Breanna

My artist partner is sketching alongside me and decided to do comparative studies on bird beaks, since some of the previous bird exercises had him noticing that they're a very weird structure and crucial to communicating the specific type of bird being depicted. (I did some different mosses we found on a hike). Aren't they cool!

I have certainly found that drawing the same image multiple times helps me remember the lessons we're learning and how to execute them. It also has the benefit of showing me how much improvement can be made in just an hour which helps keep me wanting to continue my learning and not get discouraged. If the first bird was the only one I drew, I definitely would move forward thinking I couldn't do any better, when clearly I can!

You can see the progress throughout my 4 attempts at the bird - at first I was drawing every change in shape literally (as per the feather back humps on Attempt 1). My husband is a professional artist and we had an amazing date night drawing the same things together. He would point out what I got better each time, and show me on my own page how the movement of the shapes changes in the bird. Certain things make or break whether or not it's recognizable as a warbler or even a bird lol. I'm glad I recorded the suite of increasingly competent attempts, it shows how even 1 hour of work can change your skills a little!