I decided to finally finish something based on concepts from several months ago, when I saw the news about Ethiopian wolves likely being a pollinator for a red hot poker plant. Gouache with colored pencil and touches of Posca pen and some chalk pastel to really get that pollen feel on the snout.

It always psychs me out when I'm working on the beginning stages and go "it's ugly. Not turning out how I want." Then it turns out fine. I thought I wanted more texture in the paper, but I actually did not care for how the gouache went on. I probably just need to stick to my good old illustration board or hot press watercolor paper with this medium.

Species included in this image: Ethiopian wolf, malachite sunbird, Kniphofia foliosa, plain tiger butterfly, narrow blue banded swallowtail and a generic yellow butterfly because there's lots of them.