A look at Bird Illustrations 13-14 (of 14); THE END of round one and what I learned

in-depth looks at my "Purposeful Practice Challenge - Round 1"—we've come to the end, now what?

Hi! I’m Kayla Stark, an illustrator working primarily in the children’s publishing world. You’re reading “Odd Thoughts”, my blog/newsletter where I talk mostly about illustration, process, publishing, and anything else that’s tangentially related in my life. Join in! Everyone’s welcome!

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We made it fam!—here are the last two birds from my purposeful practice challenge! Birds 13 and 14

You can read all of round one’s challenge roundups in the Purposeful Practice section. And if you don’t know what I’m referring to or just need a refresher…

The quickest of summaries:

• I wanted to get out of my head and draw in different ways.

• I chose a random bird + a random illustration on Pinterest, then drew the bird in that style.

• And I added an extra layer by setting a 40 min timer.
  (timers help get me out of my overthinking loop)

First up are the unedited, personal notes that I made for myself in Notion after finishing each bird; followed by my final, overall thoughts; THEN a video looking a little closer at these last two pieces. Let’s go!

The bird I have to draw (chosen randomly).

Bird 13: Tree Swallow

Watch Short Process Reel

Thoughts: - This felt…easy? I can’t say yet if I think it’s any good, and I do feel it’s lacking some of the life of Beuville’s works, but I’m happy with how it came out. (and with how quickly it came together. I stopped the timer with 5 min left, though truly I could have stopped it with more than 10 min left. I forced myself to add a little more with colored pencils. I liked “mixing” the colors on the piece.

The initial quickness and ease implores me to delve deeper and incorporate this into my work.

In my opinion, the dead turkey has more life than my tree swallow. Practice, technique, and a swift wrist should help, right? And I just noticed that I need to have more highlight areas.

Note to self: Determine a challenge for this type of technique; only more “me”. My sample doesn’t feel special; it’s too generic.

The random “style/inspiration” I landed on: Georges Beuville

My interpretation! (watercolor, acrylic gouache, white pen, colored pencil)

The bird I have to draw (chosen randomly).

Bird 14: Wood Stork

Watch Short Process Reel

Thoughts: I felt a little disappointed that this was going to be digital, but cheered seeing that it might go quickly. (flat color, not too much shading). The skill here is in choosing colors and balancing them (and the value); not in how realistically the subjects are rendered. I was excited to find simple shapes and arrange them in ways not as familiar to my hand. This example doesn’t show it but Boutavant tends toward the long thin shapes balanced by bulbous ones. I didn’t start the timer until I had a sketch and I then I stuck to the timer for the bird and most of the fish. I did finish the fish off timer.

It’s important to have a color palette in mind before starting. He used the same palette throughout this project. I enjoyed illustrating this one, I’m not sure if it’s because it felt more familiar or if it felt more me. It’s fitting that I ended the challenge on a stork. 😊 Kayla Stork

The random “style/inspiration” I landed on: Marc Boutavant

My interpretation: (digital, iPad Pro, Procreate)

All together now!

Look at them—all 14 of them! Seeing this makes me feel like I really accomplished something. I am proud of myself, AND I learned so much about my art practice. I plan to do a challenge like this once a year (at least).

not in chronological order

Overall Thoughts:

• There is a big French showing in the artist inspiration line up.

• There is a distinct lack of backgrounds—both in what I illustrated and what I had pinned on Pinterest.

• I consistently need to work on my value scale. (more contrast)

• Most of the birds are facing (my) left, why do I do this? Is it something to do with being left-handed? Or where I start on the paper?

• I find myself drawn to the pieces that were quickest to make. (the nib pen, the quick paint strokes, even a couple of the digital pieces.)¹ I want to make more artwork and one of my biggest obstacles is how long it can take me to finish a piece. Speeding up has to be a priority, but I must figure out what that looks like in my hand. I do love a nib pen though, that isn’t going away.

• I didn’t love making the digital gouache-y common snipe piece (bird 10), but I sure do love looking at it. Ugh.

• I started to learn when I needed the timer and when it was a hindrance.

• I consistently approached each bird with a sketch first (well mostly) and reading a bit about them to inform what they could be doing. I don’t like to draw a character just standing around, unless I’m figuring out how exactly they will look or practicing expressions.

And here is a bonus video going a little deeper into the making and thoughts behind these last two birds. (Sorry about my squished thumb, and the light reflection on the screen, woops!)

What I’m doing for Round Two!

I consistently noted 3 things that need improvement—that could shape Purposeful Practice Round Two: backgrounds, color palettes, and value/contrast. I don’t know if I could work ALL THREE of these into a second round without it being too convoluted and hard to measure improvement…

I need to work on backgrounds, especially with wanting to do more book work, and just character development in general.

So I’m going to focus on 2 things in round two—backgrounds and value/contrast. (color can be a future challenge all on its own)

My next step is to define the round two challenge parameters, and FROM THAT I’ll make a worksheet that can help you plan a challenge of your own. :) You’ll also be able to join me here, as I’m treating this next round as a guided Purposeful Practice Challenge! This will all get its own post with more info.

Thanks everyone! Talk soon! 💛

1. My fear is those pieces are not pieces the “public” will like and I hate that I even consider this. I need to find a balance between what I like and what art directors/editors are looking for. Maybe they are just looking for good work. I could even have a separate way of working for the “public”. No, even typing that felt annoying. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m drawn to these styles because they are faster/”easier” and if so, is that good or bad?