Badger, badger

Another gouache painting in the little black book. It started out as of a comparison of the American vs. Old World badger, but I drew them close together and it looked like they were holding hands. Some more mustelids (there was a picture of a badger on the same page as one of a wolverine that I used for reference for the last paintings). I found that a good way to paint gray things is to use some zinc white on black paper; I didn't mix any gray beforehand. After the white dried I put a bit of blue or brown over to give the fur a bit of depth.

There are some other cool kinds of badgers that I might draw later.

They kept trying to attack my cousins...

Here are some wolverines. They're neat, like little bears but they're weasels. Mean wolverine top, serene wolverine below.

Poofy hair and big belt buckles!

Most of my daily sketches are ugly these days. I need some more inspiration or something. This girl wants to beat you up. Or is concentrating on dancing. I liked her weird pose. Better art later, perhaps.

Gypaetus barbatus

I <3 lammergeiers!

Yet more griffins

And now it's time for more griffins. These are vulture/hyena mixes, which I'm sure has been done a million times before. The top one is a griffin vulture (wow, nature got the idea first!) with a spotted hyena. I don't think the furry ears go well on the bald vulture head. It's hard to fit the wings of these guys in without covering up the animal booties.



This one's a palm-nut vulture, with a brown hyena. But neither end looks like either of these animals. I do like the long hyena ears.

The last one is the best, I think. Bearded vultures are one of my favorite birds. I wonder where I can see some in person. This one has a striped hyena backside. I like the way the floofiness of the vulture mimics the fuzzy mane of the hyena. Bearded vultures are also called lammergeiers. It means lamb vulture, though they don't really eat lambs, they eat bones. Yay for bonecrushing bearded vultures!