drawing trouble

Bird Art: Full gallery (so far)

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:

  • Tools used: iPad Pro 12.9″ (2020), Apple Pencil, Procreate
  • I use a photo I’ve taken, usually one I don’t post because it’s slightly out of focus or otherwise flawed
  • I do a line drawing of the bird, then colour in after

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:

Bird art: song sparrow

I normally use “rejected” photos for my bird art, ones that are a little blurry or have some kind of defect, but I usually have good luck with song sparrows. Saturday’s birding did produce some slightly fuzzy photos, so at last I have a song sparrow to add to the collection.

ChatGPT weird drawing prompt #5: A spaceship shaped like a giant slice of pizza

A star destroyer would have been perfect, but maybe too perfect, so I went with this retro thing, with rivets and all. But piloted by a giant alien (the satellite provides scale).

Five prompts to go!

Name 10 weird things to draw

  1. A two-headed unicorn
  2. A giant potato wearing a top hat and monocle
  3. A house made entirely of cheese
  4. A robot with a pet dragon
  5. A spaceship shaped like a giant slice of pizza
  6. A mermaid riding a unicycle
  7. A palm tree with arms and legs
  8. A giant hamster in a tutu
  9. A cactus wearing a sombrero and a bow tie
  10. A chicken playing the drums

Revisiting an old Inktober prompt

I was poking through some of my old Inktober prompts in Procreate and came across the one for Wild (original post). I discovered I had botched a lot of the technical aspects of it (layers are a complete mess, for one thing), and always thought the hills and mountains in the background looked more like a cave entrance.

I duplicated the prompt, fixed the technical bits, then added some muted colours and shading. I like how it turned out! It was fun and enlightening to go back and repair my original slapdash behind-the-scenes stuff.

Here’s a before and after.

Before:

After:

ChatGPT Weird drawing prompt #4: A robot with a pet dragon

I did both the dragon and robot without any reference. I think this means I’ve seen a lot of dragons over the years, which is impressive when you consider they don’t exist.

The full prompt list:

Name 10 weird things to draw

  1. A two-headed unicorn
  2. A giant potato wearing a top hat and monocle
  3. A house made entirely of cheese
  4. A robot with a pet dragon
  5. A spaceship shaped like a giant slice of pizza
  6. A mermaid riding a unicycle
  7. A palm tree with arms and legs
  8. A giant hamster in a tutu
  9. A cactus wearing a sombrero and a bow tie
  10. A chicken playing the drums

ChatGPT Weird drawing prompt #3: A house made entirely of cheese

As the title says. I actually completed a full version of this prompt yesterday and decided to scrap it and start over. I like this version more. I may have a “rejects for your amusement” post after I’ve gone through all ten prompts.

The full prompt list:

Name 10 weird things to draw

  1. A two-headed unicorn
  2. A giant potato wearing a top hat and monocle
  3. A house made entirely of cheese
  4. A robot with a pet dragon
  5. A spaceship shaped like a giant slice of pizza
  6. A mermaid riding a unicycle
  7. A palm tree with arms and legs
  8. A giant hamster in a tutu
  9. A cactus wearing a sombrero and a bow tie
  10. A chicken playing the drums

ChatGPT Weird drawing prompt #1: Two-headed unicorn

I can’t draw horses or unicorns, so I did this really quickly to cover. Also, I couldn’t decide what colour a two-headed unicorn would be and settled on dusty pink!

UPDATE: I found the original art appallingly amateurish and have removed it. That’s what I get for using my imagination only!

UPDATE #2: Added the manes, which I originally forgot. I’m not a unicorn expert, what can I say.

Here’s a new version, using an actual horse as reference, done in my Bird Art™ style:

10 weird drawing prompts

I asked my best AI friend, ChatGPT to come up with 10 weird things to draw. Here are the results. I’m going to draw all of them! Stay tuned!

Prompt: Name 10 weird things to draw

  1. A two-headed unicorn
  2. A giant potato wearing a top hat and monocle
  3. A house made entirely of cheese
  4. A robot with a pet dragon
  5. A spaceship shaped like a giant slice of pizza
  6. A mermaid riding a unicycle
  7. A palm tree with arms and legs
  8. A giant hamster in a tutu
  9. A cactus wearing a sombrero and a bow tie
  10. A chicken playing the drums