kalahari

Festival Fox

I’ve been moving into a new place, which has been sort of interrupting everything else but is otherwise really good for my personal wellbeing. And now I’m finally able to share this Juno scene!

There’s a mood I tried chasing here, where you’ve had a chance to kind of lose your grasp on the passage of time and it only catches up to you when the sun hangs little too close to the treetops. Like an endless day somehow fading into night, both cool and warm simultaneously. And for som...

Sketchbook (PAGE 10)

Most of what I sketch doesn't go anywhere. It's just getting out ideas and accumulated that much-desired "mileage". But this page ended up b

Most of what I sketch doesn't go anywhere. It's just getting out ideas and accumulated that much-desired "mileage". But this page ended up being pretty high density as scribble-to-completion ratio goes.

There was a minimal amount of prep work needed for "Low-Temper...

Bastetodon

A few weeks ago, a research article described a new genus of prehistoric mammal -- Bastetodon. The name was enough to get my attention, and yes, it honors Bastet herself. Fitting enough, since the described skull was recovered in the Fayum Depression of Egypt. This is now a vast, arid basin, but in the Oligocene epoch it was nothing short of a lush oasis.

There’s this kind of opaque quality to ancient life that gives us a little creative freedom when we imagine them, especial...

Sketchbook (PAGE 9)

While the last set of sketches was a little more moody, here's a more positive tonal shift. Top center is a color thumbnail I worked out for a trade with Luthien Nightwolf, whose work has brought me a huge amount of joy over the years. I ended up creating this piece with watercolor and Copic markers, which are a fun combo but the results were never quite as cohesive and I wished they could be. And i...

Skunk Shaman

If you have questions, she just may have the answers.

While working on concept sketches for the bear shaman who’s shown up in a few pieces a while back, I wanted to explore other healing/mediation traditions in the region. This skunk is dressed head to, well, ankle in the dour black typical of her station. A rough badger concept also got scribbled out at the same time, but what I'd really like is get back to that bear and revisit her design...

Sketchbook (PAGE 8)

Studies for “January” take up the bulk of the page, wherein Juno consoles her friend Petra, who’s going through some substantial grief. Showing up for a friend in these moments is one of the most meaningful and sincere acts of love, and my original description for the upload borrowed a sentiment from David Foster Wallace: “There might not be angels, but there are people who might as well be.” Som...

Kimber

Every once in a while I gravitate back toward macropods for some reason that probably has to do with their big ears, big feet, and meaty tails. This time I can sort of pin Lizet’s Audrey as the specific influence to get me spending some time with kangaroos proper, rather than the sort I’ve drawn in the past (like this ...

Scribbles (deer, fox, and noodles)

Even though I do the bulk of my sketching digitally, I also take a physical sketchbook pretty much everywhere I go. Including coffee shops.

I used to do all my work in paper sketchbooks, whatever was offered at the university book store in a spiral-bound, 8.5x11" format. Since I started doing most of my work digitally, traditional sketchbooks have kind of taken a backseat. But they still get used. These days I prefer smaller format (let's say "travel-sized") sketchbooks, and my current ...

Winter Fluff

The temperatures have plummeted and reindeer are showing up everywhere. Not that you'll hear me complaining about it. Lucky them, to have so much natural fluff they need scant else to keep warm. Just be careful about letting them inside. They'll make themselves right at home and all those gingerbread molasses cookies will disappear before you know it.

Merry Christmas! Happy Solstice!

Sketchbook (PAGE 7)

Sketches from several Decembers ago. And there's a few different things were going on here... Kalahari visiting a bear shaman, a weasel in a bind, and a rare masked palm civet. This is also where I worked out a rough idea for what became "Nocturnal Girl". Also looks like a fox guy is enjoying his time in the pilot seat of some advanced craft. While I don't know all the technical challenges that would need to be...

Taking a Rest

The caress of the breeze, the tickle of grass, and just enough peace to let your mind wander.

This is a piece for Kiko, who requested a scene where Kalahari has stopped for a rest during his travels. What's on his mind? I'm not telling... And hey, it's pretty nice to be asked to draw your own character. That makes for twice this year o.o I've also included a preparatory sketch that didn't make the cut wher...

Sea Otter

She never wanders too far from the coast. The salt in the air is too comforting, and the quality of the shellfish doesn't improve much.

Someone in my life had a real affinity for sea otters, and even while I prefer the build and esthetics of river otters myself, it seemed like a good enough challenge to anthropomorphize one. I'm hardly the first, but most of what I've seen leans too far into a realistic depiction or stays indistinguishable from "river otter". Here's my own first attempt...

Sketchbook (PAGE 6)

Here's a much more recent peek into what I've been sketching behind the scenes. Plenty of Juno, making faces and getting into various sorts of trouble. There's even the linework for a sticker design I recently finished and printed! That will have to be a separate post. Making a guest appearance is an opossum guy I'm in the process of figuring out. Yes, I say "a possum" but I can't not write "an opossum". Bleh. He's a humble attempt at slaying the idea that all members of his species are self-...

Sketchbook (PAGE 5)

A bunch of unstructured dicking around mostly -- but really, that's pretty much the usual. The concept sketches for "Back to Nature" make an appearance. It's way too easy to picture Juno as the kind of hiker who immerses herself in the wilderness by packing the essentials and shedding everything else. Doesn't hurt that the trails in her locale have clothing-optional status.

There's also some hyena sk...

Naturist District

Another exploration of the naturist district that's shown up a couple times before ("Open Air Market" and "Tea Room"). It's a small area near the city center where clothing is pretty much optional as a way of honoring the lifestyle many of its furred citizens prefer to live -- at least as an occasional escape.

