Brando here. My power animal is a jackal, the African black-backed kind to be precise. My coworkers and I were discussing what the new Illustration Time drawing challenge should be and power animal was the decision. I initially suggested that my power animal should be Yoda or Gandalf, but Joe and Adrianne wouldn’t let me be so cheeky. So, after some thought, I realized why a jackal is so powerfully perfect for me.
The black-backed jackal is much more than your average wild dog. He’s actually very family-centered. In fact, my wife and I watched a BBC special on mammals that featured the family life of jackals. A jackal pair mates for life. When the two have pups, while the mommy jackal does the nursing, the daddy jackal faithfully secures food for mommy. As the pups grow, daddy-jackal plays with the pups and expands his efforts to bring food back for the whole family.
I’m a family man, sharing with my jackal friend those very same characteristics. Taking care of my family is very important to me. My wife does the hardest work there is—staying at home to nurture our growing children (we have four pups). My job is to earn the money our family needs and play with the pups. It’s becoming very rare now for a mom to stay home while a dad is the sole breadwinner, but my wife and I believe it’s best for our family right now (pups grow fast and need lots of love; time flies when they’re young and you can’t get it back).
It is a very joyful life to have a family and it’s also a part of my faith. I recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. Go jackals!
If you’d like to see how I developed this one in my cutesy style, head on over to my blog, Drawing Faith 🙂
Illustration Time 