With large round eyes and big ears, the tarsier is one of the strangest looking animals that inhabits islands of Southeast Asia. This night hunter’s big ears catch the faintest sound of insect, lizard, or bird. Those big eyes aid night vision as the tarsier turns its head as far as 180° to zero in on its prey. Although the tarsier is so small you could hold it in your palm, powerful long legs launch it 10 feet (3 m) or more to pin its victim by seizing it with both hands.
As a pair of tarsiers sets up housekeeping, they mark their territory by scent to ward off other tarsiers. Six months later, the female gives birth to one baby. Born fully furred and with eyes open, he can immediately climb through the trees. When the mother parks her baby to go on longer forays, she maintains contact using clicks and whistles. The baby will reach maturity at one year and live about eight years.
You will need:
- Sketch paper
- Bristol paper
- Prismacolors
- Pastels (optional)
- For a finished painting suitable for framing as an 8” x 10”, start with a 4” x 5” rectangle, divided diagonally, horizontally and vertically. Use this to place the basic shape. Then add ears, feet, face, and tail.
- Using a lightbox, trace your sketch onto Bristol paper. Outline your tarsier with a dark brown pencil. Go over the back and head with light brown. Now concentrate on those huge eyes, blackening the pupils while leaving nice white highlights. Then color in the orange irises.
- With a sharp dark brown pencil, add fur using short strokes that follow the direction of hair growth. Use your black Prismacolor to shade in the ears and darken the area under the tarsier’s chin. Stroke in dark brown on the tail with short lines that follow the roundness of the tail.
- As you color the limb, pencil strokes should follow the curve of the limb. Observe shadows cast by the tarsier’s body and feet, and shade these with dark brown and green. Then go over the limb with light brown.
- Start the background with a light layer of yellow. To aid in blending, go over this with white. Then turn the background green by adding a layer of light blue. Follow this up with a layer of green. Finally, blend with your white pencil.
OPTIONAL: The background can be colored by layering in yellow, blue, white, and green using pastels. Blend with a tissue.
