Tim Jeffs Art: leopard

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A Spring Snow

Drawing a Snow Leopard

Prints, posters, stationery cards, and signed fine art reproductions

are available for purchase in my Etys shop at:

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Snow Leopard. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

The ultimate cool cat! The Snow Leopard is one of those animals that looks too beautiful to be true. Almost like an apparition, it is extremely elusive and secretive, lives in remote mountainous regions, and is incredibly well camouflaged which makes it very hard to see. Sadly it is also extremely endangered with estimates of only 4,000 to 7,000 left in the wild today. In 2008 it was placed on the Red List of threatened species. For all those reasons I just had to add this majestic cat to my list of "Big Cat" drawings. It has always been one of my favorites.

Snow Leopard. original photograph by Anthony Festa

The inspiration for this drawing came directly from an amazing photograph that Anthony Festa took of a Snow Leopard. Anthony is a friend and amazing photographer. He does landscape, nature, and wildlife photography and his work is stunning! He graciously gave me permission to use his work as reference. You can see and purchase his photos on his website at selectimagesphotographycom. Thanks again Anthony for you generosity! The only thing I decided to change from the photo was that to Snow Leopard's look appeared slightly timid to me, so I tried to achieve a more confident stare and demeanor. I hope I was successful.

This time I took a lot more photos as I progressed through the drawing. Since people have been asking me more about my working process I thought more pictures will make it clearer. On this piece I started with a fine pencil sketch of the basic outline of the Leopard. After that the pencil is exchanged for my pen. It's all pen work from this point on. I usually always start some where on the animals face. This gives me the opportunity to breath life into the drawing, and then I slowly expand to finish the overall body. Drawing fur has always been a challenge for me. I feel I gained some knowledge this go around. I work from light to dark and begin by applying very little pressure to the pen as I let it glide across the paper. This let me draw the finest of lines. To achieve the darker areas I slowly build up those areas with layers of lines. After I have finished the inking of the animal I start brushing in the background with india ink. I love cutting out the animal. It almost feels like creating a sculpture to me. I do this with Pro Art India Ink. It's very thick and covers the papers quickly. I've noticed that different bottles have different consistencies of thickness, so I mix them to get that perfect flow. Thanks again for dropping by, and taking the time to visit my blog! It's onto the next animal for me!

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

Friday, September 27, 2013

Now it's Personal!

Helping to Save the Jaguars of Panama

Drawing "Darien" for the Panama Wildlife Conservation

Exclusive Conservation Print Available for purchase.
A percentage of each sale will go directly to help Panama's amazing Jaguars

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

Darien. 11x17" Ballpoint Pen and Ink wash

When I opened an email from Dr Luis Urena, a Panamanian Biologist living in London, a few weeks ago I instantly stop what I was doing. After seeing my artwork and my love of animals he wrote me requesting assistance in developing a piece of art to promote his cause, saving jaguars in his native Panama. He had decided to start a Conservation group for Panama called "Panama Wildlife Conservation" and was dedicating his time and efforts into building awareness and saving Panama's incredible natural resources and endangered animals.

Attached to his email were personals photos that he had taken of Darien, a rescued jaguar from the illegal animal trade in Panama. Darien is living in Summit Botanical Gardens and is being rehabilitated. As soon as I saw his absolutely beautiful photos of Darien my thoughts were "I have to be a part of this!" The photos he send me (you can see more of them lower on this post) were so intimate, such up-close and personal images of this absolutely incredible creature. As I looked at the images I felt like I was looking into the eyes of a animal that I knew.

I instantly connected with Luis's photos because they took on the same purpose as my drawing. To have to viewer stop, and look into the face, into the eyes, of creature that needs help, that has feeling and emotions, and has astonishing beauty. Something all of us need to realize and make a different in protecting.

I wrote back to Luis and told him I wouldn't do a commission for him, but instead would gladly volunteer to create a piece for his cause which he could then use for his organization. It was my first chance to use my art for the purpose of giving something back to the animals I love so much.

Over the next 3 days I drew Darien and send the finished drawing back to Dr Urena, which he was very excited about and immediately implemented into the image to promote his cause. My Darien drawing will be printed on t-shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise to raise Charitable funds for Conservation efforts in Panama. Something I am very proud to be a part of. I'm also going to contribute a percentage of any sales that I make of my "Darien" print in my shop to the Panama Wildlife Conservation. I'm offering a variety of prints of Darien for sale which you can see here:

www.etsy.com/shop/TimJeffsArt

My hope is to do this for other endangered animals. I love to draw, I love animals, and I love to draw animals, and if something I love to do can help the subjects that make me motivated to create, then I've finally made the personal connection I've been looking for.