My Realistic Hybrid Pencil Composition and also my First Post in Steemnursery

"Do you know that we all have twin animals with whom we share similar traits"?

Hello great minds, I trust you are all having a wonderful weekend and the week was great too. Mine was spectacular, unique, and challenging at the same time.

You're probably wondering and asking the what? The why? And the how? questions with regards to the quote above. 😁
That quote sums up what kept me busy for some time now.

Let me tell you a short story
I received a call from an unknown person (who later turned to be my client) and this conversation ensued.
Me: Hello good morning.
Client: Good morning. Do you know that we all have twin animals with whom we share similar traits?
Me: What do you mean sir?
Client: You will understand when you complete your next artwork. You are an artist yeah?
Me: Yes I am.
Client: Good. I have a job for you. You will make a hybrid portrait of me and a lion. You will draw half my face, half a lion's face jouned together.
Me: Wow! Okay sir. Please send me a picture of you via WhatsApp.
Client: I'll do that immediately.

negotiation continued on WhatsApp and I got the job

It was a great challenge to me because I had never made an artwork of that nature. However, I love challenges as they help me learn and grow so I accepted to do the work.

I will talk about his explanation for the quote later, for now let me show you how I made the artwork.

I began wth a sketch of my client's face (half) using Hb Akees pencil then i proceeded to sketch a half lion face attached to my client's to form the hybrid image.
With generals charcoal pencil, i drew the lion's eye and made it as soft and fearful as i could, then with grinded charcoal, I shaded areas that would form the lion's hairs. My intention was not to draw the lion just yet, but to bring out the lion figure so as to make it easy to blend with a human face.

I always love to begin portraits from the eye, this why you see both eyes well drawn and well synced.
My client is a typical Nigerian with short black hair and plenty beards (oh how I love to draw beards 😁). I immediately drew his hair and shaded parts of his facial skin.

After 5 hours of drawing I completed his face, well detailed with rich skin texture. I took a lunch break for an hour and got back to continue my challenging drawing.

Picture of me working.

From the pictures above you can see I was 80% done.
It took me a further 8 hours to draw the lion's face as this was my first attempt to drawing an animal (now you realise why it was such a big challenge for me). The most challenging thing about this work was getting to draw realistic lion hair strands 😪 I was almost out of ideas but i kept trying new things and methods.

With charcoal pencils I created a dark theme for the art to give it a thick and fierce look.

Finally, I was done. 😍 I love everything about this artwork. From creating a connect between myself and my client to the experience i garnered from making it.

And yes I asked him to explain what his question ("Do you know that we all have twin animals with whom we share similar traits"?) Meant.

His explanation
There's an African belief that man's soul exists in two forms. In the form of the man himself and in the form of an animal. This animal soul in man forces him to sometimes act like the animals with which their soul is likened to. For instance, when a man often acts in a cunning manner, he is said to be a tortoise (that is, possessing the soul of a tortoise) and if he is possesses great strength he is said to be a lion.
Hence, my client has found that his twin animal is a lion as he is a man full of courage and strength. He loves lions and decided to make a hybrid portrait of himself and a lion.

I do not know how many of us here have heard of such African belief but i find it very interesting and to some extent it explains why some persons exhibit certain characteristics.

I would loved to know your what you have to say about it and what you think about my artwork.

I am still new to steemit. Here is a link to my achievement 1
https://steemit.com/hive-172186/@brainz1993/achievement1-my-introduction-to-steemit-post-by-brainz1993