The printed book is now available!
There is a drawing that I made when I was a kid. It shows what my dream house would look like when I grew up. Of the entire drawing, the part that is drawn with most care is a series of food bowls on the ground in the living room for my pets. Each bowl has the name of the animal written in little kid handwriting. “Tiger, Snow Leopard, Cheetah… Jaguar.”
That is how the “Jaguar Journals” begin. The personal story is interwoven with the jaguars. Because the most objective way I can show you jaguars is to show you through all my filters, biases, and emotions. Complaining, mind wandering, flights of fancy all find their way on the page.
Following are some excerpts and some appendices to the Jaguar Journals. Let’s start with…
Rabbit hole or training?
If you only had one month to prepare for drawing live jaguars in the field how would you prepare?
One of the things I planned was to make clay jaguar models and use them to draw from. This is an idea I got from Fernando Gomez Bautista.
I was inspired by his process and started playing around with making clay jaguar heads about 6 months before the trip. My plan was to use them as models to practice drawing from, just like Fernando. I used the industry standard modeling clay called Sculpey.
However, I found that making the heads was more rewarding than drawing from them. It forced me to understand the shapes of the head so much more and conceptualize their volumes and planes in three dimensions. So I just ended up making lots of heads. Lots and lots of heads.
Even if it was not the most effective way to prepare myself for the trip, even if it was just a rabbit hole, I am glad that I did it. In fact, I am intentionally rethinking rabbit holes these days. I have even created a new category on my blog for rabbit holes. According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci, going down rabbit holes was one of the 20 key lessons we can learn from Da Vinci.
In addition to the prequel about my preparations there is also an ample appendix in Jaguar Journals.
That is a lot of Appendix…
What is an appendix? And what is it for? One of the fun things about making the Jaguar Journals was continually adding stuff to the appendix. Since the core of the book is the pages that I did in the field while observing live jaguars in the Pantanal everything else is extra. And all of that extra goes in the appendix.
Did I mention the easter eggs?
Hopefully, you are subscribed to my newsletter. If you are, then you know I am really into easter eggs right now. Not the ones that the Easter bunny lays, presumably from their cloaca, rather the kind that are hidden in movies or games by the creator. They provide a mystery and a challenge and can only be found on deeper examination of the content. (If you are not signed up for my newsletter you can change that here)
Part of what I like about Easter eggs is they provide multiple layers. Any creative work is more interesting if it has more layers. This also allows for people to engage in different ways with the piece. A cursory glance or skim can provide one experience. But a deeper look is also possible, and in many cases rewarded.
In the case of the Jaguar Journals, the first person to find 7 of the Easter eggs wins a sizable prize!
Videos to go with the Jaguar Journals
Since I was so focused on sketching I did not do that much video while in the Pantanal. However, there were moments where I had to pull out my fun and get some short videos especially when the jaguars were super close. Below you can see a short video I edited with some of the highlights.
My Other Books on Blurb
Jaguar Journals is not the first book that I have self-published through Blurb. You can see some of my other books here.
Journaling has many benefits and lots of people want to start but don’t know how. The “Gateway Journal” is designed with fun daily prompts to help you get in the habit of journaling. There are a bunch of tips and techniques to help you overcome common obstacles.
“A Tracking Companion” is a detailed and thought-provoking book about animal tracking that can help you see and understand more of the mysteries in nature. Tracking is a language and the more you learn the more stories you can decipher. This book is full of photos from around the world of some very curious tracks and sign.
“Intertropical Impressions: Tanzania” is a compilation of nature journal pages, essays, and photos from my safari and time with the Hadzabe hunter gatherers. Sketches of lions, elephants, and countless birds combined with drawings and accounts from grueling treks and hunts with the Hadzabe, one of the last hunter gatherer tribes on the planet.
“It’s All One Trip” is a Gonzo Nature Journaling experiment. Through sketches, watercolors, notes, and irreverent essays this thin tome attempts to capture a week long trip of science, music, reflection, and revelry in the northern realms of Baja California Mexico.
