With this drawing challenge we will be drawing anything found in the wild ....from a Lion to a butterfly...even wild flowers so get out your pencils , watercolors , wacom...because any medium is welcome

We will have Rose and Nellie stopping in to help if you have any questions ( they are very good at finding answers ) I respect them as women and artist and value their opinions

I hope with this challenge we can learn together how to master drawing all forms of wildlife ...I myself need lots of practice there are no rules, this challenge will go from Sat Feb 17 - March 3...thats 2 weeks to give you the time to do your best work ...and a few other challenges on the board .

Free Animal Pictures
Gallery 01
Feel free to use these pictures in your research projects, web sites, etc. so long as you do not resell them

Visit Brendas lesson page at http://www.drawspace.com/ and look at how to do fur or feathers ect .

I copied that from the site so all these pictures I am using are free to use ... no fear of copyright problems .

#1 is of a beautiful butterfly setting on a pink flower.

#2 is a fawn amoung the daisies .

#3 A baby Lynx hanging in there .

Kim beautiful reference photos...I cant wait to start!!!

Oh boy, this is going to be popular. I can't wait to see the pictures.
Paulette

Great idea Kim... and thank you for your invitation.

To anyone taking part may I suggest you go through Brenda's lessons on drawing butterflies and furry creatures.

Have fun!

oh i will have to go through the lessons on fur. i love that little thing hanging in a tree. wow kim thanks and to rose and nellie. this is going to be fun.
Lori

I went ahead and posted the lesson site for any newcommers .. from there you can see how to draw the hair ...or nose ect...please use it ...it has very helpful lessons

Kim, I was soooo excited to start this drawing challenge I have already completed the butterfly and flower picture. I did it on Pine pure tint strathmore colored paper with prisma colred pencils. I really like this thread and hope other will join in as well. Ohh as for the paper I used, I recently went to the colored pencil site at Wetcanvas and noticed a thread that was started for free paper samples. So I like I am sure other people may have wrote a letter to the Strathmore company. Well they sent me a couple of sample sheets with writting and such on it of the different textured white paper and a sample packet that had little 2 inch squares of all the different papers they sell. they also included this little spiral book filled with their different colored papers and I would say the size of it probably (guessing here) 6 inches by 8-9 inches. Pretty decently sized. So that is the paper I used and I love the texture for doing colored pencils and the color choices is awesome. Just thought I would throw that in.. Ok so here is my drawing....

Venus .. beautiful drawing ... but your sooo good at flowers... mine is sucky now lol I did the same one .. but hey I am trying and this is out of my comfort zone ... so here is mine .

All the pictures, awesome. I think this is going to be fun. I will try to help were I can. Good luck all.

Are we doing this in color?

Any medium.

I think both of you did a grand job & I love the idea of this thread - some of my favorite subjects!

Am still not fitted & adjusted to new contacts or glasses so can't draw for any length of time yet. Will join in when I am.

Oh, I put a photo of a cardinal in the inspirational gallery if you want to use it. There are tons of free photos around though so you can probably find all kinds of wild things to offer as references though.

J

Yes I checked into that before I made the challenge as I did not want any copy right problems .. thanks for the offer of the cardinal

Kim I think you did a fantastic job on both of your pictures!!! The fawn is adorable. I tried to do the lynx in the tree last night in just pencil and lets say that, that piece of paper is now being used today as scratch paper...I will try later though. I am going to be away most of the day today. I am in a couple of freecycle groups on yahoo for my area and someone in another city closr to mine is giving away a drafting table!!! So I called the person to ask about it and she said if I could pick it up its mine!! I am soo excited. I have always wanted one and haven't used one since I was in graphic designing in school. Let me tell you they are awsome for drawing and help so much for positioning when drawing, alot more elbow access, too. They are also going to give me a toddler bed and extra dresser..can't complain when the stuff is free and in good condition, or when money is tight. ( We just put 350 into our truck to fix it). So see everyone later!!!

awsome deal Venus .. I have given stuff away on freecycle ..feels good to give it to people who need it .
I dont have the room for anything like a drafting table .. but I do bet it will be nice .

Kim yeah it was a good deal while it lasted, I picked it up and it turned out to be a crafting table more or less. So needless to say I felt bad about saying I would take it and then changing my mind so I took it and now have it reposted on freecycle, along with a high schair my 2 year old no longer uses. Yes, it does feel good to give things away that others may need or use, thats why I participate in it. the table is perfectly fine I just wanted one with a slant for drawing and this one doesn't have it. Would be perfect for crafts though. Ohh well maybe one day I'll get my drafting table just not today...

