More possums

In the second half of yesterday’s Super Bowl, I whipped out the above opossum — another hockey player. As opposed to my first drawing, this was more of a character study. I was focusing on their ugly snouts, coarse hair and black-as-night eyes.
Later on, I was thinking this wasn’t exactly what I had planned, so I redrew the possum in a quick sketch with a ballpoint pen. It’s funny, I feel I work so much better with a ballpoint pen than any other medium.
That version, shown at right, was more the style I was aiming for in both drawings — one that highlighted the opossum’s ratty nature, but just unratty enough to make them look weird.
You’ll notice that I keep repeating the spiral symbol — that’s because their team is named “the Coils.” It’s also a play on their prehensile tail and “shuffling off the mortal coil.”
And by the way, on the road this morning I passed an opossum lying in the road. Surely it was a sign!