Animal & Wildlife Challenge December 2024

[JaneS]

Hi everyone - as this is my first time hosting, please excuse me for any mistakes. This month’s theme is “Animals and wildlife in winter.”

This month’s photos are from pexels.com. I’m looking forward to seeing your works of art. I hope you all have fun with the challenge.

I’ve cut and pasted the text below from Queen Bee’s postings.

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Hello, and welcome to our monthly ANIMAL & WILDLIFE CHALLENGE.

On the first day of each month various photos and a reference subject
will be provided,

Please choose from the photos or the reference subject provided or both to create an artwork in any medium. You can use the photos or reference subject to create any kind of artwork that you like.

Please use only the photos or the reference subject provided.

Please post your artwork starting on the 15th day of the month. (This is the 'Reveal’ Day.)

You can continue to post your artwork from the 15th until the end of the month.

Also, if you wish, please feel free to post any works in progress photos that you took while you were doing your artwork, and any comments about it.


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[Joy]

Beautiful photos! Thank you, Jane!

 

[pcj]

Lovely photos Jane. Thankyou very much for bringing the
Animal And Wildlife Challenge back to life again ! It's very
much appreciated !
Cheers,
Patricia

 

[Triduana]

Thanks so much for hosting Jane! The references are all wonderful.

 

[JaneS]

Ah it’s reveal day. I’m still now happy with the background of my fox but I’ll post him anyway and ask for suggestions. I changed it from the dry grass in the photo as that didn’t sing “winter” to me.

I’ve also tried to add more directional light than in the photo but maybe it’s still too subtle?

I’m looking forward to see what everyone else has created!

 

[ams]

Beautiful Jane. I love how you did the fur. The background looks ok to me. The only thing I noticed is the snow against his body. It looks a little pasted. Maybe a smoother edge would help. Since you are working digitally, you can experiment.

I did the bird on a branch. I wanted to get some practice in drawing snow on a tree branch. I think if I do a similar painting again, I might not outline the edge of the top of the snow. I'll have to see how it looks without the ink edge.

This is line and wash with Inktense pencils. The painting is in an XL Mixed Media sketchbook, about 5"x7".

Thanks for hosting.

 

[JaneS]

Anne, I love your bird. There are some lovely colour graduations and the feathers on the wing look particularly good. I agree about the lines on the sow - perhaps a soft blue shading near the top would work, or white highlights against a darker background?

I agree about the snow on my painting. I will have a play around with it - thanks.

 

[JaneS]

This is my second drawing. I went for a looser watercolour style here, something which I am still just starting with but really enjoy when it works. Again I wasn’t sure what to do about the background, which was a flat white in the reference, but in the end decided on a light blue stain hinting at snow.

 

[ams]

Very nice Jane. Good choice for the background.

 

[Sanlynn]

Jane your fox looks very chilly. I agree with Anne about the snow. Your mountain goat is really nice. The background is just perfect!
Anne, your chickadee is so sweet. Well done!
I sat down this afternoon and whipped this up. Didn’t take long as it is just white charcoal in my back paper sketchbook, 7x10”.

 

[Joy]

Sanlynn - Wow! This really had a lot of impact for something you just "whipped up."
Jane - very nice renderings.
Anne - love the delicate bird.

 

[Sanlynn]

Thanks, Joy. It was fun.

 

[JaneS]

Sanlynn, that’s a lovely charcoal sketch. The ideal medium for the subject. I quite fancied tackling this photo myself, as I’ve not done any pencil work in Procreate yet.

 

[JaneS]

Here’s a reworked fox with some different snow. Funnily, the original was much closer to the reference but I think this looks better?

 

[PaintBoss]

Well, first of all the photo references are excellent. But my goodness I’m really enjoying all your work! Fabulous, Jane, Ann and Sanlynn.

 

[ams]

Sanlynn, the white on black worked perfectly for this. I love how it came out.

Jane, the snow is much better on your second version of the fox. Looks great.

 

[JaneS]

Sanlynn, the white on black worked perfectly for this. I love how it came out.

Jane, the snow is much better on your second version of the fox. Looks great.

Thank you! It was quite rushed, so I may have another try sometime. I also tried to add more directional light as the reference was very flat, but I don’t think I took it far enough.

 

[ams]

I did the penguins. I titled it "Conversation."

Ink & Inktense, about 5"x7" in XL Mixed Media sketchbook.

 

[Joy]

Adorable, Anne! It may be the image that appears lighter on the screen, but the darks of the penguins would look great darker for more contrast.

 

[ams]

Adorable, Anne! It may be the image that appears lighter on the screen, but the darks of the penguins would look great darker for more contrast.

I agree Joy. I might add some more layers. If I do, I'll repost.