Spirit Animals

I tell ya, making art every day is a lot easier when you're drawing.  I don't need much in the way of supplies, and I can keep it simple.  For the beginning of Art Every Day Month, though, I've been mixing my media.  Drawing but also adding a bit of my favorite mixed media techniques.  Later in the week, though, I started not having as much time, so I ended up with just plain drawings.  I'll add the pizzazz later. 

I kind of stuck with a theme for the week, and it was forest animals.  I wanted to try a more minimalistic, expressive style, rather than my old semi-realistic style or the manga style I've been trying to learn.  In the end, Mr. Pocket said they have a mystical or spiritual look to them, and that maybe I should call them spirit animals.  I think he's right.

My fox was well received on my tumblr blog, and overall I think it's my favorite of the series.

I'm mostly happy with the squirrel, but not so much with the background.  I kinda just didn't know what I wanted to do with it.

Of all of these, my stag was the most liked and reblogged on tumblr.

A tumblr friend of mine said my bear looks gentle, like he's "thinking cute bear things."  I kinda think she's right.

I had fun doing this little wren.  Wrens are so cute.

Not my best two.  The raccoon is better than the hedgehog.

Hummingbird, on a suggestion from my mother-in-law.  I think he turned out okay.

 

I'm really enjoying exploring ink drawing.  In case you're wondering, I'm sketching in pencil and then inking over that with Sakura Micron pens (for these I've been using a sepia set that I got recently, using black only for eyes and noses and such), then erasing the pencil lines.  The highlights in their eyes and beaks are done with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen.  If you need a white gel pen, that's the best I've ever used.

 

My animal ideas are running out of steam a bit, so I think I'm putting aside the animal series for a little while.  I've already started feeling limited by it.  So this week I'm starting something new, and will probably be mostly drawing people (though not necessarily human ones :)).  There will probably still be a strong woodland theme running through the drawings, but more fantasy oriented.  But we'll see, I may change my mind ;)