Komodo Dragon

Grizzly Bear

Quick sketch of big brown bear.

Barn Owl

Beautiful Pest (Canada Geese)

One of our areas largest invasive species.... still a very beautiful bird.

Koala

Rottie

Quick sketch of doggie

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Updated)

This is what my drawings look like lately before I start adding tones or color. Hopefully I will finish this one soon.


Here's the finished piece

Golden Frog of Supatá (With COLOR!)

A type of poison dart frog discovered just last year in Columbia.

From National Geographic:

August 30, 2007—It's a good thing this frog is small, because it doesn't have much room to maneuver.

This newly discovered species of poison frog is a mere 0.8 inch (2 centimeters) long and exists only in a patch of forest about the size of ten city blocks.

Scientists discovered the tiny amphibian in February while surveying the high-elevation cloud forests of central Colombia.

The animal, dubbed the golden frog of Supatá, has a range of just 50 acres (20 hectares), which experts say may explain why it had not been discovered earlier.

The new species belongs to a group of dart frogs, some of which are extremely toxic, said Giovanni Chaves, a biologist with the nonprofit Conservation Leadership Program that organized the expedition.

"They possess [compounds] that can be very toxic if they are ingested or have contact with any mucous [membrane] or open wound," he said.

But the real danger in the region is not the frog, Chaves said—it's the mounting environmental threats that are encroaching on the animal's slim habitat.

"This frog exists in a little fragment of cloud forest that is under intense anthropogenic pressure, mainly the destruction of the forest for cattle-raising and agriculture," he said.

"This discovery allows us to know a little more about the ecology of these beautiful animals, and it will also allow us to use it as a symbol to carry out campaigns of environmental education in this area, to show the need to protect and to conserve the fauna and flora of this region of Colombia."

Scorpion

Not sure what variety, but it's a scorpion, on top of a tribal background I doodled in.

Silverback Gorilla

Quick sketch of big monkey.

Wilson's Bird of Paradise

Photo Ref: http://i.pbase.com/u34/r53lanc/upload/37557333.Wilsons_BOP.jpg

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Wilson's Bird of Paradise, Cicinnurus respublica is a small, up to 21cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. The male is a red and black bird of paradise with a yellow mantle on its neck, light green mouth, rich blue feet and two curved violet tail feathers. The head is naked blue with black double cross pattern on it. The female is a brownish bird with bare blue crown.

I was introduced to this family of birdy by watching the Planet Earth series on Discovery. Though I’m fine with how the drawing turned out, you can’t quite depict the unique beauty of this bird without using color. Maybe I’ll start doing some more painting style images with more color… they just take a bit longer.

Kookaburra

Keeping w/ the Aussie theme...

Excerpt from Pikiwedia:

Kookaburras are very large terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea, the name a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, which is onomatopoeic of its call.

Panda Playing Didge(eridoo)

Felt like doing a funny image that I didn't have to take too seriously. I enjoyed drawing the giant panda last night so much that I thought I would do this one.

Giant Panda

Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta)

Drawn from a recent photo.

Excerpt from http://www.dgif.state.va.us:

The painted turtle is the most common basking turtle observed in Virginia. This is a moderate-sized freshwater turtle that grows to a maximum carapace length of 7.2 inches. It has red markings on the marginal scutes and a notched upper jaw. The carapace is smooth, oval, and flattened, with the highest and widest points at the center. The back edge of the shell is not serrated. The carapace is olive to black with yellow or red borders along the seams and red bars or crescents on the marginals. Juveniles are patterned and colored as adults. The carapace is usually round for the first two years of life and elongation occurs thereafter. This species may be confused with other basking turtles when viewed from a distance. Pseudemys rubriventris and P. concinna lack the two yellow spots on the head, and are usually much larger, and have highly-domed shells compared to painted turtles. T. scripta scripta has distinct indentations along the posterior margin of the carapace and an elongated yellow bar on the side of the head. The introduced red-eared slider (T. s. elegans) has an elongated, reddish patch behind the eye. The painted turtle is most active between March and October, but it may be seen basking on warm winter days. It hibernates under logs or stumps underwater, or in muskrat or beaver lodges. Females nest on land, usually around April, and the eggs incubate for about 75 days.

Polar Bear and Cub

Channel Catfish (with manhands)

Catfish that was caught from the Potomac river in MD being gently grasped by Timmy. A rather quick sketch.

Galapagos Marine Iguana

Excerpt from www.rit.edu:

Perhaps no member of the Galapagos fauna has met with as much revulsion by historic visitors as the marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus. In 1798, Captain James Colnett wrote:

"The guanas are small, and of a sooty black, which, if possible, heightens their native ugliness. Indeed, so disgusting is their appearance, that no one on board could be prevailed on, to take them as food."

Indeed, even Darwin himself was much replused by it, calling it "a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements."

In his diary, he noted that :
"The black Lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large (2-3 ft) most disgusting clumsy Lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl & seek their prey from the Sea. Somebody calls them 'imps of darkness'. They assuredly well become the land they inhabit."

Darwin can suck it... These guys are awesome!