Duck Stamp

Ah yes, the duck stamp. The project I struggle with every year without fail. I am not a realistic artist, so I always dread this project. The duck I picked was one that I thought looked fun as well as easy to capture with art. And I thought the ducks heads looked silly. This year I'm drawing the ring necked duck. This doesn't really relate to my life except that I sat in my room and rushed to finish this in hopes I could get it done in order to be graded. Theres chaos in the water backdrop for sure.

The materials I used were graphite pencil, watercolor paint, black pens, and white charcoal. I started with a graphite base, colored over with the watercolor, outlined in ink, then did the background with watercolor. I added highlights to the water with the white charcoal.

I changed my process by leaving my sketch and coloring over it. I also outlined after coloring. I wanted to show some movement with the duck on the right. I also tried to use space to make the duck on the right appear farther back than the duck on the left. I also wanted there to be texture and on the feathers. My original plan contained more in the background, including birds in the distance and some land. I was crunched on time so I focused on just the main two ducks. Since I photographed the drawing I have added water droplets coming off of the bird with its wings out. My next steps would be to make the water look better and possibly add more value on the ducks, maybe finding a way to make them look more alive.