One of my first pen and ink sketches. The idea of the bear began with a recollection of a trip to Whistler, Canada. We arrived in town hoping to partake in some snow related activity – but realised very quickly that we had in fact visited at the only time of year when snow is no go. Unwilling to let this get us down, we hired three quad bikes, and set off on a cross country safari, which for the most part was fun, but not that exciting until the strangest thing happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what appeared to be a black bear, casually eyeing us up from the tree line. On closer inspection (yes, I know), it turned out to be a bloke wearing a bear outfit, and smoking a cigarette – apparently situated there to provide us riders with a level of excitement and danger not actually present. This was the inspiration for the illustration below.