"Creatures of the woods" is a series of animal portraits, the ones you could find in the Appennini mountains and hills, in Italy.
Since it was required from the client as a gift for a newborn, I attempt to infuse each illustration with a sense of mistery and wonder, and tried not to focus too much on realistic outcomings.
Here you can see the process behind the first illustration, the fox. It was the only one I drew without making a sketch first, and you can see I started with a very different shape for the subject, and realized later on that it looked more like a wolf and changed it.
The next two illustrations were more planned, and I'm not entirely sure it was a good thing. It helped speed the process, yes, but I think sometimes you just have to go with the flow ( I like the fox better, I think it's a more spontaneous artwork). Here are the sketches of the deer and the boar cub:
