BYC’s BirdTober Thread - 2025

[SunriseChickers]

Well here is my day 3! This is not a lifer for me; hopefully someday I can visit Hawaii and spot it in the wild! The Hawaiian I’iwi is an important pollinator for the ecosystem!

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Lovely! What type of colored pencils do you use?

 

[SunriseChickers]

i already threw it away bc i thought it was so bad you guys thought it was ai.

Very sad to throw away a piece of art like that, even if you have a lot of that sort of thing (I assume you are referring to the hummingbird eye). It was beautiful.
AI doesn't mean it looks bad, either, and like BlueRaptor said, it is welcome for use so long as it's disclosed. We have our own TudyBot here who can do all sorts of interesting things.
The issues with those first two images was that they seemed to be extremely inconsistent with each other, and looked to have been taken from the internet (i.e. the work of other people that they had shared).

 

[SemiSweet2391]

Lovely! What type of colored pencils do you use?

Thank you! I use prismacolor

 

[SunriseChickers]

Thank you! I use prismacolor

They look so soft on the bird. Is it from burnishing or something?

 

[SemiSweet2391]

They look so soft on the bird. Is it from burnishing or something?

Yeah I do use burnishing! I don't usually use a lot of pressure with the technique, but I do a bunch of layers. For this bird, I used a bunch of oranges, reds and yellows to layer to the right hue that I liked, then finished off with a stronger top coat of a red orange and white. I used more pressure with those last two colors which allowed me to get pigment into the textured page more completely. But the main work is just a lot of layers!

I must also admit that I wish I had more formal education in art. Besides art classes in high school and one beginner class in college, I am mostly self taught. I wish I'd gotten more education; that way I would be able to better explain my process!

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

4. Extravagant tail
Just a quick Lyrebird sketch from me today
I'm short of time for art for the next few days and I'm REALLY excited for tomorrow's, so any free time I'd like to put towards that.

 

[SunriseChickers]

Finished my Day 1! I'm actually really happy with how it came out. It's not as nice as I'd hoped, I should have thought ahead and picked better paper, and this is only the second or third colored pencil project I've ever done - and I've not really done any birds in the past. All in all, it's at least nice to look at! It was a "trust the process", haha. Yay, I'm happy.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Finished my Day 1! I'm actually really happy with how it came out. It's not as nice as I'd hoped, I should have thought ahead and picked better paper, and this is only the second or third colored pencil project I've ever done - and I've not really done any birds in the past. All in all, it's at least nice to look at! It was a "trust the process", haha. Yay, I'm happy.

That's really good for never drawing! The colors, body shape- everything is so much better than anything I could ever do!

 

[SunriseChickers]

Yeah I do use burnishing! I don't usually use a lot of pressure with the technique, but I do a bunch of layers. For this bird, I used a bunch of oranges, reds and yellows to layer to the right hue that I liked, then finished off with a stronger top coat of a red orange and white. I used more pressure with those last two colors which allowed me to get pigment into the textured page more completely. But the main work is just a lot of layers!

I must also admit that I wish I had more formal education in art. Besides art classes in high school and one beginner class in college, I am mostly self taught. I wish I'd gotten more education; that way I would be able to better explain my process!

I have found white burnishing to be my friend many times! I used it on my Martin and it helped more than I expected. And, of course, a hundred layers!

If I had gone to college, I would have loved to do art. I find the deeper intricacies of such things fascinating, when I'm more involved. Even just art history.

 

[SemiSweet2391]

I have found white burnishing to be my friend many times! I used it on my Martin and it helped more than I expected. And, of course, a hundred layers!

If I had gone to college, I would have loved to do art. I find the deeper intricacies of such things fascinating, when I'm more involved. Even just art history.

Your Martin looked amazing! I think you nailed the color. And yeah someday I’d like to get a formal training on all things art!!