Bird Illustrations

At this point, I had already worked out the composition. I was trying to show the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The muddy Missouri causes the Mississippi to be muddy from this point South.

More work here on the confluence as well as some work on the horizon.

Worked on the bird's head to bring in more of a sense of mass. Began to put lighter color in the Mississippi (on the right), which helped to lighten the image overall. Added reflection back into water on Missouri side (the river on the left) and moved it back to blue.

Brightened the background. Added the third bird, which I eventually took out but wish I had left it in! Began to define the second bird and set it off from the farmland behind it. Worked on first bird's tailfeathers and established more definition and color in wings.

Further definition of second bird. Tried warmer colors in first bird with cooler colors in farmland. Began to put in a slight silhouette of the bird, a lighter line around the bird to set it off from the background.

Attempted to bring more contrast between head of first bird and horizon line. Made second bird warmer in color (which I would eventually undo).

(Don't remember what I was trying to do at this point...)