Paws 4 Thought

This is a sketch of a young leopard cub from a female called Schotias. It pauses before investigating two Siafu ants

It has been sketched using the medium of Pastel on Pastelmat board whilst using a beautiful reference photograph courtesy of Peter Caley.

Below are the sequence of photos showing how I sketched the above image

The laborious task of lightly sketching in the markings and overall outline of the cub

I'm starting on the base layer of the background

Added its ears and tstarted on the wide eyes

Working on the cub at my easle

Here I've gradually worked on the snout and mouth of the cub

The cubs face is now completed as I move onto it's neck and shoulders

I'm now gradually moving down the shoulder onto the front leg of the cub

I use a piece of paper to rest my palm on to avoid smudging, as I add the lighter fur

I slowly worked down the cubs back before starting on the leg and then tail

I've now added its whiskers, hind leg and tail.

Just adding some finer detail to the cub before moving onto the foreground

I'm starting on the foreground by adding a couple of ants and dry bits of grass

That's it finished, now off to the Framers Gallery to be scanned and framed

Scanned image, you can get a signed limited edition print here >