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Snowshoe Hare

Snowshoe Hare line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Snowshoe Hare full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Snowshoe Hare was completed on 2/14/2009. It's always hard drawing a mostly white animal with the black medium of ink. It was also hard combining the 'cold' shadows from the snow and the 'warm' shadows from the sun. Fur still poses a considerable challenge to me. While this isn't my strongest drawing of the new year I think it captures the hare fairly accurately. The drawing is based on a photo by Steve Sayles

Information about the Snowshoe Hare:

The Snowshoe Hare, also called the Varying Hare, is a species of rabbit found in the northern areas of North America. It is called the Snowshoe Hare because of it's large hind feet, which help prevent the hare from sinking in the snow when walking, running or jumping. During the summer the hare is a dull brown, but in winter the hare turns white to help camouflage it in the snow. In summer the hare feeds on plants such as grass, ferns and leaves; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and buds from flowers and plants. It will occasionally steal meat from baited traps.