Amazing Animals is a project designed to explore four different styles - Encyclopedic, Logo, Gestural, and as a Transformation.
I first had to pick an animal that I wanted to use for all four of my drawings. I chose the Harpy Eagle, an avian raptor most notable for its size and looks.
My Encyclopedic drawing did not take very long, and I was able to nail it in the first try! It took me a variety of different pencils, from 4B to 2H, as well as the help of paper blending sticks. I paid careful attention on capturing the essence of the animal, which means figuring out how to meticulously sketch and draw different types of feathers; long and uniform, or short and fuzzy.
For the Logo, I had quite the struggle. I went back and forth on several iterations. But one thing I did not want to let go was the black wings and the tail feather stripes. Some looked like a completely different bird, like a cockatoo or parrot, and I definitely did not want to go that route. My top picks were at the top, 1-4.
Next up, my gestural drawings. I have never done gesture drawings before, so executing this with only primary movement from the shoulders and not the hands or fingers was very different for me. I had mixed feelings about all of them, but I also tried to incorporate some movements or styles from multiple drawings into one, but never ended up the same.
And that's okay!
Lastly, I did nine different transformations. I brainstormed how my eagle behaved and looked, or any pop-culture references or puns and idioms I could effectively visualize. After narrowing down my list, I ended up drafting my favorites above.
My end results for all of them side-by-side. Encyclopedic, Logo, Gesture, and Transformation (or in other words, Harpy Potter!)
