Personal Narrative: Raccoons

CHAPTER EIGHT: Raccoons
Nighttime bandits

Almost no other four-legged animal better epitomizes the nocturnal city critter better than the raccoon. Just about everybody recognizes that brownish-grey butterball body, ringed tail, and the Lone Ranger mask concealing a pair of beady black eyes. Raccoons aren’t shy about making their homesteads in abandoned or even inhabited homes, barns, garages, small sheds, greenhouses, and churches. Sewer systems and drainpipes are also used [Bird]. Adapted to making use of both vertical as well as horizontal space, raccoons are easily able to scale and use human structures. They are also dietary generalists, tend to be nocturnal and somewhat secretive, and appear flexible in their ability to use a variety of sites for denning and refuge, other traits that commend them to urban living. Their hardiness enables them to survive even severe impairment, such as blindness or the loss of a limb. Beyond this their ability to

I wanted it to be a more textural print, so I used different densities of short lines to form the body, while only applying detail to the facial features.

I wanted to make the eyes emotional and almost worried looking by using strong highlights in order to convey a sense of empathy to this animal claimed to be a pest.

While planning the repeat, I carefully chose to layer some raccoons, and overlap others until it became a packed pattern.

“Compacted Cube of Recycled Cans.” Recycling &Amp; Disposal, Timaru District Council, 2013.

For a background texture, I used a image of compacted aluminum cans. The flatten cans made an interesting texture, but I chose it to portray the scavenger, garbage-seeking raccoon environment.

After putting the texture in repeat, I blew out the exposure and contrast to give it a washed out, obscure feel. Lastly, I adjusted the hue to fit within my color way.

1 repeat-