This project was fueled by several factors, when I have proposed this project I was both excited and a bit discouraged. I have never used colored pencil for anything other than coloring pages and such when I was younger. So to go from that to this is a pretty big step. But I did some research and discovered different techniques. In the beginning, I was set on using a solvent instead of the burnishing method. But there two problems with this, one, I didn't have any solvent, I tried rubbing alcohol and paint thinner, neither of which worked. Then Mrs.Medsker explained how to use the burnishing method and I opened my mind to the idea. As I drew the duck I learned some more techniques that worked well with the burnishing method.

To create this piece I used colored pencil for the whole thing, and I did not do the watercolor layer that Mrs. Medsker told us to do. I didn't because I had in mind from the start to color the entire page with a colored pencil so therefore I would need the watercolor to fill the white spaces. In the end, I followed my ideas and it turned out well.

To start this project, I was pretty much in the deep end. Again, I had never used colored pencils like this before so the first thing that I did was teach myself. I searched up some videos on general techniques, then moved to some videos of how to draw feathers and birds with colored pencils, and even found a mallard duck drawing video. Originally I chose the American Black Duck for my duck but abruptly realized that there was simply too much detail for a beginner and switched to the King Eider. I used two main resources for this drawing, one, a picture of the King Aider, and two, a picture of one of the winning duck drawings. I used the drawing to visualize the water technique that was used, though it clearly didn't work as it fell apart in a flaming dumpster fire. Before I started this project I created probably 8 or 10 drafts, I overthought a little, to say the least, but even then I didn't know where to start on the actual project. I got the basic shapes down then started the outline, when it looked good I started on the head. I also dedicated a page in my sketchbook to practice making different shades of the pencil and blending. I made a shade I was happy with and began the duck's crown, I put down a layer of white then a light layer of black then another layer of white for a light gray. I did this for all the whole duck and different colors too, I would add more or less pigment based on the density of the color I was using. After struggling with the head a bit I decided to take a leap of faith and try and use the rubbing alcohol as a solvent, this turned out to be a grave mistake and would prove to hurt me later on in the project. I continued with the rest of the head, and chest. It did not go terribly but if I were to do it again it would go better. Next, it was time to move onto the body. This is when I set in place my new found (yet developing) ability to draw with colored pencil. Pretty much the whole body of the duck was black so it made colored much easier, at least when compared to that of which the American Black Duck would have been. I used white over the black on the top of the wing to show the direction of the light and to bring depth into the drawing. The rest of the body of the duck went pretty smoothly, though I don't exactly like the feather grouping that falls over the wing towards the back of the duck. I added some extra black in the wings to depict where they meet and some extra highlights throughout. Then I came back to the head, as I tried to add white for highlights because I tried using the rubbing alcohol, instead of mixing and blending it just removed the gray I added over the solvent and showed the ugly lines. I didn't like this at all, and in total, I spent the most time out of anything on the whole duck working on the crown. Probably 5 hours just on it. Finally, I figured it out sort of, I say sort of because it could still use some work. I then started to work on the water. Now not was I only out of my comfort zone, I was double out of my comfort zone. I had less clue on how to draw water with colored pencil than I knew how to draw water. As you can clearly tell in the picture. I tried but again if I had more time it would definitely look better. Then finally, onto the background. For this, I started by just scribbling over the whole thing with a blue pencil. Then over the blue, I put orange. Then Alexa told me that blue and orange make brown. I was not happy, to say the least, but I made the best out of the situation. I started by shaving down a blue pencil and scribbling over the orange again, then shaved what I could off with a knife. I then blended what I could with a white pencil, and made the decision to go over the orange area with a dark blue to further mask it. I shaved the pencil down and colored it over, it was working well I had to push quite hard though. I then blended with the white and it looked pretty good. Because the lower half of the piece was still light blue all I had to do was transition the colors over by blending them into one another. It went well and I used white where it was needed to finish it off. I then finished the piece by blending the background flush with the duck all around and only then was the project finished.

I used many techniques for this drawing, and most importantly I learned how to use colored pencils, which I will certainly use in future works.