Duck Stamp

In past years I've dreaded doing the Duck Stamp because it's the only project all year that we are basically required to do realistic art and I've never been good at realistic art. This year I decided to give it another try and focused on using colored pencil to make shading on the ducks. I drew two ducks, one male and one baby, facing each other. The dad is sitting in the water while the baby stands in the tall grass.

I printed out references of the Steller's Eider duck and used pencil to sketch of bristol paper. I started by using colored pencil to give the ducks color. I moved on to making the dry grass with colored pencil. I left the water for the very end which was the part I was most scared of. I used blue watercolor as a base and tried to shade on top to create dimension in the water. I ended up really hating it and cutting out the two ducks and some of the grass. I glued them on to a new piece of bristol paper where I just used watercolor to make the water and accepted that I wouldn't be able to make realistic water. I just used blue and green water colors to make small waves.

I decided to do the Steller Eider because I really liked the orange chest and how it blended in to the white. Since I wanted to test my realistic artistic abilities I thought it would be fun to work with colors and blending on the duck. I also liked that the Steller Eider had hints of blue and green although at first glance the feathers looked black. I'm going to submit this piece in to the Duck Stamp competition, but if I get the chance to revisit it at some point I want to try redoing the water again.