WhatchamaDRAWit

The main idea that guided this artwork from the beginning was the "WhatchamaDRAWit" prompt I chose, "Draw an animal that growls like a lion and slithers like a snake". During the sketching phase I came up with a few different concepts of how such a creature would look like, I had to figure out how to combine the two animals. With the composition I eventually chose I was trying to convey an animal that might as well be one, since the snake has already half-consumed the lioness. I also wanted to convey the idea of growling/roaring with more than just an expression on the lionesses face so I added a halo-like ring behind the lion's head that is bursting out in different directions. In a way this also helps show the might of the lioness even when faced with an (ironically) bigger opponent. 

The materials I used to make this piece through and through were paper and pencil. I used a softer art pencil from the art room to sketch out the initial concepts for this piece. Then I lightly sketched out the final piece with the soft pencil, allowing me flexibility in changing elements of the drawing without having to erase too much. Then I used a mechanical pencil to create the final dark and indented lines in the paper. I did this section by section, erasing the soft sketch as I went, leaving only bold and crisp lines behind. Finally I used the soft pencil to shade in the mouths of both the creatures and used a blending stick to make the shading darker and more uniform.  

The very first thing I did during this project was practice drawing lions and snakes. I looked up reference images and drew the heads of a lion with a main and a snake with its mouth open. In doing this I got more comfortable drawing something new to me. After doing that I was able to sketch out what the final composition would look like using similar reference photos. During the sketching stage I briefly considered drawing a lion with a mane with a snake around its head in a hood like fashion, in a way portraying how it was still "king of the jungle" even when consumed. I chose the final composition instead because I thought about how that lion would get there, ultimately deciding to draw the lion as the snake tryed to consume it. The ring and lines behind the lion still portraying a roar can be seen as might but also as a cry of terror.