You must all please give the credit to Kim, it's all her doing, if their is help needed I will definitely give some if I can. Thanks all, your awesome.

I cant wait to see the drawings .. im going to work on a few things from other challenges but I will try the lynx .. he is sooo cute .

Kim..I'm stuck!! I don't know if I wanna try the dear or the linx...I tried to do a graphite drawing of the linx already and it came out looking like a CARTOON!!! LOL. So I think I will try the dear. Or I just got my new birds in bloom magazine in today (well yesterday it came in and I got the mail today...lol) and try the front cover, it has a georgous purple iris with a huge swallowtail butterfly...the whole picture is georgous!! the magazine itself is wonderful for reference photos. I figured 20 bucks for a year subscription should give me enough reference photos for awhile atleast...if I could just find time....

well whatever one you pick you will do fine .. your a beautiful artist and person hun .

Aww thanks Kim, same to you hun!! I actually started the butterfly picture I was telling you about. So far I have the butterfly all done and it looks great!! I will be starting it in a bit. I hope the rest comes out just as good. Keep your fingers crossed. Flowers are not easy exspecially irises.

Here is a quicky sketch of the lynx. Done with sepia pencil.
Paulette
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WOW Paulette for that being a quick sketch it came out better than mine did and I spent 2 hours trying to get that little kitty to look right. Great job and good likeness. Mine kept looking older than a baby.

Good renditions everyone.

Here's my lynx.

Awww the lynx is soooo cute Rose, great job!!! Wish I could draw animals and people as well as I do just about everything else that isn't REAL!!! They are just outside of my comfort zone I suppose. Need to start working on them majorly...

Rose the lynx so very sweet .. I have not tried that one as of yet its on my list .. and venus its way out of my compfort zone doing animals .. but I found the ones I have done are not as bad as I thought they would look .. you should give it a try .

Here's a something wild.

Wow Cyn, that cheetah is georgous!!! Fantastic job, now try it in color..

All your pictures is very good. Cyn nice cheeta. Farfallina, Paulette, cutie kitty.

cyn nice job I know you said you have a hard time with animals .. I do to they are hard but you seem to have gotten this one good .

wow everyone is doing awesome with animals. i am trying to do animals but isnt going very well.
kim did you use color pencils? when i see your color pencil work it looks so smooth and awesome--how in the world do you get it so smooth. i have been blending and blending but mine isnt coming out as smooth.
great job everyone
Lori

Hm - what does a little cat after climbing a tree???
Sorry, I was not able to do one of these challenge pictures...

Lori I do use colored pencil .. and I start off with white if my colors are lighter I use white undereverything to help blend .. now this is most likely not a way a art teacher would tell you but its how I do it .. after the first layer of color and I use prisma pencils the rest go on like paint ...black really dont cover well after the white ....also where a color ends I take the nexy color and blend it into the first color and then bring in out a bit .. so the colors blend well .hope that helps .
Traum your kitty is very cute .. feel free to post any of your wild drawings here . I love seeing them .. animals are hard for me also thats why i am trying to do them ..

thank you so much, Kim!



For me too. This drawing shows one of our tom-cats and I can't believe that I (!!) have drawn it. I never had the heart to try this before I came here.
So thanks all for giving me the courage and to show how one can get better with every try. This forum is so very much different from german forums, much warmer and more hearty , it is really great to be here.

This is such a cool thread. Thanks for starting it. Love everything.

Butterflies and flowers are both things I've never attempted, so I think I'll try that next. Watercolour cub til then.

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Everyone here is doing great. Since I have such a hard time with animals, here's my next wild thing. I think my eyes are haywire now.

Traum ... I know I speak for alot of people when I say this .. but thank you for that compliment ..we do try to be friendly and helpful .

Winter i am the same way i have never been into doing flowers or animals .. but doing this has really helped me alot ....your water color painting is very nice for a first try .

Cyn you have outdone yourself ...zeebras .. how hard to even try and you said you cant do animals .

Thank you, Kim.. I did a really rough grid, and just marked the paper in 9 sections to get a rough estimate where things should go. But you notice they don't have hooves.. I erased them a lot and finally decided they were not in the zoo, they were on the Serengeti Plain and I couldn't see their feet anyway.

thats funny .. just like when resine put a patch on a girls on in a drawing .. I thought it was a pirate girl .. but he said he messed up and covered it with a patch lol

Cyn is gooooood.

Thank you, Nellie. I just got lucky.. It happens once in a while.

lynx WIP
[attachmentid=3002]
First stage done, sprayed with fixative. I still need to add the dark-darks ,final details and fix the eyes.

