Scratchin' and a Preenin'

Drawing Silkie chickens almost never gets tiring, because of the incredible variation in their tone and texture, which makes for interesting and challenging rendering, especially when drawing from life.

Drawing Runner Ducks, on the other hand, also never gets tiring, but for entirely different reasons. They're always moving, and their bills and necks provide difficult shapes to draw (especially when they're moving!).

Duck doodles...

I didn't have a lot of time on this Fathers Day to sketch any of the critters in detail, but I managed to spend a few minutes following the ducks around (they rarely stand still for any length of time to allow one to finish a drawing!). It's all good practice, however, even if there's no refined product for the day. In time, benefits in line and expression will be reaped...

And speaking of ducks:

Duck Quack... er... QUICK Draw

Today's Scratches are of the ducks...

Getting a Line on Shading

In some of today's Scratches, I tried to use drawing pencils of varying softnesses, and to incorporate shading and value gradations. What I seem to have achieved is still a lot of middle tone. Perhaps I need to go 6B or softer to get darks that aren't forced...

If you'd like to see a great sketcher at work in this regard, go see Victor Ambrus' book Drawing Animals. It's a wonderful compilation of his sketches from life of animals as he observed them. We're all duffers compared to him when it comes to sketching from life, and maintaining energy in line while incorporating value and focus areas...

Gesture

More gesture drawings.
The process reminds me a bit of figure drawing class, when they'd have us draw the model doing quick gesture poses, the model changing pose every minute. You'd have to keep a lightning hand and quick eye in order to capture something of truth about the pose.

And just like those classes, Chicken and Duck Figure Drawing has models that move constantly! So a lot of the drawings end up looking like scribbles! But, with practice, the drawings can sometimes have a bit of energy and life to them-- life that can be lacking in the more extended poses, which allow for too much "tightness."

Duck Piles and Silkies, 18 and 19 May 2014

Ducks seem to like to hang out with each other, just like some of the hens. I think a group of ducks on the ground is called a flock or a "badling," while on the water it's called a "paddling."
I just like to call it a "duck pile."