A Magpie

I was so pleased this morning to not have a long list of errands to run while Ransom is in school. I’ve been sitting at Solace & Fine Espresso for over an hour now just drawing and such. Before I leave, I thought I’d pop in and share some art.

I recently completed a cute little illustration that I’m really proud of. A mom at Ransom’s school had been following along with my state bird series, and asked me to draw a magpie for her. She wanted to give it as a gift to her niece.

She sent me a few photos as a reference, and I decided to focus in on this one.

First I sketched it out in my sketchbook.

I took a step back and snapped a photo of my kitchen table studio. I get such great light here for drawing and for taking pictures.

I then scanned the drawing, edited it on my computer to erase some stray marks and such, and then airdropped it into my iPad. From there I added color using watercolor brushes in Procreate. I had the picture open as a reference.

I’m really pleased with how the color turned it! It makes me want to go back and add digital watercolor to more of my drawings.
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Lastly I added the name.

The original commission included her neice’s name, but soon I’ll have prints available that have the name of the bird instead.

I never would have done this if someone hadn’t commissioned me. That’s what’s so fun about commissions — they are more pressure because i want the customer to be happy, but they always stretch me.