Day 1 - Zooly Art Challenge

Hey beautiful people!

So, before we get started, lets start at the beginning, just what is Zooly?

Zooly is a monthly art challenge similar to the ever popular Inktober. It was started by Karen Gillmore and Melody Pena who are both avid wildlife artists themselves. There is a facebook page and they have set up the hashtag #zoolyartchallenge across social media sites twitter and Instagram. If you'd like to join in or even just look at all of the gorgeous artworks being created check them out at https://www.facebook.com/zoolyartchallenge/

Every day there is a different animal chosen to be a drawing prompt. You can see the list below.

Here is the results of my first ever art challenge. It might not be finished but I am really happy with it so far. Its a snow leopard kitten and they are one of my all time favourite animals. I used black soft charcoal and white charcoal with a touch of blue and grey-blue pastel in the eyes all done on toned Strathmore paper. The paper was a bit too smooth for this medium - lesson learned =P, but its nice to get my hands back into sketching.

Cool fact:

Snow leopards have such thick tails because they store fat reserves and the thick fur acts as a blanket they use to keep their face warm while sleeping. So cute!

Snow Leopards are still widely hunted today for the Chinese Medicine trade and Fur Trade. It is believed that as few as 6000 may remain in the wild today and with further habitat loss and hunting they will slip further onto the endangered list. There are people who are trying hard to change that. The wonderful people at Snow Leopard Trust are working with the local community to change the future of Snow Leopards, encouraging conservation rather than extinction. They assist in research programs to discover the direct needs of these beautiful animals so to focus their conservation programs and they also deal directly with various government organisations to effect real change. If you would like to know more please check out their webpage at

https://www.snowleopard.org/

Keep an eye out for tomorrows sketch! the 9-banded armadillo ( I'l need to do some research for that one)

If you like seeing posts like this please feel free to follow my posts and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I will be fairly active and wont leave you hanging, promise!

Have an amazing weekend and stay beautiful.