The Heron

After I made the Octopus (see previous post) I wanted to try out that same style on other creatures! So I went to old faithful, my go-to animal to draw, the Great Blue Heron! I draw these birds a LOT.

I love how dynamic and majestic they are, and their long necks lend themselves perfectly to illustration. I live on the White River, where many of these birds will stare at me in disdain as I paddle through the water. I love how the dark “eyebrow” line around their eyes makes them look so judgy and majestic, but as soon as they open their mouths, they issue this horrifying, prehistoric squawk. Pterodactyls of the river, I tell you. 

After I had a loose idea of the posturing and facial expression I wanted him to have, I used a very light blue pencil and sort of scribbled in the groundwork. When I sketch out the skeleton of a drawing like this, I usually aim for lines dark enough that I can still see what I’m doing, but light enough so when you step back a couple feet, they all but disappear. 

Once I had those lines sketched in, I started playing around with markers. I used a rich blue and blocked in some key components, then took some more vibrant, unexpected colors and went to town.

After the marker layer dried, I used my pencils and went for some finer details, like the beak, eyes, and hair-things. Then I brightened up some of the colors, smoothed out any unwanted rough edges, and held it up in front of a mirror to check! (I like to step back and hold my work in front of a mirror multiple times during the process, to just ensure that it looks okay flipped as well, and none of the proportions are too tremendously off. It also can help to check the ‘bigger picture’ contrast instead of only focusing on the details.)

Once finished, I did what any rational person would do and brought it to my mom so she could admire my hard work (I call this the cat-with-dead-bird move), and then smash my fragile pride to bits by giving me extremely helpful advice that will undeniably make the piece three times better, darn her.

I hope you like the piece and are inspired to try out your own versions! I’d love to hear what you think! Leave me a comment below!