Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – Caribou at Creek
Composition can mean making difficult choices. When I composed Caribou at Creek, I struggled with the fact that I would be cutting off a good portion of the antlers. After all, although caribou have many beautiful features, those antlers are what we all think of when we think “caribou”.
I wanted an intimate view of the animal that showed off that beautiful beard or dewlap, as well as those hooves. 
Why the hooves? Well, caribou actually do click when they walk, although it’s due to tendons in their legs, not to the sound of their hooves on rooftops! Their hooves are large and help support them in deep snow. Caribou are also excellent swimmers and their large hooves help them in this respect too.
Both male and female caribou can grow antlers and they are the only species of deer to do so. During mating seasons males will use their antlers to compete for mates, but both males and females also use their antlers to dig through snow to look for food.
Caribou are uniquely adapted to their very harsh habitat. Although when we think of the world’s great migrations we tend to think of the African continent, in summer reindeer start heading north in herds that can number in the hundreds of thousands.
I prepared a short time-lapse video of of the work-in progress for this drawing. I hope you enjoy it!
If you have any comments or questions at all, please let me know!
