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Pacific Harbor Seal

Pacific Harbor Seal line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Pacific Harbor Seal full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Pacific Harbor Seal was completed on 2/8/2009. This was a pretty challenging subject with the foreshortened body. If you don't get the shading right it looks strange and confusing. Also, with a white animal, ironically, it can be more difficult to define the object in space to let the eye understand how the form of the animal as you have are forced to use the medium sparingly. The drawing is based on a photo by Richard Masoner.

Information about the Pacific Harbor Seal:

Harbor seals have spotted coats which vary from silver-gray to black or dark brown. The grow up to five feet in length and weigh about 300 pounds. The females are slightly smaller than the males. Harbor seals can be found north of the equator in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Pacific Harbor seals in and around the San Francisco Bay often have a reddish hue to their coats. While it's not fully understood as to why this is, it could be because of an accumulation of trace elements such as iron or selenium in the ocean, or a change in the hair follicle itself.