Odd Animals

A while ago I started a small project to illustrate a series of unusual animals, one for each letter of the alphabet.  I took it as far as a thumbnail sketch of each one, then I hit a bit of a stumbling block when I couldn't decide what sort of style to illustrate them in.  As with many of my ideas it went on the proverbial back burner (its a very big back burner!).

Recently I was moaning to my ever patient wife about what style to do them in when she gave me some damn good advice,  "do them in your own style".  As I have been trying to improve my painting of late I decided to try using acrylic on them and not overthinking what the end result would look like.  Here are the first couple, along with an initial octopus test piece.  Its a fairly big undertaking so I cant say how quickly I will get through them but I will attempt to do all 26.

Aye-aye

Blowfish

Octopus

Self Portrait

Its been a good long time since I attempted a self portrait and even longer since I tried painting one.  As I continue in my quest to become a better artist I am painfully aware that a lack of skill with paint is something I need to address.  Recently I have been doing small paint studies and still lives to try and introduce myself to the medium with the intention of being able to paint (among other things) a half decent face.  This is not that face.

However it is a start, I am very often guilty of procrastinating by practicing and never actually attempting the thing I am working towards.  In an attempt to break this bad habit I painted this piece.  Some things about it I like, some things not so much.