Big, Bad, Beautiful Wolf

Drawing a Gray Wolf

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Gray Wolf. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

The source of both fear and respect, the iconic gray wolf is an animal of legend. From characters in fairly tales, to mythology, to spiritual being, we have always had a fascination with the wolf. When I decided to draw a portrait of a wolf I wanted to show an animal that expressed wisdom, strength, and beauty. An animal that stands strong and is a survivor.   

The gray wolf's story is one of the most compelling tales of American wildlife. Once, the wolf was widespread across most of North America numbering in the millions, but it was hunted ruthlessly and extirpated over most of its range. Today, the wolf is making a successful comeback in some of its former habitat due to strong conservation efforts. There are now close to 200,000 worldwide. Gray wolves are the largest of all canines. They are also one of the most widespread land mammals, inhabiting various ecosystems throughout North America, Europe, Asia and portions of Africa.

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Scale by Dragon Scale

Drawing a Komodo Dragon

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Komodo Dragon. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

It's really hard to believe that the Komodo Dragon (the largest living lizard) was only discovered by humans about 100 years ago. Really? Yup, I'm not joking. They have lived on Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands for millions of years and amazingly their existence was unknown to us until they were discovered in 1910. It's basically a living dinosaur. Reaching 10 feet in length, weighting over 350 pounds, Komodos can still reach speeds up to 11 mph in bursts. And they have a life span of more than 30 years. There are around 5,000 of them left, and sadly they have been driven onto the endangered species list. 

Besides being such a interesting animal to draw, the details of their scaly skin just pulled me in. I'm a sucker for repetitive textures, and just love when patterns are woven over a shape. Doing a drawing like this is like knitting a sweater for me. It becomes a form of meditation. As you can see from my progress pictures below I basically crocheted the scales on, while drawing from head to toe.

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

The Bear Necessities

Drawing a American Black Bear

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Black Bear. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

I've lived on the East Coast of North America all my life, and only once have I seen an American Black Bear in the wild. And unbelievably it was just last month. While driving my daughter back up to college in upstate New York we saw a black bear, sitting on a hill next to the highway, eating and watching the cars go by. In New Jersey, where I live, there are thousands of them, but amazingly they are hard to see. They range across North America, Canada and Mexico and their population is close to 600,000. Two subspecies, the Louisiana black bear and the Florida black bear are threatened. The Florida black bear's population dropped to 300-500 in the 1950's and was just removed for Florida's endangered species list due to land management and a serious recovery effort. Their population has recovered to almost 3,000.

So why draw a bear? Well, two words "Nature" and "Fur". They are such a beautiful animal that lives among us here in America, and to me the image of them just says "Nature". For me, they conjure up an image of leaving urban city life and going into the wilderness. And then there is the other word "Fur". Fur is still a struggle for me to draw, and again I wanted to challenge myself by attempting to draw an animal completely covered in a thick coat of it.

Harrison and Jane hiking in Maine. Notice Jane's shirt

Also, bears have been a popular and humorous topic in our house because my wife has a fear of bears and we constantly poke fun at her about this fear. Whenever a bear appears on TV we all scream, "It's a bear!" We buy her bear t-shirts to wear, bear coffee cups to drink from and advised her to read "A walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Whenever we go hiking (in Bear Mountain) or mountain climbing everyone asks if she has her bear repellent with her. And after all these years, the only bear she has ever seen was from the comfort of our car last month driving on the highway to Binghamton NY. Her perfect vantage point.

Other family bear shots

Little Bear Restaurant, Bearsville, NY

 Adirondacks, Keen, NY

 Hiking on Vinalhaven Island, Maine

 Little Bear Restaurant, Bearsville, NY

Bear Mountain, NY

Natural History Museum, Washington DC 

Here are some photos taken during my drawing process

Prints, posters and signed fine art reproductions are available 

for purchase in my Etys shop at: 

 www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt