Wolves, Working, Whimsical Sounds

I've been working on some wolf designs for Slava's final project Fall of the Wolf.
Its been a while so I spent time drawing anything other than human's so i've been doing lots of warming up / scribbles.

I find it easier to approach this in the same way I would with humans - know the anatomy and build up from there. I've been working from photos - here's the references i've been using - to understand their structure, and from there i'll start to stylise into a character based on what Slava has said.

I also pulled together a playlist to help gather my ideas and inspirations. I've also been doing some wolve /pup studies

These are the digital designs of the wolves!

This has been really fun to do! It's nice to turn my art hands to something none human. It also gives me the chance to try out different texturing styles in Photoshop. Since working on my character i've been really working on creating more stylised illustrations, still a long way to go till I find my style, but i'm having fun doing it!
UPDATE: I'm going to be doing some tweaks to the mother wolf design. Slava's suggested that I look at The Secret of Kells for inspiration into how they stylised their wolves, so i'm gonna work on making the designs a bit blockier, but also make sure they're feminine and feisty!

UPDATE 2:
I've re-designed Slava's mother wolf based on her feedback, but also a slightly new visual direction that she's taking - based on the work of Chris Sanders.

I've also been working on some concept art for Amit's final project. Pulling together the storyboard this weekend.

Spinerette has been my playlist of choice for this, again with some Porcupine Tree.