Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

I have a terrible time with perspective. It often takes a couple of tries to get a particular aspect correct. A good example is the sketch of my little House Finch. The first one was coming along fine, until I hit his beak. Take a look:

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

Beaks are a pain at the best of times. My first attempt gave Mr. Finch a bizarre grin. The head and eye was quite good but I just couldn’t seem to get the beak right. Not sure if the finch was grinning maniacally or was constipated either way he ended up looking deeply disturbed. I tried to erase the beak and begin again, but it kept coming out the same. So I started all over. The second finch looks pretty good. The beak came out just about right. Not only is the smug look gone, his forehead isn’t so large. If you look carefully, you’ll note the beak is higher in relation to the eye. The previous attempt gave the finch a cartoony look.

All my birds seem so serious though. I’m going to have to work on smoothing out around the eye a bit more. That might give them a slightly less serious look.

The feathering is coming along. I’m experimenting with a variety of strokes and over strokes with a variety of leads so the feathers aren’t so uniform and less scruff. Some of my early birds have a rough, unkempt look. Have to say I’m pleased with Mr. Finch.

Stumble it!