Goes to show what a lil practice and studying can do.

I've always been pretty good at drawing animals off the top of my head. When I worked at the LA zoo, as a caricature artist, that came in handy. Many times kids wanted to be drawn ridding or feeding a zoo animal. I could usually draw any animal they wanted, freehand, no reference or construction. the animal likenesses were decent, but I always strive for perfection.

I've been studying giraffes and rhinos lately. From books, videos, pics on the interwebz, you know, all the usual sources. and, I've studied them enough to be able to do an adequate sketch. However, I strive for more. Like Claire Wendling's animal drawings. That's my goal, to be able to caricature my two current muses like Claire has in one of her books. If you happen to know what I'm talking about, you know how great her work is.
Well, here's some sketches I did in church, off the top of my head. No ref.