#proboscidea

So last year I had this idea about doing some semi-caricatured sketches of fossil elephant species, then putting them together in a kind of size chart set up. But I ended up doing some other pieces in the middle of it and never came back to it.

Since tomorrow is World Elephant Day, I figured now was as good a time as any to bring it all back up and show what I had. I may come back to this idea again, but I think this piece is done. I’ve learned a lot since starting it, and I probably wouldn’t continue in the style I started it in. The first pic is kind of a mashed together mock-up of where I wanted to take it.

Hope you enjoy this look into the process of an early, unfinished piece.

Elephants are my favorite animal, but I always found African elephants to be more charismatic so I’ve never drawn Asian elephants all that much. Felt like doing a quick study today. 

I don’t know how plausible that rearing pose is but I did it without copying a reference photo and it seems like it could be super dynamic with some tweaking.