Beasts

This has always been a warts & all blog, so I may as well post this here: this was a drawing I did with the idea that I would submit it to Jacob Covey's Beasts volume 2, but ultimately I'm not really happy enough with it.



It's meant to be a Chuchunaa (or "Tjutjuna"), the so-called "Siberian Bigfoot," notable for its penchant (unique among yeti-type creatures) for wearing animal skins as rudimentary clothing. (I was aiming for "deerskin" in the drawing, but I think I just wound up with "lumpy deer carcass draped over shoulders"). Also, according to the Crypto-Zoology book generously lent to me by my librarian friend Melissa, Chuchunaa have a been known to "throw dogs" when angered. (Please note that no dogs were harmed in the making of this drawing. Particularly not any beagles.)

It was only a matter of time before I found a subject that this style couldn't handle, and it's possible this is it. I was trying to really go all out and make this a little more detailed than previous drawings, but I think that was a mistake—it works against the strengths of this style, which is strongest when it's simplest and most iconic. I think. Anyway, it's not so embarrassing that I'm ashamed to blog about it, but it's not up to the standard I was aiming for.

If you haven't seen it, the first Beasts book was great, (check out the Beasts blog if you don't believe me), and I'm still hoping I might be able to work up something worth sending over, but given the world-class artists involved, I'm not getting my hopes up. Still, it's a good opportunity to practice my new favorite drawing style, and that can't be bad, right?