Based on a photo I took at Burnaby Lake this summer.
This is the first time the background1I’m still not sure I’m entirely happy with it, either, but it’s pretty close. I may tweak it, I may not. took longer to do than the actual bird. Much longer!

Based on a photo I took at Burnaby Lake this summer.
This is the first time the background1I’m still not sure I’m entirely happy with it, either, but it’s pretty close. I may tweak it, I may not. took longer to do than the actual bird. Much longer!
This is me promising on the internet to do something. Maybe not today, but soon, as defined as “in the next couple of days.” In the meantime, to help inspire me, my bird art of a Sandhill crane:
I finally got to drawing one of these pretty boys, based on a photo I took on July 8, 2023 at Tlahutum Regional Park.
If I touched it up, I’d probably adjust the background colours and spend a little more time on the branch. But it’s fine-ish.
A short time later, this alternate (updated?) version:
Or maybe the original green with the updated blue? I’m going to bed now.
I’ve now got it in my head that I want to do one or more cartoon with geese, because they intrigue me and horrify me in equal parts.
My first step was to do a bird drawing of a Canada goose, but in a more deliberate cartoon style. This is my initial attempt, which I’ll refine as I go along. I’m using the most obvious joke here, they’ll probably get weirder or more obscure if I do more.
I abandoned this sketch tonight because the reference photo was too dark and the Anna’s hummingbird was coming out way too murky.
I’ll find a better-lit photo and do another hummingbird someday, but this is interesting in a “what could have been” sort of way.
I finally got off my lazy butt and collected all of my bird drawings in a single gallery, which I will update going forward.
Here’s a quick summary of the process:
The line part usually take a few minutes, the colouring can sometimes take an hour or more, depending on the complexity. I have trended toward getting more complex with the drawings, but will still try to throw some simpler ones in.
There are also a few drawings that don’t follow the above formula, like the cobra chicken, killdeer and squirrel, which is not actually a bird.
The gallery: