materials: water color, black pen, sharpie  

artist statement:

when I first heard we were doing the duck stamps this year I thought I was going to not like the final piece like every year. but with this I'm really proud of it. I used water for the base just to map in the colors and plan out the piece. I used a mallard duck which was different for the past two years i've been doing the ruddy duck so it was fun to mix it up. 

After I finished adding subtle details with that water color, I went in with black pen and sharpie to more define them. I thought it was important to illustrate the duck in a realistic tone but to add more of my style to it. I also used the dark sharpie to add more contrast between the darks and lights. when I finished the water color it looked really muddy, but after using highlight with white gel pen and the dark contour lines the lights and darks pop more.