Half and Half Competition

Wowza, it's been a busy last couple of weeks! No sooner had I posted off my goods to the lovely Amy for her latest pika package (which a little bird tells me will be available from the website VERY SOON!) than I was hard at work with Harry Walsh creating our entry to the Half and Half competition.

In case you don't know, the project was devised to encourage all different kinds of artists to collaborate and make pieces of work together, from a painting, to an installation, or piece of performance art. The best pieces will be shown in the Vineyard Bar in Cork City. We decided to go for a straightforward illustration themed around tropical birds, with one half completed by myself, and the other by Harry. Perhaps not quite as avant-garde as a performance but... let's see how good old fashioned drawing talent fares! Wish us luck!

As I don't do this very often, I thought it might be fun for once to give my readers a glimpse into my working process, and let you see the work from thumbnail doodle to finished piece. We begin with three quick thumbnail sketches, different ideas for the composition:

It's decided that the middle composition would look cool and be easily split between us. Next, to sketch some birds and decide which ones might be included in my half of the piece. For me it was all about the colourful avians: peacocks, parrots, toucans, birds-of-paradise...

Twelve Wired Birds-of-Paradise

King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise, Arfak Astrapia, Wallace's Standardwing

And last but not least, the classic macaw!

Next, the pencil work for the final piece with the selected birds drawn in position.

Time to put some colour on those birds... beautiful plumage!

Fill in the tree branches plus background and voila! One half finished!

So, for now all there is for me to do is sit back and await Harry's half... I will be sure to post the results here when it's all done. The competition deadline is 30th August so if you fancy getting down and collaborative... there is still time!

One last thing, my MASSIVE GIVEAWAY is still on, and has been extended! As of next week I'll be away on holiday catching up with friends, family and the in-laws, and it seems unlikely that I'll get round to sending off all those delicious goodies before I go... so the giveaway will now be going on until the end of August. I would love lots of lovely posts to read upon my return, so get commenting!

As always, thanks for reading. See you next time!