Duck Stamp Project

For this project, we were assigned to create a piece for the duck stamp contest. There were multiple requirements that we had to meet in order to submit our pieces to the competition, such as having to research a specific species of duck to draw, accurately draw the duck, not copy someone else's work, and not have a border. We were allowed to use whatever materials we wanted, but we had to use a certain size paper. First, we all researched ducks that we wanted to draw so that we had a good idea of their habitat, size, and looks. I chose to research and draw Laysan ducks, which come from Laysan Island in Hawaii. They have brown and orange feathers, with a little teal in their wings. I liked this duck because I thought the teal wing was really pretty and interesting. Then we made collages of pictures of ducks we found online so that our own drawings or paintings wouldn't be the same as someone else's. I chose to use 2 ducks so that it would fill up my paper. I taped 2 different ducks onto the paper and drew in ripples in the water they were in. I was now ready to start my project. I began by making a quick sketch of the ducks with graphite. I also drew in their reflections on the water to make it seem more real. Then, I grabbed a pack of colored pencils and started to color in the water. I started with a traditional blue colored pencil, but realized that it needed to have some lighter and darker areas. I took a black colored pencil and made random spots and lines in the water to show the ripples. When I was finished with the background, I moved onto the first duck. I used an orange and a light brown colored pencil to start the feather, which wasn't too hard because they were very random. I then realized that I needed some of the feathers to be a little darker. I found a darker brown colored pencil and went over some of the feathers. Then I took a teal colored pencil and drew the teal part of the duck. When I was done with the first duck, I colored in the shadow of the duck using a black colored pencil. I made sure not to directly copy the duck because the reflection doesn't usually replicate the exact shape of the duck. Next, I moved onto the second duck. I used darker shades of brown and orange because the older a duck gets, the darker its feathers get, and this duck was older and bigger than the first one. When I was done, I drew the reflection of the second duck. I thought I was finished, but then Ms. Medsker recommended that I burnish the colored pencil a little bit more to cover the white areas of the paper that were showing through. This definitely made my ducks stronger. Overall, I think this project has been one of my best. I like how detailed I made the ducks and I think the drawing is really strong. I am going to enter this into the Duck Stamp contest to get other people's opinions on it.