The Wolverine

Hello ArtBees,

It’s been far too long and life has been crazy busy. Although, I am sure a lot of people can relate.

Below I would like to share one of the pieces that I had been working on and its progression through various stages of inking and watercolors. At the time of drafting this initial drawing, I was still settling on the style that I want for this particular set of postcards. I am really happy with how this one turned out. I will most likely carry on using this combination for the rest of the cards in this series.

This is the Gulo Gulo or at least the skull of one. In life, he was the gluttonous glutton or more commonly referred to as the wolverine.

An animal that I admire greatly making them an easy subject to focus my art on. I could go into detail about all the various traits that make wolverines special. This post would end up being a small research paper by the end of it and not at all about what we are all here for. I don’t think any of us wants that. So instead, I will carry on and share my art.

Initial sketch set. Here we go! Watercolors initiated!

Previously, I did a different variant of this piece with a bear skull and amethyst. I had experimented with hard lines and stippling. This ended up giving the piece a comic book vibe. While it was nice having some solid black lines in the design in the end, it wasn’t the aesthetic I was going for.

I also forgot to take a progression photo after I finished the black watercolor for the background. Truth be told I was listening to music, got in a groove. I didn’t notice till I was almost done with the crystals before I snapped the next shot.

For a while, I have been wanting to use this peacock blue for a crystal color. I had used it as the background wash in a few other pieces but never really spent the time with it that I wanted. Combined with the fact that this is a beast of the north, I felt that it was deserving of a blue homage. Looking back an icy blue might have been a better choice but the time I was set on this color.

Once the crystals were complete, I was able to turn my focus on the skull. This is one of the most rewarding parts of the whole process. At least in my opinion. Seeing the dots slowly bring shadows and depth to the skull is very satisfying.

Here I had decided to make some adjustments to the bone around the eye socket. It felt much too thick so I thinned it up which meant having to fix parts of the crystal.

Doodler Tools:
-Micron 02pt
-ShinHan Water Color
-Staedtler 2H Led

If you’re into learning about wilderness or the perspective of an individual who has hands-on experience with these incredible creatures there is a great book I stumbled on years ago, ‘ The Wolverine Way’ by Douglas Chadwick. This author not only recounts his time spent with the Glacier Wolverine Project but also shares some of his hands-on encounters with wild wolverines and some of the incredible data they were able to collect off the specimens they were working to protect.

Also: If you are an artist on hive searching for a place to share your art with other artists, consider joining and getting to know the art bees community! I have not spent nearly as much time as I should in the discord but there are lovely people in there that are very friendly and welcoming. If you wanna talk about art or are looking to make friends you should join their community.

See the original at: https://peakd.com/hive-159845/@huzzah/the-wolverine