Materials used to make the sketches. Because of the striking coat colours of tiger, but I also needed a medium in which I could work quickly. I chose something I had never used before, Inktense pencils. These are water soluble coloured pencils that dissolve rather like coloured inks when water is added. When dry they are permanent and so can be overlaid with other colours.

I used five Intense coloured pencils for the tiger sketches (Bark, Baked Earth, Willow, Mustard, and Sun Yellow) together with a travel sharpener that contains the shavings and a travelling water brush, filled with water, with a water tight cap.

Tigers as Subjects

Tigers are extraordinary subjects that I had previously avoided tackling, in part because of the complexity of their markings but also because I had failed to see any first hand in the wild. I went three times on tiger observation trails in India a couple of years ago but only succeeded in seeing very fresh and tantalising foot prints of a tiger (though I did see a Honey Bear, which I was told was a rare sighting). As I had already made drawings of several of the Big cats I decided that I should be more determined to add the tiger to my collection. I thus sought them out at two different zoological parks and, as a result, made the sketches above.

The more I looked at the tigers the more they fascinated me. Two things particularly struck me. One was how their massive bodies were. They are the largest of the Big cats, ranging from six to ten feet long and can weigh up to 660 pounds. Their bulk is very evident and exudes power. The other was their familiar markings, their stripes, so often caricatured. These began to fascinate me and defined their very shape as I sketched.