[ drawing / time lapse ] Virginia opossum

It's been a while since I uploaded a Procreate time-lapse! I do my final work in Adobe Photoshop, and I mainly use my iPad for studying and ideation. So, this isn't the final finished drawing. Still, it's fun to watch timelapses sometimes, and it's a good way to show you guys that I'm a human and not a robot.🥴

Oh, by the way, the gecko appears first in the timelapse 😅 : [WIP] Leopard gecko (I have a bad habit of sketching new things on top of old sketches instead of creating a new canvas, so.)

The animal theme for this drawing was decided through an Animal Drawing and Popularity Poll 3 held recently.

The results of the vote show that the opossum won first place.

I said I would draw the winning animal within three months, and I did rough sketches the opossum for it~ (I'll draw the animals that didn't win this vote someday. I usually draw two to four more from the list. Those of you who have been watching me for a while will probably know 😁)

When I draw animals that are unfamiliar to me and new to me, I first research them. Land animals, especially those familiar to humans, have a wealth of information available. I start by looking up videos. I can immediately see their habitat, size, and movement.

The Secret Life of Opossums

I learned a lot of useful information from this video.

For example, the image of them hanging from a tree branch by their tails is very famous, but it's actually a misconception. I wouldn't have known this if I had just searched for the image.

Also I learned that "Playing possum" / their open-mouthed, threatening behavior is actually a sign of extreme fear (as many animals probably are). After learning about the negative image and misconceptions they have locally, I became a little more cautious. I originally planned to draw it with a bit of a playful feel, but I'm considering completing it with a more comfortable and soft feel.

I studied them using videos and photos of actual animals as reference. I drew them roughly, analyzed their characteristics, and then considered how to characterize and express them - considered the emotions I felt from them, the points I liked, and other things like that.

I love this animal's fluffy and fuzzy ball shape, but for some reason, I'm also deeply drawn to its sharp, pointed face.

The points I thought a lot about were their snouts, eyes, and feet. The toes look like they're wearing fingerless gloves. The legs are black, but the fingertips are pink, which I felt was really cute.

I'll definitely be drawing mothers with babies. Both babies and mothers are so cute and wonderful. As I mentioned above, I find Opossums' round, fluffy appearance, yet somewhat pointed, appealing.

I'll draw the baby's eyes and snout a bit rounder, and the adult's eyes and snout a bit more pointed.

I've roughly laid out, now I'll create a color thumbnail.

I saw an opposum carrying leaves with its tail (it's in the YouTube video linked above). Because they don't want to sleep on the bare floor 🥹 So, I think I might draw some leaves around it.

Leaves could be a nice decoration, but if they're too noticeable than animals, I may delete them later.

I brought this into Photoshop and refined it a bit more. (The colors of the tails are slightly different.)

I'm working on it right now, and I hope to finish it within this week! (Even if something goes wrong and it gets delayed, I'll still finish it within 3 months 😉 ) Thank you!