March 5, 2019

The Bird Couple Illustration Process

I created this sketch of an older couple as part of an assignment for a backgrounds class I took through SVSLearn. I decided to finish it out and submit it as part of their monthly drawing prompt challenge (the prompt word for February was the word "love"). Around the time that I started the class I began to stream my art on twitch so i was able to capture a lot of the process as I worked through this illustration. Here's a little behind-the-scenes look at my illustration:

This picture shows an older couple. It is the grandma's birthday and her husband knows how much she loves birds so he got her a brand new bird feeder. Grandma is completely immersed in the birds landing on the feeder outside while Grandpa looks on, satisfied by the excited reaction she is having to his gift.

This was my original sketch that I submitted to Brian Ajhar for feedback on SVSLearn

I took the feedback that Brian provided and edited the sketch. The character shapes are a bit more defined and the couch is a little less modern.

This speed paint shows mosssssssst of my process. When I started painting the color it really wasn't working out so I spent a little time working it out off-stream. That part didnt get recorded so at about the 6 minute mark you'll see the color go from looking really ba to pretty good.

The final illustration
<< Back to blog

If you liked this story, here's some more you could try:

The Bird Couple Illustration Process

I created this sketch of an older couple as part of an assignment for a backgrounds class I took through SVSLearn. Around the time that I started the class I began to stream my art on twitch so i was able to capture a lot of the process as I worked through this illustration. Here's a little behind-the-scenes look at my illustration

Read More

Making Stick Ponies

Its a cold snowy weekend and I'm stuck inside. I thought it would be fun to make some stick ponies - the heads have such a fun shape. Here's what I did and how it turned out.

Read More

American Folktales Process Blog

This is a series of illustrations I created based on the Folktale Week prompt list put out in November of 2018. The idea was to create and post one illustration based on a folktale every day for a week. Instead of picturing the more popular European folk and fairytales, I wanted to make pieces based on North American folktales. In American folktales, subjects are rugged and wild; cowboys, lumberjacks, pirates, and outlaws. At the time the Americas were being settled, the world had a very negative association with witches and magic. Because of this you see much less of a focus on witches and spells. Instead, American folk tales portray people with larger than life personalities and great senses of adventure.

Read More