The colo...

Sketchbook (PAGE 4)

Juno, Petra, and Brandy (the porcupine) make appearances here, as well as a little Topaz idea in the top left. A few non-standard foxies mak

Juno, Petra, and Brandy (the porcupine) make appearances here, as well as a little Topaz idea in the top left. A few non-standard foxies mak

Juno, Petra, and Brandy (the porcupine) make appearances here, as well as a little Topaz idea in the top left. A few non-standard foxies make it in here, as is inevitable, but they say you've gotta get a...

Art Batch (2023)

Yeah, posting the compiled collection of last year's artwork in August makes me look like a total procrastinator. As I've hinted in previous posts, I've been doing a lot more unfinished sketching over the past several months and metering out finished work so that I at least had something colorful to show for myself in that period. But at long last, all completed works from 2023 are packaged in one beautiful zip file. As well as a couple surprises (shhhhhhh...)

And now that Patreo...

Sketchbook (PAGE 3)

Petra the civet kinda steals the show here. I was still exploring her as a character and trying to get inside her head. We have the initial sketches for "Coffee and Wifi", which I intended as a pun on Blur's "Coffee and TV" and the song fits the mood I was going for pretty well.

I've lived with recurrent depression since I was about 12 years old, and at the time of drawing this I was going into a fairly s...

Hyaenodon Mom

POV: you wake up in the Eocene.

Age of the Hunter

On the windswept plains of the Eocene you might find a Hyaenodon surveying the undisturbed wilderness. Her life is a daily balance between brute force and meditative precision, all in service to the next generation.

This continues my Hyaenodon kick, which have stood out to me among the extinct Cenozoic mammals and I just wanna draw more of them... This is also the last piece I finished in 2023, finally uploaded! With all the unrefined sketching I've been doing since th...

Sketchbook (PAGE 2)

Plenty more Junos, with Brandy the porcupine showing up too. And some mouse bomber. Besides all the random doodling, I worked out the beginnings of Otter Boys Last All Summer Long. Which I thought was a super clever title but I never got any acknowledgement for it :P I'm sure Juno's continuing to grow her collection of dick selfies, I just haven't done my part in documenting it.

This was also a time when ...

Morning Stretch

It's another morning at the weekend naturist festival, and Juno has to get her stretches in before a day of running around naked.

No surprise Juno shows up again wearing nothing but her bare fur. I sketched this one up while reminiscing on such festivals and the amazing people I shared them with. I have no doubt the vixen frequents such gatherings with her own friends (the willing ones at least), and lights up some poi at night for a fire dance.

I'm a little behind on posts, but e...

Kipper Fishing

Several years ago, when I was just getting acquainted with digital art, I drew this piece featuring an otter coming up to the surface with some freshly caught fish. They're natural fishers after all, and it's easy to imagine them gliding through the water using claws and teeth to grab their prey.

More recently, I decided to revisit that old piece since the shading was pretty flat, the environment was pret...

Sketchbook (PAGE 1)

Another peek into my digital sketchbook, and Juno steals the show in this one. Mix that with some vibrant color studies and I had the beginnings of "New Light", a piece I enjoyed the hell out of creating. It was an outlet for me at a time when I was drawn to use color more ambitiously and perhaps less naturalistically. Color studies and thumbnails would show up more often from here on out in my...

Patty

As my half of a trade for Fox-Pop, here's his very lovely vixen soaking up the sun, yet somehow never very far from her sneakers.

I've been following Fox-Pop's stuff for years and even commissioned him to draw Juno once! I love his retro anime style combined with vintage Americana. He's got a talent for drawing characters dr...

Sketch page (April 26, 2017)

Almost none of my digital sketches were created with the intent of anyone else laying eyes on them, so they can end up looking rough. Still, I've had a number of suggestions over the years that I share them with my patrons and it didn't seem like a bad incentive, one that could even give you a candid glimpse into my process. I decided to start with something a little older just to give myself room to work forward from.

This page shows some preliminary doodles...

Mountain Trail

Starting the new year off with the completed YCH for Decalion, of their dragoness Firebrand getting some fresh mountain air. This was a charity auction over on FA, and the full amount of the final bid went to the Judith A Bassett Canid Education & Conservation Center, which is a really cool organization I visited last year during a trip to southern California. Many thanks to Decalion and everyone who bid! 2024-01-09 00:09:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Catch of the Day

For an otter, there is no better way to slay a salmon.

Wherever the new year finds you, I wish you a kind and generous one. Even when turbulence and uncertainty are the order of the day, I believe any upward trend is something to be thankful for. This year was way better for my art life regarding productivity and personal growth. Even if I haven't shared all of what I've created yet I'll be post everything in the coming months. Hey, it's nice to have just a small backlog. Thi...

Magic Is Easy

Juno being a little fire fox.

I'll never be able to play with fire unless I get more practice in with the sock poi. I'd love to get a 4-beat fountain down but I keep hitting myself, which, better tennis balls than flames I guess :P Still, it's awesome to watch someone else's practiced skills.

Raindrops

Just when she sat down for a break, she has her game rudely interrupted by an approaching afternoon shower. Maybe there's just enough time to make it to cover and wait it out.

I saw some yellow-footed rock wallabies at the zoo and immediately loved their coloration. And what better chance to try my hand at some macropod anatomy, the kind I've been seeing from the likes of Lizet. I have no idea if there's a boomerang equivalent to disc golf, but it seems plausible enough!