Mega Rodent, Part 2

When Ranger Rick magazine asked me to paint a portrait of the giant extinct rodent for the current October issue, I started with this preliminary sketch in colored pencils. It looks a lot like the largest living rodent, the capybara.

I explored the forms of the full-bodied creature in this maquette, about five inches long. The warthog-like mane was made from the hairs of a red sable brush cut up and glued down with five minute epoxy. I guessed that a creature of that size in a warm climate wouldn’t need much body fur to keep it warm.

In the final oil painting (yesterday’s post), I used a low point of view to make the creature look bigger, and a shallow depth of field to give the appearance of a wildlife photo. The blurring effect was done with a white nylon flat brush over wet oil paint.

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