Inktober Day 1: Felidae

Kicking off inktober!
I'm following the "inktofur" prompt list by Twitter user @yodelinyote for inktober this year!

One of the backbones of inktober has always been to give artists a fun an loose way to practice and get better at art and Caim's species prompt really caught my eye!

Day 1 is Felidae and I drew one of my favorite cats! The clouded leopard!!
”The clouded leopard is a wild cat occurring from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into southern China. Since 2008, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List"
(Via Wikipedia)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clouded_leopard

The clouded leopard is a vulnerable classed species (it's population is decreasing) and are one of the most ancient cat species. Clouded leopards are unique in a few reasons and this is one of the reasons why I wanted to showcase them for Inktober!
They feature dexterous paws meant for climbing with pawpads that have adapted for better grip. All the way down to their skeletal system, they are adapted for climbing. They have highly specialized anklebones that allow them to climb DOWN trees!
One of my personally favorite attributes to these cats is their canine teeth (big surprise)!
They are longer in proportion to their skulls than any other wild cat species and they even have these specialized pockets in their lower lips that allow their big teeth to sheath into so they aren't exposed to air (which could be an evolution from the long sabre-like teeth of the now exinct smilodon).
Another cool thing about the clouded leopard is that they are not quite a big cat or a small cat! They cannot roar OR purr!
Clouded leopards are often regarded as a "bridging" species between the two classifications of felines. They aren't even actual "leopards" as their name implies. These unique kitties don't quite fit in because they are classified as part of the "Pantherinae" family which has members that span back to 6 million years ago. This makes clouded leopards the most ancient of the cat species!

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Here are some WiP shots of my process on this piece!





Rough sketch! I have my sticker in for size!


Markings sketched in!


Starting lining! I used poscas cause they are seriously the best


SPOOKY! It was intimidating to block in the markings with stark black ink.


Markings done and I'm thinking it kinda looks rad


Finally, white highlights and detailing really tied it together at the end!
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I hope you guys like this first inktober entry for 2019 and I'm looking forward to more!

I may do later posts in batches of 2-5 days so I'm not spamming you guys (and not all will be available publicly, but all will be available to all patrons.) But so far I really enjoyed creating this, writing a small blurb about the species and sharing my process with you all!
💙
-G