Whimsical Animals
My whimsical animals are fun, colorful and full of personality!
Click the thumbnails below to enlarge the artwork
About Thaneeya's Whimsical Animals
I'm fascinated by the natural world, particularly the animal kingdom, with all its amazing variety of creatures large and small, cuddly and ferocious, furry and feathered. In a different lifetime perhaps I could have been a veterinarian or worked in a wildlife sanctuary, but since art is my calling, I'm content to draw them as often as I can. The animal world provides endless inspiration, with such a mind-boggling number of creatures to learn about, such as quokkas, jerboas, axolotls and so much more. (I haven't drawn any of those yet, but I will!)
Each animal drawing is an opportunity to discover new creatures and learn about their habits and habitats. Instead of depict them as "regular" animals though, I draw them with whimsical twists by adorning them with clothes or accessories or simply decorating their skin or fur with colorful details and designs. I like to give them a quirky personality that makes you wonder about their life stories!
My whimsical animals start out as pencil sketches. I typically refrain from using one photographic source as inspiration and instead look at a variety of photographs so I can study each type of animal from different angles, with different lighting, etc.
As I sketch, I look for ways to bring each animal to life through whimsical details such as heart-shaped sunglasses, retro outfits, and patterned designs. The animal takes shape as I add color, either digitally or using materials such as Copic Sketch markers and Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils. I also love using fluorescent or glitter gel pens to add some extra pizazz! Sometimes I seek a more "realistic" look, using colored pencils to create the texture of fur or feathers, and other times I prefer solid blocks of color for a more "pop art" look.
The majority of my whimsical animals are available in coloring books, so you can unleash your creativity and color them too!
Whimsical Animal Coloring Books
Over the years I've created several coloring books devoted to animals! The art in each of these books is unique, so you won't find any repeated images among them.
Hippie Animals is my one of my favorite animal coloring books that I’ve created, full of peace-loving, guitar-strumming, tie-dye wearing animals of all stripes and feathers. Groovy Owls is dedicated completely to owls, including owls that are completely imaginary as well as drawings based on real-life owl species such as the Eastern Screech Owl, Saw-Whet Owl and Crested Owls. My Dapper Animals are dressed to the nines in all styles of clothing, from a suave fox to a party-loving guinea pig. Groovy Animals was my first-ever collection of colorable animal drawings, and includes 20 images of animals filled with whimsical patterns available as a PDF download that you can print at home and color.
My Groovy Animals Coloring Pages are available as a downloadable PDF (that you can print from home) via my other website, Art is Fun.
Jigsaw Puzzles
You can find a variety of my artworks in puzzle form. See what's currently available from the manufacturer, Ceaco. You can often find my older puzzles on sites like Ebay (just do an Ebay search for 'Thaneeya puzzle').
Color this cute owl
You can color this whimsical owl with me in my Ultimate Guide to Using Alcohol Markers! Printable line art is included, so you can follow along step-by-step as I demonstrate various alcohol marker blending techniques to color in this cute owl!
Color this Cute Wizard Cat
If you love the adorably kawaii wizard cat below and want to learn how to color it in step-by-step, check out my Wizard Cat Alcohol Markers Course! Printable line art is included, along with color names and swatches, so you can color along with me! 😍
I painted a life-sized llama
This art project was super-fun! 😍
Watch my video as I embark on a 50+ hour creative journey to paint this paper mache llama!
