Making progress with 100 birds and refreshing my process

While it really hasn’t felt like spring recently in Chicago, the return of Turkey Vultures is a sure sign that warmer temperatures and other neotropic migrants will be here soon. I’ve had this illustration of a TUVU soaring over the slough at LaBagh in my head for a few months now, so when I saw almost this exact image in real life on Wednesday I knew it was time to add another bird to my 100 birds series.

Some might find Turkey Vultures unattractive or downright ugly, but the more I look at them and learn about them the more beautiful they become. Look at those gorgeous wings—that combination of black and silver with long delicate primary feathers is simply stunning. They have the ability to soar on thermals while hardly exerting themselves, have an amazing sense of smell, and were recycling long before we humans thought it was cool. I also love how they wobble a bit while flying, almost like they got a bit drunk at a friend’s party before heading out to find something to eat. Interestingly, that wobbliness is part of what allows them to stay aloft at low altitudes where they can detect carrion scent. If you like nerding out on bird facts as much as I do, check out Birds of the World for a great summary on TUVUs.

It’s so nice to have them back gracing our skies once again.

69/100: Turkey Vulture Soaring over the Slough

Finding fun in creating again

When I first started my 100 birds project, I was cranking out at least 2 illustrations a week and inspiration seemed to be pouring out of me. In fact, I originally started this project as 52 birds with the goal of doing one a week, but I was having so much fun I increased the challenge to 100 birds. I remember thinking at the time I couldn’t imagine not feeling inspired to create all the time—birds are so amazing and magical and beautiful and there are just so darn many of them it’s impossible to run out of wonderful subjects. Well, that was pretty naive and by the time I got to Bird 59 (Louisiana Waterthrush) , I hit a wall. The ability to endlessly undo mistakes and tweak things while working digitally had my perfectionist working overtime and sapped the enjoyment from creating. I also slipped right down that slippery slope of getting hung up on what other people thought of my art and how the illustrations performed on Instagram. I really didn’t want to give up on this project but needed to make some changes. To counterbalance my perfectionism, I’ve been working a lot in ink and watercolor where mistakes are much more difficult to correct and trying to embrace all those “happy accidents”. My sketchbook page of Turkey Vultures in watercolor and ink is a good example. It’s definitely a mess but was really fun (and quick!) to make. Some of the birds are downright ghastly but I also really love some of them. Plus I got to play a bit with my Pilot Parallel Pen. This pen is pretty versatile because it can make both think and thick lines AND has water soluble ink so you can make ink washes with it. I don’t use it while nature journaling outdoors because the combination of its slow drying ink and my left-handness create ink smudges everywhere, but it’s fun to use when I remember to work right to left across the page.

Turkey Vultures in my sketchbook—watercolor and ink

Altering my process

Turkey vulture sketch study

Composition and sketching

When I first design my illustrations, I usually sketch out a really rough composition to figure out where the trees/plants and bird will fit best to make sure everything flows well and is balanced. I previously would spend a ton of time sketching out the bird to make sure I had the proportions correct and this is where I was getting really hung up. I think I feared the art police (or bird police) were going to mock me for getting them wrong. Well, whatever was going on in my brain, it wasn’t fun. In an effort to be looser but capture proportions somewhat accurately, what I’ve been doing recently is to do an image search of the bird in question (if I don’t have enough of my own reference photos) and fill a page of rough sketches from those images. Once that’s done, I put those images and sketches away and start a new sketch of the bird from memory. I still refine the shape a bit while I’m adding color and detail, but this method has been much more enjoyable and I think my birds recently have been a bit more dynamic and playful because of it. The image to the left shows my rough sketches of TUVU’s from reference images.

Adding analog elements with watercolor

For this Turkey Vulture illustration, I created the blue background using watercolor paints and paper. I love watching watercolor do it’s magic as well as intentionally creating blooms by adding water to a partially dry page. Once the page was dry I scanned it and added the digital image to Procreate. From there I was able to modify the saturation and brightness a bit to make sure it worked well with the rest of the piece. I’ve seen wonderful illustrators like Steph Fizer Coleman use similar techniques importing analog elements into Photoshop, and can see why they have so much fun with it.

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about my art process and Turkey Vultures! I'm hoping to write more posts like these, as well as sharing some of my experiences birding and nature journaling. Until next time, my friends! Happy Birding 🐦

p.s. I saw a TUVU through my skylight right as I finished writing this post AND it did its drunken wobble just before passing out of sight! 🤩

Watercolor wash and blooms used for background