Junior Duck Stamp

Wood Ducks

Gouache

Wood Ducks was my second junior duck stamp and a massive improvement on my first iteration from sophomore year. We were instructed to choose a local(ish) duck and then recreate it with scientific detail. I never usually enjoy this project for that precise reason, yet I am much happier with how this turned out than I was expecting. I started by making numerous sketches in my sketchbook on the details in the head feathers, as well as the overall body shape. Then I painted my background with gouache, I chose a plain background to really focus on the ducks more. Finally, I drew rough outlines of how the ducks's bodys should look and I started painting. I started with the head on each duck and moved on from there. As a finishing touch, I added the trees in the background to add a little more composition to the piece.

I chose these ducks because they had a very majestic, sophisticated, and almost gentlemanly look to them, I really liked the green slicked back feathers on the males head, so that's why I chose to just paint the male ducks. I wanted the ducks to be loud and stand out on the page so I opted for a more bland background.

I procrastinated the hell out of this project because I hated the duck stamp, in fact, even though we had over a month to complete this assignment I started giving myself less than 15 hours to complete it in the heyday of mid-term week. That being said (I need to work on time managment skills), but I am pleased with how this turned out, and am I excited to see how I rank this year as last year my duck was awful and I received an honorable mention. I don't love the wings on the left duck, but I am very proud of the right duck's head, overall I think this is one of my stronger detailed paintings.