A look at bird illustrations 4-6 (of 14)
in-depth looks (and a video) on my "Purposeful Practice Challenge - Round 1"
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!
The birds (and I) are back with part two of the purposeful practice roundup! Plus a video where I talk a bit more about each piece!
Here’s the first part if you missed it, and the BIG Purposeful Practice explanation! After this one, I’ll be sharing the rest (3 more roundups) on the paid subscribers list!
The quickest of summaries:
I wanted to get out of my head and draw in different ways.
I chose a random bird + a random drawing, 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)
Let’s get into it! Again I copied my thoughts straight out of my Notion page for this! I thought about editing them, but I DIDN’T. You get my pure, unfiltered brain dumps.
Bird 4: Black-Naped Blue Monarch
Thoughts: - I had a great time on this one. The worst part being an ink blot fell from the nib onto the main focus, the bird. (and into the white areas!) Gouache + Watercolor + ink using a brush and nib respectively. This “style” comes more naturally to me—the shaping, the line work. I’m finding that I’m a sucker for “naive”, loose line work. Can I make this work for me commercially? Maybe. I have to try. I ordinarily wouldn’t have painted a dark, wash of a background like this. I think it really works though. It’s sort of like a “picture day” or studio backdrop. There is some sense of space, just ambiguous. Color and vague abstract shape can imply scene. I do need to consider my shadows and highlights more when I work this way again, and I 10/10 will work this way again.
It’s worth noting that I did a quick thumbnail of this composition before starting the timer, but I did not use a sketch to make the final piece. I began by laying in my main shapes with gouache.
Bird 5: Great Bustard
Thoughts: So far, this piece has garnered the least amount of thoughts. I like the story the inspiration piece proposes. That’s the best part of it, in my opinion. So, I tried to continue, or add to, that story in my piece. I’m still enjoying a simple background quickly painted in behind the main focus. The inspiration piece leans heavily on texture and dry brush—I should have gone harder in that direction. This, plus considering the paint layers, will improve any future illustrations done in this way.
I believe J.P. Miller only uses paint (probably gouache) in his piece. I introduced the teeniest amount of graphite. 🙂. The last helpful thought I have on my piece vs this one—I need to up my contrast. That has been a consistent note for myself throughout everything. GLOBAL NOTE: Use background or atmospheric shapes to sculpt the main subject. Kind of like negative space building 👍
Bird 6: Secretary Bird
Thoughts: The toughest one so far. I didn’t know how to begin—digital seemed like the obvious choice, but when I thought about getting the iPad out, I felt myself recoil internally. That left paint. I continue to use the leftover gouache in my palette and snippets of bristol paper. I painted the background in with no sketch, carving out the shapes of the bird with negative space. This helped in getting chunkier shapes. My paint application is not as smooth as the inspiration piece, nor is the contrast up to par. Contrast (dark shadows, and bold highlights) is something I should plan into my next challenge. My favorite part of my piece is the tip of the beak—good, sharp shape (and how the gray blends into the golden yellow).
Bonus video: a little more about each piece
Let me know if you like watching these videos! They are pretty fun and easy to make, but are they also helpful and interesting?
If you’re thinking “Hey Kayla, I want to do a challenge like this for myself!” then let me hit you with this question:
Do ya’ll like worksheets? ✏️🤓
I might take my notion page and make it into a worksheet that helps plan and structure a challenge like this. Whatcha think? Into it? Lemme know below!
Thanks for reading and watching 💛 !
I’ll be posting the next batch of birds (7-9) for my paid subscribers list—along with more process looks and creative career thoughts. 🙌 Thank you for your support and helping me make this space better and better!
Reading through your process posts...so many ideas percolating...thanks for making the effort to publish these posts- they must take a tremendous amount of time, but be assured, they are proving to be valuable to those of us on the beginning of our art journey!
Love watching these back videos. Thank you so much!!!