Z is for Zebra

Here it is the last animal. The stain is one and I'm ready to polyeurathane.

Y is for Yak

I wanted to do a Yetti but since I nixed the Unicorn I figured it wasn't fair.

X is for X-ray fish

In the South corner is Mr. Invisibility, the x-ray fish. It was the best one I could come up with unless I wanted to use genus or order names (Xerus, Xanarthra)

W is for Wolf

I got lucky and figured a way to sneak the moon into the board as well.

V is for Vulture

U is fo Urial

The Urial is a medium-sized wild sheep and as such is considered a member of the goat antelope subfamily. The Urial is also known as Shapo or Arkhar. Noticeable features are the reddish-brown long fur that will fade during the winter. Males are characterized by a black ruff stretching from the neck to the chest and significantly larger horns. Said to live in the mountains but it also seems to come down to the grasslands quite a bit too.

It took me some time and a little research to find a cool looking animal (besides a Unicorn) for the letter U. One (and the only)person knew this animal immediatlely upon seeing it. Jake; he was 1 and 1/2.

T is for Turtle

Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sun and The Sea

Up at the top of the board I burned in the sun and the ocean. I'm not sure if they are visible in this picture but if you look close you'll see fish swimming in the waves. They are gold fish of the nabisco genus.

S is for Seal

R is for Racoon

I had a such a blast doing these trouble makers that I couldn't do just one.

Q is for Quail

A bobwhite I think.

P is for Pig

The tracker already knows what animal is next, and as a tribute to him, it is the only animal with obvious tracks on the board.

O is for Owl

The Owl sits watching fitfully from the West corner.

N is for Narwhal

M is for Monkey

We got the monkeys...We got the monkeys..

L is for Lion

Protecting the North corner is the Lion!! rrrrrrrrrr!

K is for Kangaroo

and a Kid in the pouch

J is for Jaguar

Or a puma dressed up in a jaguar suit. I've since learned the Jaguar has a smaller tail and hind quarter, good size head and shoulders. I think I got the spots right.

I is for Iguana

I'd be very impressed if anyone came up with a recomendation for an iguana story

This is one of those images by Roger Hall.

H is for Horse

Horse stories

G is for Giraffe

Giraffe stories?

Climbing Tree

Who has been in this tree in the center of my storyboard?

F is for Frog

Now that I know a little more about frogs and know I can burn with much more detail I'm not crazy about this one. It was the first animal I burned and it is very basic in detail. But it certainly shows you get better with practice.

E is for Elephant

A baby elephant with a friend.

Any elephant story ideas?

D is for Deer

Someone must have some deer story suggestions to read. I liked the intent stare and simple line of this drawing. This is one of the animals that was hard to get right. Even when you trace its amazing how much a slight difference in line, darkness size etc can change the expression, especially in the eyes. I had the same trouble with the Lion.

C is for Chipmunk

Any chipmunk story suggestions/foklore?

B is for Bear

Black bear. Took me a while to find one in this posture.

Any bear story suggestions?

A is for Alligator

This came from a photo of an albino alligator. It made it easy to trace the important lines. He protects the Southeast corner of the board

Alligator Story Suggestions?

Window Seat Story Board

We have a window seat in a room that will be a nursery. The dormered window has a 4ft x 2ft window seat that I wanted to cover with wood. I joined a couple of boards and started thinking about putting a design on it. I bought a wood burner for 10 bucks and practiced to see if I could use it to draw something. It seemed to work ok. My initial design was a frame with a Tree in the bottom middle and a sun on the top. By some majic it worked out that I had 26 three inch spaces to put pictures in around the inside. I decided on animals, one for each letter. The artwork came mostly from stuff I printed from Google Images. I would then trace it onto tracing paper, rub it onto the wood, then burn the lines and shading. I originally expected to only get outlines like the frog but the more I did, the better I got. My favorite source was the stuff I got from Roger Halls website www.inkart.net. I know its pirating but its not like I'm selling this. My main test was to see if I could get it to burn okay and still be recognizable as that animal. The outer boarder contains many fun objects to find, flowers, leaves, shells a WWI dogfight, and more. Two sets of tracks, Bear and quail. Soon to be stained lightly and poly'd. Now I just have to start learning stories and various info about these animals. So if you have any suggestions please post.

-Spellbound