Bird Illustrations 10-12 (of 14)

the penultimate purposeful practice post: in-depth looks (and a video) from round one

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!

Reporting to you from somehow still snowy Nashville! (update: it’s a couple days later and the snow melted)

Before we get into the challenge roundup:

Something happened and bird 10 (the common snipe) got more attention on Instagram that anything I’ve ever shared. I don’t know why; I didn’t do anything special. (All previous 9 reels were done in the same way ha) But now there are more eyes on this challenge and I’m feeling good! It’s always nice to feel recognized. Maybe consistency and just doing what you like WILL eventually pay off? Or maybe it’s the algo doing little tricks.

I know the IG numbers don’t super matter, I keep reminding myself of that. It’s hard to admit, but I keep checking it multiple times per hour to see how close I am to 10K followers. What a dolt. It’s even harder to admit that I want it.

Okay…let’s crack a joke and shake off that v u l n e r a b i l i t y. 🙃

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I’m planning Purposeful Practice Challenge ROUND TWO! And I’ve decided to host it as a guided/follow along challenge here on Substack. :) The first round helped me SO MUCH last year, and I’d like to do at least one round a year moving forward—working on building different skills, techniques, etc. More on this coming soon!

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“Secret Desk Drawer” subscribers watch your inbox! I’m sending ANOTHER process posts this week! Wooheeee! And if you don’t have access to the “secret desk drawer” yet, want to upgrade to see a specific post then jump back out, you won’t hurt my feelings! I completely get it!

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It’s the penultimate purposeful practice roundup post! (for round one) We’re covering birds 10-12 (of 14).

Here are the other roundups if you missed them or want to look back, and the BIG Purposeful Practice explanation! The first two roundup posts (birds 1-6) are up for everyone to see and read through! The rest are stored in the “secret desk drawer” (your support means more than you know! Thank you!). After this, there’s only ONE more round of birds to share from this challenge! (And yes, I’ve already started planning what I’ll work on for…drumroll…Purposeful Practice Challenge Round Two)

A quick summary of this challenge:

• 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)

First up are the notes that I made for myself in Notion right after finishing each bird, THEN a video looking a little closer at each piece. Let’s get into it!

a video that, as always, ended up being longer than I intended

The bird I have to draw (chosen randomly).

Bird 10: Common Snipe

Watch Short Process Reel

Thoughts: - I opted out of using the timer with this piece. I’ve learned when it comes to layering shapes and colors (not relying on lines) I need time to study the subject. How is it put together?; how is light interacting with it?; and how do I balance the color and value without lines? I also needed time to try out my multiple packs of digital gouache brushes. I ended up liking the Kyle Webster “Gouache Blair 30” for this piece. I enjoyed working on this illustration. I tried pushing and stylizing the shapes; and going for a richer/warmer color palette that still conveyed the bird’s markings (just in a sunset-y light). I also drew the silhouettes first and painted in a neutral base color. Then used clipping masks for the rest of the color/shadows/highlights/details. I’ve seen people work this way and wanted to try it. I liked it. It made balancing the colors feel less daunting since I was working from a neutral base on a predetermined shape.

The random “style/inspiration” I landed on: Annette Marnat

My interpretation! (digital illustration; iPad Pro and Procreate)

The bird I have to draw (chosen randomly).

Bird 11: Large Wren-Babbler

Watch Short Process Reel

Thoughts: I liked sketching the shapes for this bird—simplifying and determining how to best piece it together. The paint once again is tough. Some of the problem was the paper type, it’s too soft and the paint spread out. I like the texture but I don’t like that I lost some of my opacity and crisp edges. The design of this cover is appealing to me as well, therefore I used it as part of the inspiration. I recreated it for my own drawing. It sort of looks like an additional pamphlet that would accompany this book. I liked illustrating this one, but I need to consider that many of these examples omit backgrounds. How would I incorporate a background here?

The random “style/inspiration” I landed on: Art Seiden

My interpretation! (acrylic gouache on found paper)

The bird I have to draw (chosen randomly).

Bird 12: Song Sparrow

Watch Short Process Reel

Thoughts: This piece…oh where do I even start. When I landed on this example I didn’t feel disappointed, I felt stumped. How do I draw like this? My mind would never make these shapes or layer in such a way. But I so enjoy looking at it. I started by sketching…shapes first. Breaking down the process into parts was my only way in. So, shapes first. Push and pull, stretch and squish (I made a note of uploading ref images and using the liquify tool on them, still need to try that). Step two, what’s the color palette? I couldn’t start the timer before I knew what colors to use. (and boy oh boy balancing a limited color palette is activating a diff part of my brain) Step three, put it all together, build it. Again the timer felt like a hindrance, not the helpful tool I designed it to be. “I’ll figure out the first bird and then time the rest”, I thought. Well…not so much. I took my time. I was having fun, figuring things out, and I don’t regret it. I know the timer would have hurt this piece, but now that I’ve learned a few things, I’d like to reintroduce the timed element for another go. Oh yeah…I liked this. Forgot to say that in the beginning. 😊

The random “style/inspiration” I landed on: Katsiaryna Dubovik

My interpretation! (neocolor crayon ii, colored pencil, pen)

Bonus Video

And here is the bonus video going a little deeper into the making and thoughts behind these three birds. Let me know if you have any questions! I apologize for the look of my right thumb…I smashed it in the door of a Mini Copper two weeks ago.

The next roundup will be our last for this round! Only two more birds to share! I’ll talk about them all; my thoughts on the challenge as a whole; and what I’m doing next!

Thanks everyone! Talk soon!