mouseover any illustration tagged "sketches" to see the original drawing

10/31/2011

sharks

haven't hardly ever drawn one


10/29/2011

ostrich

They were standing in the wind, so the feathers blown down and flat, no fluffy plumes.

10/28/2011

10/27/2011

zebra

I tried to really focus on observing and drawing the shapes and directions of the stripes accurately, this time. Didn't quite work out- there should be a few more on the body just behind the shoulder and more on the neck. So either I made the neck and head too small, or the stripes there too big.

lions

not very good lions, but here they are
the posture is awkward; it looks as if his head is set too far back; the neck (or mane) should be bigger and I just got the legs all wrong...

also my pen was a bit leaky so it left black blotches sometimes where I didn't want them. But still fun to draw!

10/26/2011

hyena

sketched from watching Be the Creature, hyenas were stealing food form the cheetahs

10/24/2011

whales

Beluga, the only whale that can bend its neck!

10/23/2011

cheetah lesson

with my daughter again; my sketch:
and hers (she got tired of drawing spots):
She got to see here the advantages/drawbacks of the different media firsthand. She noticed right away when opened her sketchbook that her zebra drawing of the day before had gotten a little smudged and faded (some of the graphite on the stripes rubbed off). On the other hand, she does lots of erasing when trying to get the angles of the legs and proportions right, so that's a plus for pencils. Then she saw what happened to my drawing: a cheetah with a forked tail! ha ha. I sketched the tail too short at first so simply redrew it but there's no erasing ink. I think I've convinced her to stay with pencil for a while; it will be less frustrating.

10/22/2011

tommy lesson

Kiddo and I did another little drawing lesson. This one she pretty much finished on her own; I got interrupted by the baby and left her when she'd just drawn the body shape and neck. She added the legs and started shading in values all by herself:
My drawing (quite a bit unfinished compared to hers!)

10/21/2011

zebra lesson

My daughter asked me to teach her how to draw. So we sat in front of a nature program, paused it on some zebra, and drew side by side. I really just showed her how to look for shapes and use her pencil to measure angles, that's it. She watched each step I took and drew this all on her own:

I think she did fantastic! (She's seven years old).
My drawing:

10/20/2011

little antelope

I think this guy is a Steinbok

10/18/2011

10/14/2011

wombat

I think this is the first time I ever drew a wombat; from tv show where they were rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing the animals. They are cute in a way, but don't have much shape so actually hard to draw.
studies of the face and feet

10/13/2011

warthog

loose, quick gesture

10/06/2011