birds

Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 24

/ Shawna / 3 Comments

Happy 2nd to last day of the challenge!!!!

I decided to just finish out the Hogwarts House series; half of the series was already done, and I know I had some people very anxious to have the series in print, so it made sense to finish it now.

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Title: Raven

Size: 5×7

Medium: Graphite pencil on acid free paper

Inspired/nominated by: This is part of the Hogwarts House Real Mascots series 🙂 Today’s is the Ravenclaw raven!

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Favorite parts: The entire thing! This is one of those pieces that I’ll finish and wonder how it came out of my pencil. I also love the background; I’m actually considering going back and reworking the badger and snake backgrounds to match this one.

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Challenging parts: Probably just the chest feathers, getting the contrast and balance to mesh well was a challenge (as always!).

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Product availability: The original is available in my Etsy shop here, and prints are coming soon.

 

Who’s ready for the Gryffindor lion tomorrow!??!?

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Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 20

/ Shawna / Leave a comment

Happy Friday, everyone!

I am so glad this week is almost over. My boys have been wrapping up their Odyssey of the Mind presentations this week (the Regional competition is tomorrow!), my daughter is in her last week of the modified swim season, and we are all just plain tired. My day started off with sunshine, coffee with a dear friend who I haven’t seen in forever, and of course, drawing!

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Title: Penguin with Baby

Size: 5×7

Medium: Graphite pencil and white in gel pen

Inspired/nominated by: JoBeth R.! She was first one to suggest this, but there have been multiple suggestions afterwards for penguins!

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Favorite parts: I love how the background turned out! I originally was just going to have the sky blend into the snowy ground, but it felt like I was taking the easy way out. I added some subtle penguins in the background, and now it just feels complete!

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Challenging parts: The baby’s down. It was a lot like working on the wolf’s fur yesterday, but as it was on a much smaller scale, it was a lot harder!

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Product availability: The original drawing is available in my Etsy store here, and prints are coming soon 🙂

 

How was your week? Are you anxious for the weekend too?

Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 18

/ Shawna / 1 Comment

Guess what I started working on today!???!??

PRINTS!!!!

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So far I have the Giraffe in 5×7 and 8×10, Starry Sky in 8×10, and I’m working on the Sloth right now. Every one of the drawings should be available soon in 5×7 AND 8×10, so if there are any you are interested, let me know and I’ll get those images done first. I’ll be listing what I have available on Etsy within the next couple of days!

I also worked on today’s drawing of course:

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Title: Bald Eagle with Fish

Size: 5×7

Medium: Graphite pencil on acid free paper

Inspired/nominated by: This was originally nominated by Gretta S., but then Steve C. expanded on the idea by suggesting having the eagle above water.

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Favorite parts: I’m really happy with how the water splash turned out! I saved that last for two reasons: I had to finish the other areas first (it’s easier to erase/add white ink than it is to draw the water/claws through water droplets), and because I was scared of doing it! There are just some parts of drawings that I don’t look forward to doing because I know it’s going to be challenging and I always leave them for last!

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Challenging parts: Actually, this drawing was pretty straight forward and not that hard overall. The water actually was probably the hardest part; I’m so used to doing watercolor water for Boathouse illustrations, but graphite and watercolor are two very different things! I’m just out of practice doing in in pencil, so it took longer than I would have liked, but I think in the end it was okay.

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Product availability: The original is available in my Etsy store here. Prints will be coming soon!

*** THIS DRAWING HAS SOLD! ***

 

Only 7 more drawings left in the challenge!!!! What are you hoping to see come up?

Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day #17

/ Shawna / Leave a comment

I am having a serious issue with the challenge this year.

Okay, so maybe serious is a little too strong of a word to use, but I’m having a problem and I blame all of you: my list of things to draw keeps getting longer and longer as I keep adding amazing suggestions from you guys, but there is no way I can do them all in the time frame I have set aside for the challenge.

Now I could always add another week (or probably two or three if I were to do everything on my list) and get everything done, but I really can’t do that as I have a book that is just begging to be illustrated. Maybe I’ll do a challenge in the fall, but that’s my busy season with festivals so that doesn’t really work either. I might just have to save the rest of the list for next year or just randomly work on the drawings during the year here and there as my schedule allows. Whatever option I end up doing, you guys have really outdone yourselves with fantastic suggestions this year and it’s making it hard for me to choose what to do every day and wish that I could keep up this crazy challenge indefinitely! Kudos to you all!

