I decided to draw ten Australian animals. Thankfully I could remember ten off the top of my head, four of which are birds to give some variety.
I didn’t like how my first drawing attempts turned out, because even though I was looking at photo references, the proportions were never quite right. So I did what I did during Games Jam when drawing something I’d never attempted before: I drew it in pieces and then assembled them like a cut out.
A lot of this was also practice and experimentation with different brushes to get the fur/feather textures.
The first animal which always comes to mind for Australia, the kangaroo.
Trying to get the iconic tail was tricky but I’m quite happy with this result better than the other attempt (and that the head is in proportion). I also did two renditions of the torso for the male and female without and with the pouch, because a pet peeve of mine is that they get mixed up so frequently.
Early attempt at texturing fur.
Probably the second most recognizably Australian animal, the koala.
This one was much easier to draw anyway, being mostly ovals and fluff. (I honestly forgot how many fingers they have but I do know they have two thumbs). It does have a noticeably different eye design then the kangaroo but I will use both styles.
The only real surprise for me is when I drew the definition for it’s chin it now looks like a big smile.
Probably less known than the previous two but still unique is the wombat.
One of the easiest ones I had to draw but no less fun. Actually quiet proud of the head shape and nose design.
Again, one of the most recognizably Australian sounds is the call of the kookaburra.
After looking at some photos as a reference, I noticed the older ones had the feathers on their head smoothed down while the juvenile ones had feathers sticking up. I liked the look so much I drew it.
Early attempt at texturing feathers.
One of the truths of Australian life is that magpies exist, as does swooping season.
It was interesting how different it was in design to the kookaburra, especially beak design and colour pallet. But I quite like how it turned out.
Another recognizable Australian bird, the rainbow lorikeet.
After the magpie all this colour was fun to work with, especially the beak and which patches had what feathers.
The reason this particular drawing has the most realistically drawn eye out of the ten animals is because I have a healthy fear of Pip, my friend’s pet rainbow lorikeet.
There are a lot of Australian birds, but I decided to go with the galah rather than the sulfur crested cockatoo is because I wanted to see how the pink and grey combines.
It’s beak looks like it’s been squished into the feathers, so why does that make it look so cute?
Similar to the kookaburra, the juveniles tend to have feathers sticking up on their head. Another difference is that unlike the three previous birds on a perch, this one tends to like standing in the grass.
Another iconic animal, and reality of life in Australia, is the brushtailed possum.
This was trickier to draw than I expected, but I’m happy with the final result. Maybe the fluffy effect could have been better on the tail but I’m happy with the fur texture overall.
The expression of guilt is purposeful, but that won’t stop it from destroying the veggie patch or tap dancing on the roof.
One of the weirdest animals to exist and one of the weirdest to draw, the platypus.
Most reference photos were of it swimming underwater so it ended up having a rather streamlined look. (Took all my willpower not to turn it into Perry the Platypus)
Again, it has the same eye design as the kangaroo.
And finally we have the echidna.
This one turned out way better than I expected because I wasn’t sure how the spikes would look. But since they’re such a light colour it was a great contrast to the dark brown.
The shape and silhouette is pretty simple and the spiky outline helps with the look so I don’t have to draw each one individually.
