Tiger in its Natural Habitat (in the forests of the night)

by Daniel Mackie November 28, 2011

This illustration was a battle! I was so inspired by the plight of the tiger that I highlighted it in my earlier post. I wanted to stylise the tiger and put his environment inside him, but more than that, I wanted to introduce the camouflage element of stripes that are so distinctly “tiger”. As you’ll see below, I drew out a whole drawing and then abandoned it. It was bit too “pussy cat with a busted up back-end!” I Needed it to be more stealthy. So back to the drawing board I went – this is happening a lot lately. I seem to get too far down a particular avenue before I realise it’s wrong…

I think I got a bit hung up on the painting by Henri Rousseau and the fact I wanted it to echo the suggestion in William Blake’s poem that deadly things are beautiful. I wanted to make the illustration more “jewel” like. I didn’t realise I just needed it to be more “tiger”!

I abandoned this one as it just wasn't working!

Images © Daniel Mackie
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