Not one of my best. And the scan completely washed him out. Later in the year, I learned how to adjust the scanner so that colored pencil and graphite didn’t get so washed out. But for this one, I guess I was still just letting it get washed out and shrugging my shoulders.
He looks smirky.
Another National Geographic model. One of my daydreams is to be a photographer for Nat Geo – but then I’d have to be a seriously good photographer instead of an illustrator. Mostly, I just want to travel on someone else’s dime and see lots of cool stuff. If I won the lottery, that’s what I’d do.
Somewhere between graceful and awkward lies the Great Egret. I can’t get enough of these birds. I drew one in January and one in February, too. I just kept finding awesome pictures of them, so I just kept drawing them.
I see Egrets all the time at the seashore, especially when we’re walking our dog at Point Isabel or at the Emeryville shoreline. Most of the time, they just eye us warily but don’t bother to flap away.
The hornbill is such a fun bird to draw. I adore this one.
Once upon a time, I only wanted to draw regal birds. But over the course of this project, I learned that there is something so much more satisfying about drawing an awkward bird than a majestic one. There’s so much more to uncover: wiggly bits, scratchy lines, and fun places for my pen to go wandering. I feel like there’s more discovery in an awkward bird. I learned about pin feathers on this one. They’re neat.
This little guy is sitting on a wing bone from that old (massive 6 foot) drawing, re-purposed as a background for this series. Why did I do the original drawing in red? Because it was a terrible drawing, and many bad decisions were made. I like the re-use of it, though. I chose a green jay to contrast the red.
Not one of my favorites, but great fun to examine the wrinkles on his head & neck. I think I drew this one at 1am, so if it seems a bit rushed, it is.
The peregrine falcon is one of my favorites. I love the profile, the stateliness of his brow.
Plus, it’s a California bird and I am a proud coast-hugger. My state is the best, therefore all our animals are also the best. Well, at the very least, they are the most diverse in our nation. This is true: California is a biological “hot-spot” of diversity, because we have so many different climates and eco-systems. So our state has, if not the BEST of every kind of animal, then at least more kinds of animals than yours does. My state is awesome. Not that yours isn’t great, too. But mine is clearly better. At least bio-diversically, it is. (Yup, that’s totally a word. And I did not just make it up. OK, maybe a little, I did.)
Unfortunately, the scan makes the falcon look very faded. He’s in graphite, which doesn’t scan well. It always looks too, well, grey. And he looks more worried than noble. ergh.
I drew both bald eagles on the same day, penance for a skipped day.
Like the other one, I tried to choose a source photo that wasn’t a calm, composed bird sitting regally on a branch – nothing like the birds we see topping our flag-poles, or on our money. I wanted a bird with the kind of fire and rage that might have inspired the original bird-as-emblem-pickers to chose this one over the many other gorgeous birds in this nation. He’s coming to get you, so watch yourself!
claire meyler 