Duck Stamp 

The assignment was to draw or paint a realistic portrait of a living duck and submit it to the national youth duck stamp competition. The ducks had to be proportionate and mainly in the frame our the final piece, and they were expected to be living, and you could not directly copy an image from the internet. I wanted to compose my piece in an interesting way, combing two separate images together. 

I used colored pencils for the entirety of the project except for some of the highlight parts where I used a white gel pen. Even though colored pencils take the longest time to execute well, I knew that in the end that is what would look the best and look the most realistic. 

I still have not completed the project, and I don't have a recent photo of what it looks like so far. It has taken me so much longer than what I thought it would take, and I have a hard time wanting to work on it. What I have so far, I think looks very good, and it is very realistic which is such a satisfying feeling. If I were to re-do this project again, I would focus more on the composition of the birds on the paper, where they are right now doesn't look right. The male bird on the right is too close to the water to have its wings in that position.