Wild Life Drawing Recording: Pangolins

Join us for a 90 minute creative class to celebrate the pangolin – one of the most unique animals on earth. The only mammal to be covered with scales, which it uses like a suit of armour. Long sticky tongues like anteaters, to devour ants and termites by the thousands. If you're anything like us, thinking about these sweet critters is a bittersweet thing- it's hard to think of a more lovely yet more persecuted animal. While the situation for these poor creatures is not looking good, there are some truly incredible people dedicated to turning around the fate of the pangolin, one of them being our guest for this class. 

 We are honoured to be joined by Alexis Kriel, who is the co-chair of the African Pangolin Working Group. Alexis works at the newly built -new favourite word alert- Pangolarium. This purpose-built facility was set up in 2025, in the Lapalala Wilderness Reserve in South Africa. The team there are working on one of the most vital conservation causes of our age; to retrieve pangolins from the vicious illegal wildlife trade and rehabilitate them. As we’re sure you’re aware, this is no mean feat- pangolins are the most trafficked animals on earth. This is largely fuelled by their highly prized status in traditional medicine, both in Africa and Asia. Since Asian species have been decimated by this trade, African species are increasingly targeted for international trade, with their scales exported to China and Vietnam to be ground up and used in traditional medicine cures. Conservationists believe that without urgent global action, all eight species of pangolin are at risk of extinction.

Sobering stuff to say the least, but rest assured, while we will spend some time discussing these issues, the main focus of our class will be Kulu – a true success story in the world of pangolin rescue, and star of a new (and very inspiring) Netflix documentary.

The class is led by artist Jennie Webber, whose friendly and inclusive approach to teaching will suit all, from absolute beginners to seasoned pros. We will be drawing from some high-quality reference images provided by APWG while we chat with Alexis, who tuned in all the way from the centre in South Africa. 

For this session, Jennie teaches techniques with brush and ink, as well as fineliner pens – but this isn't mandatory at all. Ideally the very basic materials you need to take part are some paper, a pencil, a sharpener and a rubber, but even a biro on the back of an envelope will do. If you’d like to experiment with other materials, please feel free to get creative! 

After purchasing this recording you will receive instructions, the reference images and the video of the full class that you can watch it back as many times as you like.

25% of this recording sale will be donated to The Pangolarium.