Bunnies (so many bunnies)

In order to bring some focus to my art practice, I decided I would pick a "theme" for this year. And then, because I am prone to overthinking, I picked the first theme idea that popped into my head:

MEADOW

In practice, the theme has manifested as bunnies. Lots and lots of bunnies.

First, Find the Form

Whenever I set out to draw an animal, I start with studying reference photos. I want to figure out how the animal "works" before I start applying my style. This looks like lots and lots of scritchy-scrambly doodle pages in a cheap notebook with whatever pen happens to be nearby.

After I do this for a while, I start to get bored. I have not yet achieved greatness in terms of capturing rabbit likenesses, but my brain gets itchy and I have to move on.

Smush and Stretch

I start to experiment with making parts of the bunny bigger and parts smaller. (Huge ears? Tiny ears? Huge paws? Tiny paws?)

I also use "Cartooning 101" type exercises and break the bunny into geometric shapes... a triangle for the head, maybe, or a square.

Stuff gets a little... weird.

Eventually, I move to another notebook or my iPad to start drawing with a little more intention. Often this happens while I'm binging a TV show. My brain needs to be doing more than one thing at once, even if it's doing both badly.

Getting "Serious" about Bunnies

I always admire people who have a distinct art style. When I look at these four bunnies, I see four entirely different styles. Could someone tell they were all made by the same person? If I had to pick one to become "my style," how could I ever choose? I honestly don't understand how other artists do it.

And a lot of my creations fall closer to the cute/twee side of things, like this happy little jackelope.

So who am I as an artist? Some days I have no idea. Maybe instead of a style, I'm going for an emotion. I want my art to make people smile, to engender joy.

Or maybe I'm overthinking again. I don't know.

In any case, I hope you've enjoyed today's panoply of bunnies. Please let me know if you have a favorite. Should any of them become greeting cards or T-shirts? Or should I simply keep drawing bunnies because there are still bunnies to be drawn?

Thanks for reading,

Jenn

PS. Bonus Creepy Bunny.