This unique drawing was another wolf that I drew in November of 2023. The wolf in the drawing is based off of a personal spirit guide of mine, which features a grey wolf carrying a lantern. His purpose is to guide you through troubled times and provide a beacon of hope in the darkness. I wrote a short poem about him:

Traversing liminal spaces of my mind
Through foggy realms I roam
In the distance a golden light shines
A beacon for the pathway home

This wolf specifically is kind of a private emblem of mine, although I had not drawn him before. I have a few ideas for paintings featuring this wolf, and I hope he can show up again in my artwork in the future.

This drawing was made with Prismacolor colored pencils on a 9×12 inch sheet of tan colored Strathmore drawing paper. Though I loved how the drawing turned out, I wanted to try to simulate a glowing effect with the lantern. So I used an image editing program, and selected a circle around the lantern with a large feather, kept that and everything outside that circle was adjusted to be darker and more blue colored. This gave the effect of the lantern glowing, and the blue shifted background and wolf gave a sense of depth and coolness to the surroundings, as if he was emerging from a foggy realm.

The original drawing can be seen below:

I love the richness and details in the wolf’s fur here, but the lantern effect was not prominent in the original drawing, and so it did not turn out as I had expected. However, I do love both versions of this drawing.

The wolf was based very loosely on photos of wolves walking in profile that I found in various places online, and modified the markings and legs, and of course added the lantern to his mouth.