Instantly recognisable due to their large, branched antlers, Red Deer stags are the largest wild mammal in the UK and, although they live throughout the country, are symbolic of the Scottish highlands.
The starting point for this drawing was the eyes and the nose, before carefully building up layer after layer of fur on its face until it had the right levels of depth, and I then finished off with the antlers.
Stag antlers consist entirely of bone, and their size is hugely significant. Rutting season takes place around September and October each year, and is when stags compete with each other to try and win a mate. The larger the stag’s antlers, the likelier he is fight off rival males.
Antlers are shed annually in a process called casting, to make room for the growth of new antlers which will each year grow larger than the year before. Seeing a fully grown stag in the wild with its antlers at full size is a truly stunning spectacle, and one that everyone should see at least once!