The Last of the Big Tuskers: One Ton

This large Tusker roamed the the Chyulu Hills in Kenya until his passing in July 2026

This large Tusker roamed the Chyulu Hills in Kenya. It's assumed that One Ton wasn’t originally from this area, however it has been agreed that he is most likely to have originated from the Tsavo region. He sadly broke his beautiful right tusk in 2011 in a territorial battle with another large bull.

The name One Ton originates from Richard Bonham from Big Life Foundation. It comes from Richard's racing youth when he would get his cars up to 100kph or "one ton". This is almost as quick as One Ton used to charge at humans in the early days.

This image was sketched in Pastel on Pastel Matt Board whilst using an amalgamation of reference photographs, one of which was courtesy of Maurice Schutgens.

The original is available for purchase.

Below is how I sketched this image in pastels

I chalked in the rough outline of the elephant and then added in Unison light blue 16 pastel for the sky tone

I then added a suggestion of distant trees and bushes and worked on his right ear before I move across to his forehead

I'm currently working on the background bush.

I the moved onto his forehead and eyes and then starting to go down his trunk and onto his right tusk

Gradually I worked on the details of the trunk, his broken right tusk and then his left ear.

Here I'm adding the shadow on the areas of folds on his ear before I move onto his larger tusk and then back legs

i"ve now added his longer tusk and have worked on his legs before I then move onto his rump and belly

The stomach is complete, as I now chalked in some dust. I've also added hills in the distance to give the image depth

Here I'm still working on the little blemishes and nicks that are characteristic to One Ton

I still have few bits to do before I take it to be scanned and framed at Framers Gallery