But back to today’s drawing…

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Title: Hummingbird and Flower

Size: 5×7

Medium: Graphite pencil on acid free paper

Inspired/nominated by: My friend, Kirsty N.! We were talking about the cow drawing last night, and she suggested doing a hummingbird. I mentioned I had done one last year for the challenge, and as I was looking for the blog post to share with her, I was inspired to do one in flight by a flower. She agreed, and as I couldn’t get that image out of my head, it had to be today’s subject!

Favorite parts: Little hummingbird face!!!!

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Challenging parts: The feathers on the body! They’re reflective in the reference image, so trying to translate that to black and white without it looking polka dotted was hard. The flower was also a bit of a challenge; trying to get the coloring in the center and it’s veins while keeping the soft and delicate petals was not as easy as I expected!

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Product availability: This original drawing is available in my Etsy store here. Prints will be coming soon, and this will probably be joining the upcoming drawn bird note card set.

 

What has been your favorite drawing of the challenge this year so far?

Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 11

/ Shawna / 1 Comment

Hello, Monday!

I had a great weekend: on Saturday, we (aka my husband) were able to get my scanner up and running so I can turn these drawings into prints, and I started getting the original drawings up in my Etsy store. Yesterday my youngest and I went to my hometown to visit with my bestie from grade school and her son and surprised my parents with a quick visit as well.

I did miss drawing, though, and was very much looking forward to getting back to it today!

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Title: Barred Owl

Size: 5×7

Medium: Graphite pencil and white ink gel pen on acid free paper

Inspired/nominated by: I originally put an owl on the list, but it was also nominated by my friend Marie B!

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Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 3

/ Shawna / 2 Comments

Whew.

One of the main reasons why I do this challenge is to prove to myself that I can make my art a priority, even on the craziest days. And today…I would have not done my art if it hadn’t been for this challenge!

My day consisted of making sure the boys were on the bus either at 7:20 or 8:20, my daughter and I were out of here by 8:30 for her orthodontist appointment, then back to school for her at 10:30. I went home, made up grocery lists, went shopping and was back at 12. I put away most of the groceries, grabbed lunch, and then finally sat down to draw. A few minutes to 3 I went to school for Bible Club, got home at 5, drew until dinner at 5:30, then finished the drawing shortly after 6.

Again, whew.

But he is done!

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Title: Chickadee

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Drawing a Day Challenge 2018: Day 2

/ Shawna / 2 Comments

Day 2, and already things didn’t go as planned…but for once, it was for the drawing’s benefit!

Today’s plan was to get kids on the bus, eat, then go run errands and grocery shop, and then at some point help finish up the plan for Bible club tomorrow with another one of the leaders. As the hubby and kids weren’t going to be getting home until at least 5, it was the perfect day to get all those things done while still having uninterrupted drawing time.

But, it wasn’t meant to be…my littlest guy wasn’t feeling well this morning and stayed home from school. I cancelled all my plans, watched tons of movies, and got my drawing in between all the snuggles.

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But onto the drawing from today! The preview I shared on Facebook and Instagram really threw everyone for a loop (sorry, guys!), but here’s the non-monkey-dog-cat-cat butt-ostrich in all his glory:

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Drawing a Day Challenge: Day #12

/ Shawna / 2 Comments

Guys, I was SOOOO excited for today’s drawing!

I was going to be home, have tons of time to work, AND it was going to be an easier drawing as the subject is one I’m very familiar with by now. It couldn’t have been a better set up for drawing….

But life happened.

And my brain was all over the place, incapable of drawing properly.

So I give you my first flop of the challenge:

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Title: Funny Little Cardinal

Medium: Graphite pencil and ink on acid free paper

Size: 5×7

When I say “flop”, I just mean that he didn’t turn out how I wanted him to. He’s not baaaaad, just not up to my normal standards.

So yeah, I didn’t even photograph him properly, and this is the only picture I took.

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Drawing a Day Challenge: Day #9

/ Shawna / 1 Comment

I had so much energy today!

I’m not sure if it’s because everyone was back at school, the sun was out, or my office was freshly cleaned, but I got so much done! I guess it was really shocking that I got a lot done because when the boys got home, Kid #2 just stopped and said “Woooooowwww….”, and Kid #3 said “What happened? The house looks so weird!”.

Apparently I don’t clean a lot….

But anyway, back to art things. Number One on my list of course was the Drawing a Day Challenge, and today’s subject seemed daunting. It actually went fairly smoothly, and I really enjoyed working on it!

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Title: Falcon

Medium: Graphite pencil and ink on acid free paper

Size: 5×7

This subject was suggested by my friend, Lisa H. She mentioned a bird of prey, and I know my husband especially loves falcons, so it was a no-brainer as to which one I was going to choose.

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