Little Polar Bear

 

Nanook ventures alone into the cold dark arctic. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 32.

Well There Goes Dinner

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 31.

You can view the Santa hat version here.

How to Draw a Cheetah

With its sleek, streamlined body, and long, muscular limbs, the cheetah is built for speed. Capable of running at an incredible 70 mph, the cheetah is faster than the rest of the big cats, or any other land mammal. As you draw, try to bring out the power and grace of this beautiful feline.

 The key to drawing anything is to break it down into basic shapes. If you can draw circles and ovals, you can draw a cheetah.  Don't be discouraged if your first attempt doesn't turn out exactly like the picture. Practice makes perfect, so let's begin!

Click the image below to view the step-by-step cheetah drawing tutorial.

Don’t give up if your first drawings aren’t perfect. Art is not something that can be learned overnight. Drawing is a skill that must be practiced and supplemented through observation, so keep a sketchbook, and take it with you everywhere. Look around you, draw what you see.  Visit the zoo and sketch animals. Sketch people at the mall. The more you draw, the better you’ll get. Good luck!

Festive Fox

Happy Holidays!  Here’s Santa Frostbite to celebrate the season! (Frostbite says “Bah, Humbug!” ^o^;;) Felt bad about not having any time to do a proper Xmas pic, so I did the next best thing and painted a Santa hat on Frostbite.

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears page 31.

The Chase is On

Not out of danger yet, the arctic hare makes a run for it! An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 30.

Daily Animal Sketch – Snow Leopards

Studies of snow leopards and thumbnail compositions for the Snow Leopard Trust illustration.

Alive by a Hare

The arctic hare puts some distance between himself and his would be dinner companions. No bunny on the menu tonight, hopefully!

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 29. See the full page here.

Frosty Stare

 Frostbite sizes up her curious polar visitor. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 29.

Lessons from the Ice

Nanook encounters his first arctic hare. But...? An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 28.

Arctic Catch

Frostbite scores an arctic hare. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 27.

Furry Friday: Picnic for One

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Given that so many artists these days work digital (myself included), it was a wonderful treat to have Kacey Miyagami do a traditional acrylic painting for the book. Check out the exquisite coloring on this lovely illustration of a shy raccoon enjoying apple pie. The delicate textures of fur and blades of grass are a nice touch.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"I work primarily traditionally, my preferred medium for illustration being fluid acrylic paints. Fluid acrylics are a watered down version of full body acrylics, which behave similarly to both acrylics and watercolors. I start an illustration with one or more simple concept sketches, which I then redraw and refine into a finished pencil sketch on cold-press illustration board. Often, I will scan this pencil sketch and do a quick digital color test to determine shadow placement and overall color scheme before committing to the actual painting. Once I begin painting, I will work from the background forward, painting the characters last, to make sure they feel unified with their surroundings. A particular focus of mine with character illustrations is to create detailed environments to provide greater context and narrative for the characters." - Kacey

Draw More Furries is now available in bookstores, as well as through my online shop!

Dream Big, Zaenok

Based on Zefanya N Putri's winning entry in my Arctic Animal Comic Competition, this illustration depicts her collared lemming character, Zaenok. I was really taken with the idea of a tiny lemming reaching for the stars and dreaming big. And traveling the ocean by seal. Zefanya will be receiving the original drawing and print of this in the mail as part of her prize pack. :)

Animal Crossing

Paw prints converge into crisscrossing paths.  An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 26. See the full page here.

Uncertainty

Nanook glances back at the den one more time before joining his sister. A scene from The Last of the Polar Bears. Read the comic here.

Weird Paw Prints

Nanook discovers strange paw prints in the snow.

An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 25. See the full page here.

Polar Bear at Play

Stella discovers the joy of leaving paw-prints in the snow. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 24. See the full page here.

Panthera

Illustration created to help promote the efforts of wild cat conservation group, Panthera, published in the November/December 2012 issue of Bare Essentials magazine (see pg 68 for Panthera illustration).

No Ceiling

"There's no ceiling! It just goes on forever!" An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 23. See the full page here.

Furry Friday: Heroes of the Tall Grass

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Heroes of the Tall Grass by Kelly Hamilton. I was so happy to when Kelly agreed to participate on the book, because she has long been an inspiration for my own work. Her characters are always so wonderfully expressive, and her style has the perfect blend of cartoony realism that I love.

