This is not a drawing or painting but rather scratchboard. The scratchboard panel is a 1/8" thick board coated with a special white clay and a topcoat of black India ink. Using any sharp instrument, I scratch off the ink in various patterns to reveal the white clay and form an image. It is one of the most difficult art mediums because it is unforgiving if one makes a mistake. You can't erase or paint over an error. I used a few different tools to scratch this piece. My main tools were a #10 and #11 scalpel. I used the tip of a tattoo needle to smooth out some of the finer fur. I added a tough of color with translucent ink.
These are such beautiful animals. They're found in Central Asia. There are somewhere between 4000 and 6000 remaining in the wild. The Snow Leopard is an elusive and solitary cat. They live in the higher altitudes. They are not known to be aggressive to humans.