This turned out much better than expected, considering that I'm by no means a great artist. What do y'all think? Gimme some input, please? :)
I was searching the glorious Google for reference pics and came across one of this one bear, I think a grizzly. He (or could be a she, can't tell without the junk in sight) was sitting and looking to their right, with this massively shaggy coat and super short muzzle, with what looked like a tiny grin. I saw them and it was like love. The short muzzle was so cute! I had to draw something based off it. This is the result.
It's not the usual fat fur stuff I've been drawing, but he is still a bear. I decided to try something slightly more realistic, so I gave the squiggles for fur a rest and went for a more kosher tufts approach. The part behind his jaws looks kinda like messy surfer hair or something, but it's still cool. I even tried a tiny bit of shading. Not sure how well that worked out, even after blending some of it in the ear canals with Photoshop.
The only thing I really don't like about it is the eyes. They're okay, but I wish I knew a method to make them more... soulful, I guess. Otherwise, I can't find anything I was really disappointed with, lack of talent notwithstanding. :)
Amazingly, this took a lot less time than the other pics I've done recently, both in drawing and cleanup of smudges. And it don't look half bad in my opinion. I guess I'm improving?
Either way, here he is in all his glory... But, who is he? He needs a name. And I need to decide if he's a bear bear, or an anthro bear who just likes to run around naked. Ahh, decisions...