Jaguar

Been a while since I did a big cat design.  In that vein, following up on the Amazon folks, here is the only American big cat: the mighty jaguar.

Ever wonder how you tell the difference between a jaguar and a leopard? Here's a handy chart explaining it, though, if you're seeing it in the wild, the first question you should ask is "Am I in the Americas?" If your answer is yes, then it's a jaguar. If not, it's a leopard.

The actual easiest way to tell is that a leopard has black-edged spots with a light center. Jaguars have larger black-edged spots with a darker center and little dots inside the big spot. Also, jaguars are thicker and stockier. Leopards are more lithe.

Best not to go check it out anywhere outside of a zoo, though, lest you find yourself unwitting prey.

Snow Leopard Animation

I've written about animating quadrupeds before, so, with a new drawing tablet for Christmas, I decided to try it out by creating a little snow leopard. I used a bit of reference from the playful snow leopard cub at the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago.

It's a rough pencil test, with a lot that could be fixed, but it was fun to do, and I'm pretty happy with the results!

Scared Lion

I haven't posted anything in a while, mostly because of various travels both domestic and international.  But, I've been drawing away all that time!  Today, I was playing with Corel Painter (so much better than Photoshop for artistic stuff) and made a scared lion.  The brushes are so much fun!

I wonder why he's so scared.

That Time I Almost Got Killed by a Lion

Happy 2012, people! So, it's not a new year if there aren't some new YouTube videos floating around the interwebs. Am I right?

One of them caught my eye (and about 3 million other eyes, too, apparently). It's of a little girl at a zoo in New Zealand. She's standing about six inches from the maw of a huge male lion, separated only by a (hopefully thick) pane of plexiglass. The lion starts batting at the glass, trying to get at the girl. Dinner--so close, yet so far away.



Seeing that video reminded me of my own zoo lion adventure a few years ago. I was in Birmingham, Alabama, visiting my grandparents. Almost by tradition, we visit the zoo every time we're in town. Even as twenty-somethings, my grandmother, Muv, usually takes us, because she's awesome (and because we all love getting spend some time with her).

So, we went together. We had a lovely time meandering about. Muv showed me some new additions they had installed, and it was generally just a pleasant afternoon. The sun was out, the day was warm. What could go wrong?

We walked up to the big cat area (my favorite, obviously!)


The lions at the Birmingham Zoo are in a big outdoor pen behind some glass, next to the "Big Cat House." They're usually really boring, sleeping all the time and rarely doing anything. It looked to be another one of those days. They were all just lazing about.


The big male, though, did lift his head up and yawn. It was just another day for him, reigning over his little quarter-acre plot.


However, as he finished his yawn, he looked over at us. He must see hundreds of humans every day, but for whatever reason, we interested him. He glared at me, and I glared right back.



Then I had the worst possible reaction. My cats enjoy playing a little bit of cat-and-mouse. I move my hand around a bit or wiggle a laser pointer, and they go all bonkers over it. Wouldn't a lion, which is just a big kitty, want to do the same thing?

Keeping eye contact, I started dipping and dodging, running back and forth along the little fence in front of the glass.


Sure enough, the lion kept watching me. He quietly got up and started walking toward me.


That's when I realized that I was actually being hunted by a lion. He had crouched into the medium-tall grass a few dozen yards away and was inching a little closer each moment.

Once again, I made clear why I would die if I had to survive in the wild. While a normal human/prey reaction would be to stop taunting a 500 lb. cat and run, I just doubled down on my efforts. Muv was starting to get a little nervous.

"Josh," she said, "I don't know if you should keep doing that. I think he's actually stalking you."


A moment after she said that, the lion charged. I was amazed at how quickly it ran and, as it approached, how big it really was. It lunged at the glass, and we both jumped back.



The lion hit the glass--BAM!--at full speed, and the stuff shook violently. We weren't close enough to the door of the Big Cat House to escape if it broke, and I quickly figured that I'd push Muv out of the way so the lion could eat me. I mean, it wanted to eat me anyway, so I don't think my potential gallantry would've changed much, but whatever.


The glass did hold (whew!), but the lion still stood there, on its hind legs, at least seven feet tall, growling and batting at the glass. It never once stopped staring at me, which was kind of frightening. I've never had anything want so desperately for me to be dead.


We watched it for a bit before heading into the Big Cat House. The lion was not a happy camper, and a crowd was starting to develop. I figured the thing would probably calm itself down if I were no longer part of the excitement.

I don't think we got any pictures of the event (did you, Muv?). It was terrifying. And awesome. Lions are so cool.

Assuming the lion is still the same as it was a few years ago, his name is Kwanzaa (deadliest holiday ever, apparently), and he just became a dad. Good for him. Here's a video of him being trained. Around the :40 mark, he goes up on his hind legs. Notice how huge he is and how much he could make you dead if he wasn't barricaded by something. Eek.

I'm Back, With Another Big Cat! And other stuff!

Of course I am. Sorry, I've been gone for a while. Been busy getting married and stuff. Yay for that. Maybe I'll do a little illustratin' later about it

Here's a snow leopard that I did on real paper instead of on the new-fangled computer gizmo that's all the rage with the kids these days.


I've also been somewhat religiously listening to Nickel Creek, and loving their song "The Fox." I decided to do a few illustrations for it in my notebook (watercolor!):


Also, just working on either a zebra or a quagga. Not sure, which is why it isn't finished. I was thinking it would be an angel quagga looking at an angel dodo. Poor extinct animals...

How About A Little Motivation?

I get pretty cynical about motivational quotes and posters and things, mostly because I don't think the person who expresses the sentiment has any idea of the context of it. For example, I recently saw someone use a quote from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame about love. It was a nice little statement, but I doubt that the friend has any idea that (spoiler!) in the book, Quasimodo, the hunchback, dies (starvation), as does the love interest, Esmerelda (hanged), and the villain, Frollo (thrown from the top of the cathedral). It's a tragic story of unrequited love in the face of physical deformity, Church law, and different ethnicities. Using a quote from it for your marriage isn't bad, per se, but it seems somehow...unadvised?

Here, on the other hand is a good motivational poster that made me laugh, courtesy of S.T. Lewis:

Lion Drawing

I promise that at some point I will stop drawing big cats.  I promise I have more to my repertoire.  They're just so fun.

I spent the day at the zoo, sketching animals.  The gorillas were having a good time, so I might do something with one of them.  Or maybe a rhinoceros or a giraffe.  Or, maybe a leopard becau--doh!  No, not a leopard.

Well, maybe a leopard.

Yet Another Cheetah Drawing

Been working on some drawings. They're of cheetahs, which is a surprise to no one.  I've been once again practicing light and shadow, so here's an example.  I also had a little fun with depth-of-field in the background.  I need more work on that kind of thing, but there you go.