Lupine Striker

My first try at doing a straight wolf anthro, meet the lupines. I wanted to base this wolf's color scheme on that of a grey wolf, but sometime shortly after starting the shading, photo references gave way to pure experimentation, and this is how it came out. Grr... 'grey' has got to be one of the most difficult color schemes for pencil media....

So, as a cousin race to the kitsune anthros, these lupines bear many similarities to them in ways such as their intelligence, society, and thick natural pelt. But even more so are the differences they enjoy. Larger and more heavily built, lupines use a different set of hunting tactics than the kitsunes. Rather than hunting alone and using precise archery skills to snipe smaller prey from a distance, lupines hunt in groups of three or four and prefer larger game.

A typical lupine hunting pack consists of one or two scouts (aka 'shooters') and at least two strikers. The scouts hunt and locate the prey, then use their archery skills to try and kill the prey. Lupines are not as precisely accurate as kitsunes, though; and when the scouts fail to kill the game in the first shot or two, it is up to the strikers to pursue the wounded prey and finish it off. For this dangerous task, the strikers prefer using long handheld weaponry like this one's spear, with jagged cutting edges that can later be used to carve up the prey once it has been slain.

When not hunting, strikers are pure defenders who will fight off any intruders who stray too near to their pack's home range, particularly if cubs are present.

Medium: Colored and ebony pencil
Time: About three hours
Scale (full view): 75px/in