I didn't have a lot of time, so it's kind of quickly thrown together, kind of failnatomy and messy. At least it served its purpose and I got the idea off my chest.
This may be strange, but while I love deer (favorite herbivore) they also frighten me. At least antlered deer do. There are not many monsters that unsettle me, but deer-based monsters almost always do. I have had wonderful dreams about deer and nightmares about being killed by deer. So, psychologically, I have a strange relationship with them. It could have to do with growing up surrounded by forests and clearings perfect for deer. I knew they were shy but I also knew to steer very clear of them, especially in rutting season. (Deer are officially the most dangerous mammal in North America, killing more people than any other, but most of that is due to car accidents where they come through the windshield.) So anyway, to me, deer with their caution, shyness, vulnerability and power represent the fine line we walk between life and death, danger and safety.
The vine caught in his antlers is also meaningful to me. It's catbrier, a thorny vine which grows wild all over the area where I grew up. I have a scar shaped like a "Y" in the center of my chest due to running into a particularly nasty hanging brier vine a good fifteen years ago. Countless times a vine would snag my ankle and sink its little thorns (like cat claws!) into my skin. Ouch! Catbrier is really everywhere around there. What's crazy is that until today I didn't know the name of this ubiquitous vinelike plant. I had to search on Google until I found a vine identifier and plugged in what I knew about it. Then lo and behold, Smilax is the genus I was looking for all along! How fitting that I should be so fond of cats and this brier I wanted to include in this digital painting is named for cats.
I can even recall the exact scent of its sap.

Woodland life! Deer and catbrier go together to me.

Not my best piece and not my worst piece, but I learned from it so it was worthwhile. I have been wanting to draw creatures outside of felines/canines.