[Art] Japanese Serow as Totem

The Japanese Serow is a fascinating creature. Also known as a goat-antelope, and the coarse pelt deer, it is a sturdy, reclusive creature that was once nearly hunted to extinction, until a nation wide initiative brought it back and instilled it favourably into Japanese consciousness.

They are the inspiration behind Yakul, Ashitaka's steed in the Studio Ghibli movie, Princess Mononoke

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Japanese Serow // Capricornis crispus // ETSY
Pencil/watercolour pencil/ink/metallic paint + illustration board



( Larger image and photos to show metallic paint beneath the cut )

[Art] Tragedy (Koala as Totem, Australian Fires 2019-2020)

This piece has already sold, and all proceeds (except shipping) have been donated to the WWF Koala Emergency Crisis fund. You can also see a general round up of donation links here. Don't donate to the Salvation Army or St. Vinnies.

I'm sure many of you know by now, but the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season has been catastrophically intense, and of a level not seen by any firefighter in their lives. Over a billion animals are dead, people are dead, species are extinct, houses lost, and the fires are still burning. There are horrible misinformation campaigns by Rupert Murdoch (who is categorically evil) to convince people that these fires are the results of arson, but the majority of them are not, and the intensity is all down to climate change. The fires dwarf the Amazon and Californian fires combined.

They are still burning.

I did this piece after a huge art slump, in part because I just needed to do something. It didn't seem like much, but I am grateful that it ended up selling (I didn't think it would), because I could donate all the proceeds. I cried while sketching it out, and a few other people shared that they cried while seeing it as a work in process. But catharsis can be good, we're all - so many of us - processing so much grief.

This piece deliberately parallels a much earlier 'Koala as Totem' piece from over a decade ago. You can look beneath the cut to see the radical difference in tone.


Tragedy (Koala as Totem, Australian Fires 2019-2020) // Phascolarctos cinereus // ETSY (this piece has sold)
Pencil/watercolour pencil/ink/metallic paint + illustration board



( Larger images, photos and the original 'Koala as Totem' beneath the cut )