"Sunkissed"

"Sunkissed"

2024

Not a very easy drawing to render considering I'm struggling through an art block, but it came out alright.

Inspired by @pascualnico98 on Instagram.

"Massive"

2023

Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Fun-loving Humpback whale. I had the great privilege and joy of seeing these animals in the wild almost a year ago, though unfortunately there was no jumping. 

"Vanishing Homeland"

2024

Palestine Mountain Gazelle (Gazella gazella)

A Palestine Mountain Gazelle surveys the ravages of colonialism on its habitat. 

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The myth that Israeli settlers are indigenous to the land of Palestine is absurd on many fronts, among them being their mistreatment of that same land they claim to belong to. For starters, the state of Israel is highly dependant on and contributing to the military industrial complex, one of the most oppressive and polluting entities on the planet. They're also famous (or rather, infamous) for uprooting and destroying native crops and trees and replacing them with invasive plants that not only require more water to tend, but that are also more susceptible to fires. In attempts to greenwash their occupation, they raze Palestinian villages and neighborhoods and build natural parks and reserves on top of them, thus continuing on with a centuries-old colonial practice that has been put to use on stolen lands everywhere. And just like the US-Mexico border wall on my side of the world, the equally racist Apartheid Wall on the West Bank divides up the landscape and severely impedes the free movement of both people and wildlife. The list goes on.

I guess the ecological impact of the current genocidal aggression on Gaza will not be fully apparent until the smoke clears. But already we do know that the first months of the bombing released more emissions than 20 climate vulnerable nations do in a year...so there's that. 

All this to say that for people that are so zealous of their supposed "rights" to the land, Israeli Zionists really do seem to go out of their way to hurt it...to carve it up...to destroy it. And that's what colonizers, anytime, everywhere, do. 

"Nature's Spear"

2024

Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)

In the mood to draw rhinos. It's curious how in the two African species the horns sometimes grow ridiculously long.

The pose and perspective made this fellow challenging to draw and to shade, but it came out quite alright.

"Afro"

2024

Lighting study that also served to try my hands at drawing big bushy hair.

"For Frodo"

2023

The Men of the West were trapped, and soon, all about the grey mounds where they stood, forces ten times and more than ten times their match would ring them in a sea of enemies. Sauron had taken the proffered bait in jaws of steel. 

-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien

There are two great, epic battle charges in Return of the King: the Ride of the Rohirrim is the first one, and this is the second. The Fellowship of the Ring, gathered with what little remains of their forces, making one last, defiant stand in what can only be described as the gates of Hell itself. Not for themselves, but for Frodo and his Quest at the heart of the Enemy's land. 

I have seen some book purists complain that Mount Doom and Barad-dûr should not be discernible from the Black Gate, but I for one love this change. It makes it more daunting to have the Dark Tower loom high above Aragorn and his army, with the Eye of Sauron staring right at them. Subsequently, it makes their charge right towards it all the more brave, and epic, and badass.