Holy Raccoons Batman!

For my new commissioned piece (yay!) I am including several animals I don't have much practice in. These include deer, squirrels, rabbits, and raccoons. So I went onto google and started to find and download images for reference. First I did the squirrels...not too shabby. Did you know there are black squirrels that look like lil' rabbits!? Weird..but so cool!

Then I researched deer. Ugh...nothing made me more depressed. I adore animals, ask anyone, and I wouldn't harm an ant! Going through those images, so many trophy images of guys, with their guns, and with a big buck being held up. Or try this one, six deer hanging upside down with a few buddies standing next to them with the biggest smiles. When it comes to hunting live bait (and even with fish it still bugs me), I say the line is drawn when you don't commit to using every last hair of that animal. Why kill it just for the fun of it? I could totally go into a rant right now. Lets just say, I got what I needed and then stopped, I couldn't take much more of it.

Finally I searched for raccoons. Ya know, they get the short stick. I find raccoons adorable, funny as all can be to watch, and clever. Yes, they carry parasites...most animals do, yes they get into garbage...seal it up, yes they get into your house...fix your wall, see where I'm goin? Actually people have them as pets and say they are like a mix between a cat and a monkey. :) The only complaint is they are full of mischief. BUT....they calm down over the years. So I fully enjoyed drawing the raccoons...I know I'll do more. :D