Boid

I drew a boid!

I didn't get much sleep last night and spent most of the day distracted by... important matters. (Games) So I didn't really feel like doing anything particularly involved and didn't have a lot of time anyway.

But, I hate to let a day go by where I don't draw anything, so I decided to just doodle something at random. Keep the art brain from getting rusty, and keep my brain from eating away at me with niggling guilt for not being productive.

Quick tip for beginning artists- try to draw a little something every day. No matter what it is, make sure you draw at least a doodle every day when starting. After a month or two you'll find you feel bad when you don't do it, which is a fantastic way to keep you from just falling out of drawing, which happens often to newer artists. Make it a habit and it'll stick with ya!

So yeah, I drew a boid. Just random, forced myself to do a pose where she's not standing up since I struggle with sitting/laying poses a bit. Also, originally tried some more realistic talon like shapes on her feet, but it always looked kind of scary to me, like there were horrible death machines strapped to her legs. Which is kind of true I suppose. So instead I made them more foot-like and just added some talony bits. Not the greatest, but looks slightly less terrifying to me.

Also, another quick art tip- pay attention to page balance! This matters more for traditional artists since digital folks can just crop and slide to make things look nice.

If you've been watching me for a while you probably know I don't often draw wings, because wings are hate. This time I did- why do you suppose that is? When I originally drew the sketch it didn't have them, but if you picture the sketch without the wings, everything looks pushed into the lower left corner for no good reason and as a result the sketch felt unbalanced and awkward. Adding the wings centered everything nicely and gives the picture a more balanced feeling, and it saved me having to re-draw the entire sketch.

Always look for easy ways to fix the page balance, wings and tails are fantastic for this sort of thing!

Anyway, brief sketch, just for my own practice more than anything. But, I know there's a few bird lovers out there, so I hope some of you like it.