When my mother requested/ commissioned me for a grizzly bear drawing I was very excited. However what she had in mind was something shockingly complex. I let her chose the photo she wanted from fotolia.com which is my favourite stock image site. She chose a grizzly standing in a waterfall with a fish in his mouth, with multiple types of water surface, he had wet fur, dry hair, fuzzy fur, damp fur and everything in between.
Beginning the GRizzly bear drawing
This grizzly bear drawing was extremely challenging and took a very long time for me to complete. I knew I would speed through the actual bear so I wanted to leave that fairly late. The water was very tricky it was one of the first times I had done water where it was a major part of the scene.
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Grizzly bear progress shots
I also brought two products that work together to help me with the water. It is basically white coloured pencil in powder form so you then paint it on. This helps with adding brighter whites, or making highlights on a drawing after completing the darker areas. It worked really well. I found adding all the details to the water made it mostly light grey. So I wanted to bring back those bright whites. Also there were areas where the water is dripping in front of the bear, so I needed the water to be slightly transparent to show the bear behind it. So it worked really well.
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Here are some Grizzly Bear Interesting Facts
- Grizzly bears first originated in Europe and Asia, but now can only be found in Canada and America.
- They can Stand as tall as 2.5 m (8 ft) and weighing up to 360 kg (800 lbs.),
- To survive the winter they may intake 40 kg (90 lbs.) of food each day, gaining over 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) of body weight a day.
- Grizzlies will eat anything nutritious they can find, gorging on nuts, fruit, leaves, roots, fungi, insects, and a variety of animals including salmon and other fish, rodents, sheep, and elk. Their diet varies depending on what foods are available for the season.
- During hibernation their heart rate slows down from 40 beats per minute to 8.
- The cubs stay under their mother’s care for 2-3 years.
- They are good swimmers and fast runners, reaching speeds as high as 50 km/h (35 mph) over land.
- Grizzlies have an astute sense of smell, even better than that of a hound dog.
- They are highly intelligent and have excellent memories.
- In the late summer and early fall, grizzlies enter hyperphagia, a period of 2-4 months when they intensify their calorie intake to put on weight for winter denning.
- A grizzly bear’s front claws measure about 2-4 inches in length.
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