Texas Wildlife

Long story short, there's a story about me behind this piece. The funny version is that my friends and I had a heck of a time coming up with an idea for my rodeo contest entry and helped composed a still life using dusty, decade ol' taxidermed animals found around in the classroom. We end up smelling pretty bad and learned never to use dead animals for a still life ever again. You can skip the rest of the entry now and just comment on what you think of it. Thanks!

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Long version that will bore you...
I never liked being forced into the Texas Art Rodeo Competition because I never really liked the theme and the audience was aimed towards a group of cowboy hick judges (no offense). So senior year would be the last year I would have to enter into this contest for a grade and our teacher said if we wanted to make a really good impression on the judges, think of something that would catch their eyes and interest. They love Western life. Horses, saddles, cows, cowboys, coyotes, rattlesnakes, etc. Go with something along those lines.

So I thought, "Hey, why not get a bunch of ferocious dead animals and put them together into a still life? That'll grab their attention for sure!" As you could tell, I was very enthusiastic! *sarcasm*

It was kinda fun drawing it but in the end I was glad it was done to turn into the competition and not having to see it again but to my surprise, my teacher said I got a big nomination for it and they wanted me to come to their award show. I got a blue ribbon, a photo with the judge handing me a gold medal award, and free tickets to the rodeo (which I didn't go to because I wasn't a country fan so I gave it to a friend of mine who loves the rodeo).

In the end, it was an interesting event of my senior year and it made me realize that I may actually have something going on with my skills. I was close to an art depression because with the combination of getting ready for college, a career choice, parents, friends, etc. I didn't know where to go. This was one of the many events that helped resolved my intentions to pursue art and become a better artist.
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Download for original size (warning: it's pretty big).

I'd like your thoughts on this as well, thanx.

**Prismacolor Pencils (if you can tell, the waxy nature of it made my camera eat it), maybe around 4 hours straight, and before you say anything, my intentions were that the animals get more of an emphasis and that's why they're rendered more highly than the background around them. Also I do not encourage hunting and killing animals for sport.**

Peace out!