Funny that I’ve had this umbrella bird done for a bit and have neglected to post on it.  Sometimes I just get so busy trying to push and make progress on the many projects I have in the works that I forget to show what I’m up to.  These animals are coming together really nicely now that I’ve finished the large one.  There is a light at the end of the 26 animal tunnel.

The umbrella bird posed an interesting issue in that I had to paint the background sky four times to get the value right do it wasn’t too dark that I don’t get nice contrast with the bunched up sail and dark enough to get a good pop on the white in the clothing.  Never had that much of an issue with a background before.

I don’t have this fellow’s name yet but his story is that obviously he is one of the crew on the ship that our artist has booked passage on.  Handy to have some light weight bird characters that can make their way through the rigging quickly and keep lookout.  My wife thought he might be a bit of a punk because of the hair but he never really struck me like that.