Deer Diary

I’ve had a lot of issues with people drawing deer recently. So, to make it up to the species and get it out of my system I decided to do a post exclusively about deer and the artists who study them. I’ve just been seeing deers everywhere I look and this post is my catharsis.

The deer is a highly graphic mammal. His horns are visual threats for the artistic eye: branches on his head that allow him to blend into his environment. He is part tree and part animal, offering a 2 for 1 deal for lazy artists. But while he is probably considered “the king of the forest” by his animal peers – he has a wooden crown after all – he does look tame when compared to the king of the jungle, the lion. First off he is a veggie (lame, right?) so there are no awe inspiring hunting displays to witness. In fact, this guy is not the hunter but the hunted and the point that his stuffed and mounted head decorates the walls of many hunting lodges and trendy East London bars is testament to this.

He is also suicidally stupid. Drive through a forest at night and all you can think about is one of these nut-cases throwing themselves into the road. And if that happens the only thing you can do to save your ass is speed up and fully hit the goddamn thing, otherwise you’re either gonna swerve and hit a tree or only half kill it and then have to go back and finish it off with a tyre iron. But perhaps being king of the forest comes with its own unique pressure and throwing yourself under the wheels of a running engine is the only escape. Who knows?

What I do know is that, despite all of this, the deer is still a good looking chap and Caribou‘s music is pretty awesome, so let’s get on with peering at some deer.