plan on using them for paintings, but like to do them just to study the animals themselves.


Baboons


White Rhinoceros


Lioness dragging a kill

A friend of mine saw the post I did yesterday and was highly unimpressed. I could tell by the look on his face that it was totally uninteresting.

'What is it, you don't like my sketches?" I said.
He shrugged. "It just doesn't look that great."
"Why not?"
He thought a minute: "It's like listening to Hella," he said.
"What?"
"You know Hella."
"Yeah."
"You don't like them."
"That's right, I don't."
"That's because it's music for musicians," he said. "It's the bare bones. It's just a drummer and a guitarist going at it. You think: what the heck is this about? But I think it's cool."

It went on, but the end of our conversation wound up like this: sketches (in his opinion) are bare bones structure and best appreciated by artists. To him, they just look unfinished. To me, Hella isn't music. To my amigo, sketches aren't art.

But I happen to love seeing other artists' sketches. The economy of line and the strength of gesture. It has a beauty and energy all its own. Sometimes the sketch for a painting remains holding more life and vitality than the finished painting itself.