My inspiration behind this came from my few days break away from life. This journey began with visiting Amsterdam. I chose to travel to this place after hearing about it being such a beautiful city, full of atmosphere and character. Whenever I visit new places, I try to find the local animals and the zoo’s. As I mentioned in my previous blogs I find animals and nature so fascinating so when I found the Artis zoo filled with all of Amsterdam’s creatures, from beautiful bugs to enormous elephants it was my highlight of the trip. This zoo in particular was one of my favourites, as unlike the other zoos I’ve visited, the animals were free to roam around with one another and weren’t in their set habitats.

Normally, when visiting any animal enclosure my favourite part is looking at the big cats, I always try and make it in time to see them being fed as I find it interesting that something that looks so cute and cuddly can demolish a piece of meat, the size of me, within seconds.

This time was no different as another big cat had caught my eye, but not one I’d ever seen before. A black panther! We had to go down this dark tunnel to see him and as I turned the corner, I saw his huge paws, they covered my face, on the glass. It was one of the best sights I had ever seen. The way he held himself up and pounced was fantastic. At first sight he looked all timid and cute then he opened his mouth and you could see his thick white teeth coming out of his jaw and you knew he wasn’t someone to mess with.

I wanted to portray exactly the way I saw the panther at this zoo through my work. This is why when I created this doodledesign. I used triangles, different types of illusion pattern and a lot of harsh black shapes. I decided to use triangles to show the toughness of this animal. However, I chose to use the illusional shapes as I feel big cats especially panthers give of this illusion, they are cute and friendly and in reality, they could kill you with one bite. I chose to use the thick black ink on this image a lot to create that feeling of it being a solid and very powerful animal, with amazing strength.

Normally in my other doodledesigns I create a pastel version or a blue and pink style doodle. Although this piece I decided to just stick to black ink to show the rawness and strength behind this gorgeous animal.

I love black panthers, tigers, leopards and lions because they all make me feel strong and that no one can mess with you when you look at them. They give me a sense of power and that feeling that no one can touch you.

What animal helps you find your strength?