Duck Stamp.

Artists Statement.

The inspiration behind this piece of art was not only the Junior Duck Stamp competition but the Mottled Duck species itself.  When choosing a species, I was looking for the classic duck that I remember from my childhood. The little yellowish babies, too. The Mottled duck proved to be perfect for what I wanted to portray and create. 

I used watercolor, a white gel pen, and colored pencils on watercolor paper. I chose to use watercolor because it is something that I am comfortable and confident using. I also knew that watercolor would be great for creating an even wash of colors, like for the water or the body of the duck. I chose to add in colored pencils to be able to get in some fine details like feathers. 

First, I researched many images of the Mottled Duck species and became familiar with their habitat and appearance. Then I sketched out multiple ideas for composition. Finally, I moved on to my actual paper and decided to use a gridding technique for the main duck. I printed out a picture and then gridded both the image and my paper. The reasoning behind this was that it has proven to be quite helpful in the past for realistic art. It helps with proportions and shapes. looking back, I am glad I gridded as I think it helped with the perspective of the composition.  I structured the mother duck towards the right side of the paper because it was important to me to be able to have multiple ducks, especially the babies. I also like the way that a forward view looks because the movement is portrayed well and I like being able to see the face well. The other aspect of placement that I debated was the duck furthest in the back. Originally, I had the idea of doing just 2 ducks right near the mother duck. But it felt a bit flat. Then, I started playing around with the different placement of the ducks and had the idea of having one straggling behind the rest. It felt a bit funny, as I thought about the childhood stories like the "ugly duckling". I ended up loving how the third duck in the background made the piece look and added a bit of a story to the composition. My final step was going through with a white gel pen to add the highlights of the water.