For this illustration, I asked her to depict a ragtag group of adventurers out on the savanna, embarking on a journey. I gave her the hyena's character design to start with and she designed from scratch the meerkat and agama lizard to be his companions. You can really get a sense of their personalities from the body language and facial expressions.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"My process starts with research, usually by finding photos online to inspire the characters, environments, and costumes in the image. Next, I sketch out a series of tiny thumbnail drawings, to plot out the basic composition and poses. That's followed by a larger, more refined sketch where I try to solve any remaining composition problems. I also like to add shading at this step to plan out the values in black and white. Inks and flat colors are done digitally in SAI Paint Tools, with final touches and textures created in Photoshop. Along the way I like to check my drawing by mirroring the sketch, and check values by converting the image to black and white. When the basics are solid, the final steps of inking and coloring are a breeze." - Kelly

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Defiant Daughter

Stella leaves the den. An illuminated panel from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 22. See the full page here.

Arctic Animal Comic Competition Results!

I’m pleased to announce the winners for the 2012 ‘My Arctic Animal’ comic competition! I was amazed and moved by the creativity, passion and variety of the entries I received. They were incredibly varied, from dramatic, to funny, to heart-wrenching, utilizing every art medium from crayons to digital paint. In fact, there were so many fun and creative entries to choose from, it was difficult to narrow it down to just one for each age group (8 and under, 9 to 13, 14 to 18).

The overall winning entry “Zaenok the Collared Lemming” by Zefanya N Putri, age 16, USA.

What I love about Zefanya’s comic is her clever use of layout to take us on a guided tour of the Arctic through the eyes of the collared lemming, Zaenok. From sword-fighting narwhals to leopard seals used as platforms, the sequence of events packed into this single page makes it a joy to read. Congratulations Zefanya!

Click here to view the rest of the winning entries!

New Book – Draw More Furries!

Arriving in bookstores November 23rd! The follow-up book to Draw Furries, Draw More Furries is packed with more fantastic furries and scalies to draw!

 

This book shows readers how to create anthropomorphic characters (animals with human-like characteristics) that effectively convey various personalities, combining elements of people with those of furry (or feathered or scaled) animals, reptiles and mythical creatures.

Here’s a few sample spreads:

Signed copies of the book are available through my online shop! Go here to order your copy.

Light Outside

Illuminated panels from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 20 and 21. Read the comic here.

Mother's Love

Illuminated panels from The Last of the Polar Bears pg 19. See the full page here.

Furry Friday: Serpent Versus Saurian

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Serpent Versus Saurian by Nimrais. Her ability to tell a story through excellent composition, strong figures, and vivid colors is breathtaking. I entrusted the most action-packed of the chapter openers to her care, an epic battle between a Triceratops Warrior and a Cobra Queen for Chapter 3: Scalies, and I couldn't be happier with the results:

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"I'm a female illustrator and designer from Germany. I've always been pretty creative and enjoy not only drawing but many other activities like crafting, photography and design. Now I'm a professionally trained Media Designer and I have a Bachelor's Degree in Design. For my digitally drawn pictures, I use Adobe Photoshop for both the sketches and coloration. I start with basic flat colors, then I add the shadows and highlights and continue with the details after that. At the end, I make any necessary color corrections to give the picture a balanced look." - Nimrais

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Illuminated Panels

Illuminated Panels are panels from my comic The Last of the Polar Bears that I've enhanced to turn into mini- illustrations. Here's a few recent ones:

Meerkat Mob

Four meerkat kits for a graphic designer's logo. Enjoyed drawing and coloring these little guys so much that I decided to take one and make a little illustration out of it.

Furry Friday: Quiescent

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. First up is Quiescent by Kristen “CentraDragon” Plescow, whose whimsical digital painting style and color palette are a joy to behold. This tranquil illustration of a kirin appreciating nature is featured as the double-page spread for Chapter 4: Mythical Creatures.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

“My process varies a bit from day to day, but overall I try to keep everything as simple as possible. For a large illustration like this, I start with lot of smaller doodles with ink and markers to get in the spirit of things, and to better envision the world around the character. Next, I make a sketch in Photoshop CS4, and move onto a quick under painting. Once I’m satisfied with the composition and color scheme, I’ll work on refining and detail from back to front. I don’t worry too much about layers, and like to merge them as I go. One thing I’ve learned—if you know there’s a part of your painting that’s going to be more difficult, always (ALWAYS) do it first. It’ll save you a lot of frustration and rage-quits later on.” -Kristen

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

Daily Animal Sketch – Arctic Fox and Polar Bears

Studies of Arctic foxes and polar bears. Plus some sketches of Nanook with various expressions, and a sparkly-eyed shoujo bear.

Snow Leopard Trust

Illustration for the Snow Leopard Trust, published in the September/October 2012 issue of Bare Essentials magazine (see pg 84 for Snow Leopard illustration).

Daily Animal Sketch – Grizzlies and Polar Bears

Studies of grizzly bears in preparation for the Vital Ground illustration I did last month. Plus, polar bears warm-up gestures.