day two-hundred-and-eighty-three - spider monkey

you will regret chastising me for posting photos instead of art when you see what 'art' i made today...

© jem barratt

i am so embarrassed for myself... oh my gosh... i just realised something. JEMBARRASSED.

wow. i could have been using that for the past twenty-plus years (when do you learn how to speak? i assume learning to pun comes very quickly after that)

so... do we have to talk about the picture? i mean, spider monkey limbs really are that confusing. i think i have deduced that the top one is the tail? let me know what you think. in the meantime, you should probably become acquainted with the superior posing skillz of the spider monkey.

i do flit between finding spider monkeys amazingly cool and very scary. i like their long-limbedness but their faces are spooky and they can move. really. fast. good thing i was jungle-sick on the day my friends saw spider monkeys in the bolivian rainforest hey? IT WAS A GOOD THING. *sob*

they are also another animal that can stare into your soul with their frightfully haunted eyes. actually, he looks like he barely has eyes. lifeless eyes you could say. black eyes. like a doll's eyes... ahem

xj

day two-hundred-and-seventy-five - francois' langur

oh how great is this day that is definitely not monday jan 30? super great i bet. i mean... i know

ok it's pretty tiresome writing these posts as though it's the future, and i've only written two. in any case, 'today' i drew a francois' langur.

© jem barratt

not bad jemma. not bad at all.

like many other primates, these guys are endangered, and also they have fluoro orange babies. i wonder if that's so they can keep an eye on them while they're too young to look after themselves? i don't think scientists know for sure, but that i certainly one of the theories. maybe i can find out when i, myself, am a scientist? i don't think that's getting ahead of myself...

xj

day two-hundred-and-fifty-eight - lion-tailed-macaque

sorry guy-who-named-lion-tailed-macaques... lion-tailed you say? lion-TAILED!?

© jem barratt

they have lion-manes guy, come on! and look how unhappy the macaque is about it.

this oversight has of course prompted me to devise yet another drawing series that i will never do. but i'd better not share it, because the fact that i have said i won't do it means i probably will.

i also have a new blog idea in mind. although it would require a fair bit of work, and as we all know... i... am... laaaaa....z.................y

anyway back to the macaque - he looks cool. as do many other types of macaques. this one in particular can be quite terrifying, super sneaky and... huh?

xj

day two-hundred-and-fifty-three - giant waxy monkey tree frog

that name just sounds like a random collection of words...

© jem barratt

he doesn't look that giant. or that much like a monkey. but he sure is a frog.

he suuuuure is.

xj

p.s. i wish i had a portable pocket scanner because i had to photograph this and then struggle to photoshop it into niceness (i.e. get mr mantis to fix it)

day two-hundred-and-forty-seven - xmas mandrill

woooo! last christmas card ever! (until next year... but there's no way i'm doing another 365 days)

and he's a goody - the famed yuletide mandrill:

© jem barratt

aww what an awesome ambassador for xmas

tomorrow's post is a little bit of cheating i guess, in that my animal is not drawn, but it was still CREATED by me....

ooo that'll definitely guarantee my two readers (i.e. parents) come back tomorrow

xj

day two-hundred-and-thirty-two - xmas snub-nosed monkey

on the... what is it SIXTH!? day of xmas i made a monkey card:

© jem barratt

yep. i am NOT READY FOR XMAS GUYS!

xmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

*shaking fist*

xj

day two-hundred-and-eighteen - douroucouli

or night monkey, which frankly is a cooler name and much easier to type

© jem barratt

i stuffed up the good sketch, so decided to make the whole thing silly. his left-chin should also be 'white' (i.e. cardboard coloured).

in any case, douroucoulis are weirdos and seem to have a penchant for stuffing themselves (and as many friends as can fit) into holes. that's the best example, because each looks different - the baby looks typically cute, the one at the back looks like a gremlin, the main one just looks plain creepy (as most night or owl monkeys do), and the last guy just looks awesome and also shows off his tiny, tiny face.

i bet they also have a penchant for staring into human souls and plotting their demise...

it's really a shame that i didn't illustrate their feet, because that makes them seem even creepier and as though perhaps they'll reach out to stoke your sleeping head before they eat your face (they probably don't do this...)

ok i may have been a bit harsh. they are cool, being the only nocturnal monkey and all, and they live in sout america which is always a plus, but really all i can truly feel about them is unease.

and suspicion...

*squinted eyes*

xj

day one-hundred-and-seventy - silvered leaf monkey

whenever i attempt to draw baby monkeys i always feel like i'm drawing old men instead. i'm sure you'll see the similarity:

© jem barratt

uh oh my cursor has disappeared. i'm sure i've had this problem before on this very blog. and the best solution? complain about it and don't move on!

oh yeah the monkey. i like baby orange monkeys the best of all baby monkeys. the langur at the adelaide zoo is one such example - not that the baby is orange anymore (or a baby for that matter), but just keep your ears peeled (ouch?) for news of a new one for they are always popping them out...

xj

day one-hundred-and-eleven - vervet monkey

i don't feel bad about this being a day late because i dislocated my finger yesterday, and am unable to move my middle and fourth (ring?) finger on my writing hand. waah.

here is a diagram illustrating the transformation my finger went through:

© jem barratt

for serious. that should explain the quality of my drawings over the next week or so...

speaking of which:

© jem barratt

self-deprecation aside, i actually like this monkey. it looks like a cool kid's book illustration or something. i would like to try more simple, stylised drawings instead of realistic sketches.

xj

day ninety-six - emperor tamarin

aka i can't believe i haven't even cracked 100 yet, kill me now

© jem barratt

enjoy this tiny tamarin. their moustaches are the most glorious of any animal

xj

day eighty-eight - dusky langur

dodgy, yes, but such a cool animal:

© jem barratt

now imagine the baby is bright orange and you have successfully imagined what you have missed out on at adelaide zoo (yes again!). you should still see him though as he's still babyish, he's just not a cool colour anymore.

much like the colour of a 'spice' game cube controller if that helps. which it wouldn't, because surely i'm the only person who even still owns a game cube...

RELEVANCE!
xj

day seventy-one - golden snub-nosed monkey

today's animal is a combination of the subject of my favourite ever animal photo and the subject of my favourite ever peter gabriel song (nicely smushed together so as to snub-ify the nose):

© jem barratt

this guy is even the subject of my favourite ever (and first [and only]) sale under the moniker the mantis and the sparrow. so he's pretty special.

the grown ones look magical and evil and like they might be reincarnated gods or anime spirits. but don't try to appeal to them for help because they gots some scary mouth action going on. there's even a sneezy subspecies. for real.

in fact snub-noses come in many styles and faces (all hilarious). please enjoy them at your leisure...
xj