Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Tiger

Tiger (ˈtīgər)

It has been a busy day and I almost thought I would not get one done. I have said it before and I will say it again. People are more important than art. Most of my day was focused on other people.

So here it is. The Tiger is an endangered species. It is threatened by loss of habitat, human and tiger interaction and climate change. They are the largest of the Asian big cats. You can find out more at the World Life Site

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Red Panda

Red Panda (red ˈpandə)

There are less than 10,000 Red Pandas in the wild. They predominately live within the Eastern Himalayas and are threatened by deforestation of the trees they live in and the bamboo, getting caught in traps meant for other animals and for poaching. If you want to find out more on how you can help save them you can go to the World Wildlife Federation here.

I thought it would be good to show a little of my process. I start out collecting a large amount of images. I have recently found that Instagram and Pintrest have a great deal more images than just a google search. I started a pint rest page of animal references that can be found here (Pintrest Site.)

I then do a number of sketches getting used to different proportions. This is a particular animal I have been struggling with. Here are a number of sketches I did before I felt comfortable enough to do a final. I think it is important to realize that we do not always get it on the first try. It is also important to explore options and allow yourself to do some bad drawings. This is the way I learn. It gets frustrating at times, but I always work through it.

Bow Tie Guy of the Day: Dolphin

The Common Bottlenosed Dolphin (ˈkämən ˈbätlˌnōz ˈdälfin)

I never realized there were so many dolphins. This will more than likely be the first of many. Although listed as least concern (there are around 600,000 living in the wild), they are still  on the Endangered Species list. Threats to the dolphin are bycatch, costal development and environmental degradation.  To learn more about them and other endangered species you can go to the World Wildlife Foundation site here.

Weekly Bow tie Guy- Giant Panda

Giant Panda (ˈjīənt ˈpandə)

It could be argued that the giant panda is one of the most recognizable endangered species due largely to the World Wildlife Federation's use of the giant panda as their logo. 

Humans are their greatest threat through deforestation and fragmentation of forests due to roads and railroads. This isolates the pandas form one another and makes it difficult to propagate the species. Currently there are just over 1,800 pandas in the wild.  To put this in perspective the population for the town I live in was 5,981 in 2010. I live in a small town. The college I teach at has a student population of 1,300. 

For more information on the Giant Panda and what you can do to help go to the WWF website. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/giant-panda