Wolves and Bison

Here's another design for Groundswell Greetings. I loved drawing these wolves!

Here's a closer look:

 

And here's a look at the preliminary drawing. I did change the design. The wolves would have been too small on the card with my original plan:

Unlike the bighorn sheep, I have been lucky enough to see wolves in real life. The photos below are from the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone this past September. I added the arrows to point out the wolves. It was very easy to watch them with binoculars or a scope, but harder to see in a photograph. You can see the elk they were hunting in the river of the first picture.

Photo by Zachary Gillespie

Photo by Zachary Gillespie

I've also seen too many bison to count! So, of course I had to paint a bison card too.

Here's the preliminary drawing:

And some excellent bison photos by Zack. Baby bison are called red dogs:

Photo by Zachary Gillespie

Photo by Zachary Gillespie

Bighorn Sheep Card

When I was asked to design cards inspired by animals, conservation and national parks by Groundswell Greetings, I knew that I had to draw some bighorn sheep! 

Here's closer look:

Here's the preliminary drawing:

Do you see what I changed?

The closest I have come to seeing a bighorn sheep in person is the diorama at the Academy of Natural Sciences here in Philly, but I've spent LOTS of time looking. 

I know I've been near sheep... I've even seen their tracks in snow on Mount Washburn in Yellowstone, but I haven't been able to spot them.  My boyfriend Zack and I have seen lots of signs like this:

But still no sheep sightings!

Here's just a few of the places I've tried:

Arches National Park... Hey look! Sheep!

Zack looking in Canyonlands National Park

Bighorn National Forest... that's me, not sheep

Bighorn National Forest... they've got to be here!

Baronette Peak, Yellowstone. No Sheep, but we saw mountain goats

Mount Washburn, Yellowstone. We saw sheep prints in the snow

Death Canyon, Grand Teton National Park. I looked at these rocks with binoculars for ages!

Death Canyon, Grand Teton National Park. I'd seriously live here if I were a sheep.

I know I'll see them someday! I just have to take more trips.

Fox Card

This design will be a Father's Day Card for Groundswell Greetings, a Philly-based stationery business.

When I researched and found out that foxes are good animal dad's I couldn't resist!

Here's a closer look:

I rarely change the final painting much from my preliminary drawing, but this time I made an exception. I made the dad fox's face a little rounder and friendlier. You can see a peek at the original version in the Instagram post below. It's a lot more realistic, but the dad looks more annoyed than I would have liked.

Kids are loud 🦊🎤 ...Inspired by the fox kit @zgillespie215 photographed this week. #wip #illustration #redfox

A post shared by Sarah Ryan (@sarahryandraws) on Feb 12, 2017 at 4:01pm PST

If you want to see a REALLY cute fox, check out the one my boyfriend photographed last week:

A post shared by Zachary Gillespie (@zgillespie215) on Feb 10, 2017 at 9:22am PST

Manatee Card

Here's another card design for Groundswell Greetings.

I love manatees! I accidentally swam with a manatee in Florida. We went snorkeling, but it was too muddy to see anything. Suddenly, a giant flipper breaks the surface of the water next to us! It scared everyone until we realized what it was. 

The preliminary drawing from my sketchbook is below:

Mama and baby ❤ #wip #illustration #manatee #everglades

A post shared by Sarah Ryan (@sarahryandraws) on Feb 4, 2017 at 1:18pm PST

Rooster Card

Hello!

I've been working on some card designs for Groundswell Greetings, a new Philadelphia based greeting card business.

My first design is a rooster since 2017 is the year of the rooster.

Here's a closer look:

I had a lot of fun drawing the tail!

My preliminary drawing is below:

I'm taking a break from puppies to work on designs for @groundswellgreetings . They are an exciting Philly based stationery business starting up this spring... Go check them out! #illustration #rooster #wip #groundswellgreetings #teamgg

A post shared by Sarah Ryan (@sarahryandraws) on Jan 31, 2017 at 12:52pm PST

.... and here's an in progress shot from Instagram: