Week 2 - Cryptids

So for week 2 we looked into cryptozoology. I was reeeeeeally picky when choosing a cryptid. I really wanted to do a rodent or critter or bird but I found very few and when I did they were either dinosauresque or humanoid...and I didn't want either of those. So I went with jackalope! Here are some interesting facts that I came across while researching my lil guy:

-Jackalopes are aggressive
-They are said to be "common" in the midwest plains esp. in wyoming
-They fight with antlers
-They can imitate noise esp. humans and become most voical before and during thunderstorms
-You can catch one by leaving out whiskey (they like them some whiskey) and once drunk they are             slow enough to catch.

SOOOOO besides that as research I looked into some more real world characteristics that jackalopes may have. For example the most common rabbit of the midwest is The whitetail (and blacktail) jackrabbit. The antlers a jackalope may have would be closely related to the pronghorn antelope (also indigenous to the midwest.) As far as habitat goes, this animal would be living in open grassland with no trees and little shade, therefore, it would have to sleep in the brush and short shubery.

Jackalopes are not real! It has been confirmed! It's a hoax! HOWEVER this urban legend may have originated from real rabbits with a real problem! Some rabbits in the wild (especially the cottontail rabbit) develop the Shope's Papilloma virus (a semi cousin of the human papilloma virus) which causes the growth or hardened tumors out of the infected rabbits heads and faces in disturbing ways. They are often shape like horns. Normally these rabbit die of starvation since the tumors grow in such a way as to get in the way of chewing. Seriously, if you want to be haunted by some sad images, look this up. No joke, its heart breaking.

This is my piece. I found that I often rely on my line work as a crutch....especially in this case. I am not pleased at all with the values. I was kinda going to a salvador Dali gradient thing with hard sharp shadows. This was a fail. At least I got practice!

And for funzies, heres a location study of the shell refinery, Martinez CA.