I said I’d do it, and now I’m doing it.
First I made one, of a Northern Pintail at Piper Spit. It seemed like a good start, with a lot of clean lines and solid colours. Then I moved on to a junco at Reifel. That’s when I started feeling better about this whole venture, that it was actually going somewhere. The first sketch could have been a fluke, but now it’s a real thing!
And I realise they’re not finished. I might or might not finish them at some point, but right now I won’t wait to post finished products, because (1) this is ART and ART is never finished, and (2) also it would simply take me too long. I feel I have to keep the momentum going, and this means visibility and accountability for half-finished drafts. As they say, perfect is the enemy of the good.
Some first thoughts
It’s… not bad? It took me a bunch of attempts, but I seem to have the basics of shape and proportion down. A few little glitches, like the junco being too stretched vertically, and the fence he’s sitting on is at the wrong angle, but that’s is the kind of thing practise will fix. He’s definitely a junco, though, no one can deny that! I paid particular attention to the dark eye.
And that’s what makes this so different from photography. I have to go over every bit of the picture, make sure the details are just right or as close as possible. Because it’s the details that make or break it! But I can fix the details, and even enhance them (someday! when I have the skills!) and try over and over to get it just right. It’s kind of frustrating, it makes my head go wibbly a little bit, but I’m having fun with the process.
And really, that’s all I can ask for! We shall see where it leads, one pencilled birb at a time.