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Harris Hawk
It has been a long time since a piece has frustrated me as much as this one did! What seemed like a straightforward colour scheme turned into a nightmare – I changed the tone so many times that it started to damage the paper and I still don’t think the colour is quite right but I can do no more. A combination of taking too long, reference material that wasn’t right, and my brain still struggling with oil-based pencils.
I did learn a lot though, so it is not all bad, and I am determined to master these new pencils.
Dog Chart
It’s not all about the birds! A client at my day job wanted some custom illustrations for a dog feeding chart that matched with their current branding, which uses vintage pen illustrations. My hand-drawn images are on the left, which my colleague then included in the leaflet design on the right.
You Lookin’ at Me?
I’ve been tasked with drawing peregrines for a design-these ones will not feature in the finished work, but are warm-ups and experiments as I figure out how I want it to look. I am rather smitten with the one on the left!
Diesel
Recently delivered commission – this smiley chap is called Diesel.
Silent Assassin
“Draw a barn owl” they said. “It will be a challenge” they said. Many many swear words later and I am still not sure it is completely finished.
It is useful to go back to a piece later with fresh eyes, you will often find that any flaws or bits that you disliked somehow no longer seem to be there. One silly thing I couldn’t get my head around was the feet which somehow didn’t seem right. It was only after walking away that I realised it was because I was so used to seeing captive barn owls with leather anklets.
Philippine Eagle
I didn’t realise that it had been so long since I sketched a piece for my headshots series – it was tough going back to this textured paper and I wasn’t as happy with the end results as I have been previously- particularly as the paper kept marking and smudging for some unknown reason.
River
I have been crazy about birds my entire life, but ironically one thing I really dislike drawing is feathers!! However I am determined to battle my demons – this is my diva, River. First time using watercolour paper with pencil instead of paint.
Lugger Falcon
Finally finished my Lugger falcon montage – struggled with motivation for this one as I am finding this paper difficult to work with. I like the effect, but the process isn’t sitting well with me at all yet and the paper is quite delicate. Not sure if I will continue using it, we’ll see…
Treacle
I don’t very often get asked to do pictures of cats, maybe because I secretly complain about how complicated their patterns are! Anyway this chap is called Treacle.
Goshawk