animals are such poseurs

About 13 years ago I was taking a drawing class and the live model didn't show up so we all got on the train and went to the Dallas Zoo to draw animals.

I didn't get back to try it again until two days ago:

That's either a penguin or a killer whale.  The signage wasn't clear.

It's difficult to draw a termite mound and make it not look like a "marital aid".

 

This Blue-Bellied Roller perched on a twig just a couple feet from me.  Probably waiting for an opening to peck the flesh off my skull.

I don't know why the Ibis has such a long beak.  Something to do with opening envelopes.

Mr. Gorilla struck a nice figure drawing class pose.  I'd say this is my double-plus good drawing of the day.

The Dallas Zoo did a big expansion to give the large animals more roaming space. The down side is that they tend to loiter at the farthest away reaches of that space.  I should have brought binoculars to see the elephants.  The giraffes would come up close, however, because you could feed them lettuce at a special station.

Andean Condor doing a Bela Lugosi impression.

This tortoise barked at me. 

The Barton Springs Salamander has no eyes.  This saves money on mascara.

By this drawing my 2D brains were worn out.  Thus ends a day at the zoo.

10 short sketches about standing on an escalator

They're only on the escalator for about 20 seconds so I did this to practice observing quickly and then drawing from memory.