“Tundra God/Miyazaki ‘Boo”

Another class demo done for the Pen & Ink course (similar to a recent one of a buffalo), where I experimented with more tools + techniques; using India ink with brush, dip-pen, also Micron/Copic markers + Sakura Gelly Roll white ink pen, and wash with Derwent brand Inktense water-soluble colored pencils, and lastly a dose of varnish to bring out the details and lay on some luster. Since the evening class is after hours and most of my usual go-to community resources are closed (like the Museum of the North, Fish & Game etc) so for the first time in a decade I took the class on a safari field sketching trip to capture some textures in the wild at an alternative site Sportsman's Warehouse. I first focused on one mount on display in the store, then kept incorporating multiple other animal's antlers so as to evoke Miyazaki's iconic creation the Forest God from my personal favorite Studio Ghibli movie ever, "Princess Mononoki." I was obviously still under the influence of seeing only a couple days earlier the official 4k remastered IMAX version that was re-released and ran for a few days in Fairbanks. Having never before seen it on the big screen it was a thoroughly transcendent experience, on par with "Flow" and "The Iron Giant," which incidentally rounds out my top three animated movies of all time.