Maine Junior Duck Stamp

Artist statement:

For this project we were supposed to create a scientific piece of art for the duck stamp competition. The duck stamp competition has hundreds of artists send in their ducks and be turned into a stamp where the proceeds go to conserving nature and animal habitats. The duck we draw has to be native to North America. For me I chose to do the Wood Duck. I really wanted to draw a duck with different colors, textures, and patterns. Also one with a variety of habitats to choose from. A lot of North American ducks are pretty bland colors in my opinion.

I also decided to use colored pencils for this project. I feel like when I was a kid I was told to use the colored pencils lightly but as I have gotten more experienced in art I have decided that colored pencils work much better when you press super hard. They can be blended amazingly and the colors are so stunning. I'm really happy with my decision to use colored pencils because of the insane detail I got out of it.

My process for this project definitely included lots of research. I had to research the ducks habitat and feather patterns and slowly look at the details in photographs of wood ducks. I decided to do the male which is very different then the female. It was important to look at the specific details of the male. I also had revisions and layers in this project. First the sketch and then slowly layering layers of colored pencils to create the right colors and shades.