WOW!!! Tismyself, the lynx is absolutely georgous!!! I can't wait to see when you finish it. Are you doing it in pastels? I have been doing one of my lessons for my online Artist course and may try to do the deer picture in acrylics. Since that is what I am learning about right now. I definately can't garentee how it will turn out but after I finish the lesson and take the test I do want to try my hand at a painting again.

I used Derwent Studio colored pencils, a few Derwent drawing pencils, and a 'dark' charcoal pencil so far. The only pastel is the highlight in the eye. I just got the Studio pencils and had to try them out. They were the first real colored pencil brand I ever bought in highschool and I'd been wanting to get another set. I had this 40% coupon for Micheal's so....I had to use it. They're a good bit harder than Prismas and are taking some getting used to, since it's been a looooong time since I've used this brand. I dented up the paper pretty good on the eyes starting out. I just found out Derwent has expanded their line of drawing pencils to 24 colors and I have a whole burning in my pocket to buy some.

I haven't painted in years. The start up cost is kind of pricey, so I haven't bought any paints and such. I've been thinking a getting just a few earthy colors to do sepia tone paintings to get back into it.

Cyn,
the zebras are wonderful. You said, you can't draw animals - now I want to see, WHAT you CAN draw . . .

Tismyself,
your little cat is so cute! I think about some weeks to buy the Derwent Studios. Yet I have the Derwent "Coloursoft" and Prismacolors and Rembrandt polycolor, but I look for some harder pencils. Verithins are nearly not to get here.

Are the Studios as hard as the Verithins? Do you know this?

I only have three Veri-thins from a set of long ago the kids have since made nearly extinct. After a little test, I'd say they are fairly similiar to the Studios. The Veri-thins might be a wee tad softer, they seem to provide a softer, faster coverage. Studios seem to wear very slowly and I didn't have to resharpen the pencils hardly at all. I am a little nervous about finishing the lynx with them. I don't know if the fixitive will be enough 'tooth' for them to get another layer.

How do Coloursoft compare to Prisma? My set of Prismas is getting worn down, and I'll need to restock a softer pencil soon.

Tis ... what a beautiful drawing ... wow i love the fur ...I was going to attempt that one but it looked to hard .. you did a very nice job

i had not been in here for awhile and i am just in awww about all the awesome animals everyone has drawn. they really look so great. i am still learning fur-- just not a strong point for me.
thanks kim for the tips. it does make sense about the white. i am definatly going to try that. i have tried to blend with color pencils and it is alot harder than with graphite. i do have some prisma-- but i am going to try the white and then blend and see how that turns out. thanks again
Lori

Tismyself....I have never used studio pencils, nor seen them at Michaels, how many come in a set? Are they Derwent studio pencils? I have Derwent watercolors and if the colored pencils are anything like the water color pencils then I definately want to try them out too. I have a full set of the Prismas and I got a good deal on them I just hate to use them so much though because of the cost. As for acrylic paint goes though I started with a 6 color set of the Academy Acrylics that I purchased at Micheals with the 40% off coupon. So I think I paid somewhere like $18 dollars. They were the 3 fl. oz tubes which are the bigger ones and should last awhile. Then I usually add more to my collection when I go to Micheals and they have all of their acrylics on sale for 25% off. So instead of paying almost $5 dollars a tube I pay a little over $3 dollars which is a big difference. Most of the time though if I need something I search ebay and can normally find better deals. Plus I do have alot of cheaper value acrylic paint that the Online School sent for practice work so I will use that before I use my good paint, would just suck if the picture and painting turned out really good and I liked it in cheap paint, then I would have to start over again.. I thought for sure that was pastels you used, couldn't tell it was colored pencil at all, great job!!!

The Lynx

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I spent 20 minutes taking pictures in crappy light and trying to edit them and then I remembered we just bought a printer/scanner. Then I sat here as the scan is trying to load and taking forever when I realize the software saved a 27 MB file and it's too big to load. I am such a ditz.

Venus, I got the 36 pencil set. Studios come in 12, 24, 36, and 72, and 12 metallic colors are available too. Micheal's here doesn't have the 72 and they are too expensive without the coupon. I believe they are very much like the watercolor pencils. I like them because they have harder leads and detail comes easier with them and they don't break when you sharpen them like my Prismas do. Dickblick.com has fairly good prices usually. You just have to watch shipping and order accordingly.
I was able to rework with the Studios after fixing the drawing and I also used Derwent drawing pencils because they're softer.