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

12/30/2013

12/27/2013

12/22/2013

12/17/2013

12/11/2013

unicorn

with the body type of an antelope

12/09/2013

12/07/2013

12/05/2013

11/24/2013

11/21/2013

11/16/2013

Finch

A kind of finch, I don't know the exact species.

11/14/2013

11/13/2013

ostrich

I kind of like the way this one looks minus the plumage, as well:

heron

flamingo

11/08/2013

Mouse 2

looking over its shoulder

11/04/2013

11/03/2013

10/29/2013

10/28/2013

seahorse

stylized fantasy seahorse
purely vector work, no preliminary sketch- this one was fun!

10/24/2013

leopard portrait

variation with hatching to add value, instead of color:

10/23/2013

goat unicorn

unicorn style as a goat with one horn

9/05/2013

Impala pair

two male Impala antelope in black and white:

8/15/2013

pencil kitty

doing a bit of work in vectors again

7/12/2013

young serval

an african wildcat
bounding through tall grass

7/09/2013

threat

cheetah in a threatening stance

6/21/2013

little pony

Sometimes for fun I sketch my kids' toys, especially the animal ones. Here's one of those plastic ponies with ridiculously huge eyes and beautiful long hair.

6/14/2013

javelina

also called the Collared Peccary
sketches from the Arizona trip again
(haven't been drawing much lately...)

5/14/2013

African wildcat

head perhaps a bit too small?

5/05/2013

gila monster

Sketched from a specimen on display at the visitor center for the national park.

5/03/2013

flutter

a moth
and two butterflies
sketched from life
this last Tiger Swallowtail not as good a drawing- the swallowtails kept fluttering around a puddle and not a single one held still!

5/01/2013

wildflowers

I sketched some wildflowers while on a hike in the AZ desert.


4/29/2013

palo verde

I was intrigued by the Palo Verde trees we saw in AZ. These are short, stocky little trees with green bark and foliage so small they look like just bare twigs unless you get close
There was another kind of tree about the same size that also had tiny, hard-to-see leaves but dark, nearly black bark. They all looked dead unless you got a closer look. I think those were Mesquite.

4/26/2013

segmented cholla

This was another cactus I found intriguing. I think it's either a Buckhorn or Staghorn Cholla. It grows in segments, that branch rather evenly, and looks pretty brown and dull. You have to look close to see the spines.
The end of the branches bulge out into the fruits and I'm guessing that's where it flowers, too. But I didn't see any flowering so couldn't identify them more specifically.

My sketches of this one are just the general shape and growing habit (of the one in the front yard at the house we visited), it doesn't have a lot of definition- for example, the stems have an interesting texture with even bulges rather like a quilted jacket or old-fashioned upholstery with lots of buttons in it! (except of course these have spines). Search out images with closeup of buckhorn cholla and you'll see what I mean.

4/24/2013

agave

One of my other favorite cacti were the Agaves. I don't know the name of their varieties, but this one was a pretty blue-green with faint horizontal stripes on the leaves, and tiny spines on their margins.

These two pups were growing near the big one pictured above.
There was another plant with small, dark low-growing leaves hardly noticeable because the bright red flowers carried above them so attractive.

4/22/2013

cholla

The chain-link Cholla cactus develops clusters of hanging fruits and segments drop off which can grow into new plants. The spines are dangerous to feet. It's also called the jumping cholla.

4/21/2013

ocotillo

My favorite cactus was the Ocotillo. Wikipedia tells me this is not a true cactus. It dries out to seemingly-dead brown stems with spines, but when rain comes small round leaves emerge all along the stems. It flowers with bright red feathery blooms, one atop each stem. The plants were just starting to bloom when we saw them (but not the individual in front of the house which I sketched).

4/20/2013

prickly pear

One type of cactus we saw a lot of in the desert was the Prickly Pear. There were smaller ones with a darker green color and shorter, denser spines and also pretty purple ones.
Some of them had curiously oblong triangular shaped pads, instead of round.

4/19/2013

stout cacti

There were lots of short, fat cacti in AZ. Some are barrel cactus, with bright flowers on top. Others I thought were baby saguaros, but not sure. Some had pink flowers, others yellow, I assume depending on the species although I don't know the difference.
These are not really striped, I was trying to sketch the definition of the ribs.

4/17/2013

thor

I have been busy. This is Thor.
He travels with my sister, for the past thirteen years.
We were in the Arizona desert, and I did much sketching.
Unfortunately I don't have a working scanner right now, and photographs make less-than-desirable quality pictures to show. But I still want to have them here, so will post and perhaps improve later.

4/04/2013

pronghorn

the most curious thing about the pronghorn antelope, I find, is that it really isn't an antelope at all. It is the only surviving member of a family of mammals unique to America- the others all being extinct. And its existence supports the fact that prehistoric cheetahs once roamed North America- the only other land mammal faster than a pronghorn is the African cheetah; it evolved to escape a speedy predator that is no longer here.

4/01/2013

african wild dog

also called the cape hunting dog