Awkward birds (occasionally)

On hiatus

Hi! I'm Zyz - I doodle, I like birds, I want to get better at doodling birds.

Prints | Ko-fi

some info about the blog and tags below...

^ for the amazingly skilled @ains-art

Something a little different- I have been drawing a lot again, mostly for artfight haha. Hoping to get back to birds after July, there's so many interesting species I would love to share!

in the mean time, I thought I'd drop some of my artfight attacks here. Been experimenting with scenes and environments!

Any Artfighters here? :>

It's been YEARS since I last participated! Here's my profile I would love to doodle any fun creatures you have.

Can you believe I have no bird characters yet (will soon tho if I ever draw my Kenku from D&D)

Bird #93 - Regent honeyeater (CR)

In the wild, regent honeyeaters are so rare that young birds are struggling to learn the song of their own species; the complexity of their song has decreased across generations, and some honeyeaters now sing the calls of other birds. This gradual loss of identity could impact their ability to find a mate.

On a brighter note, active conservation and a successful captive breeding program are in place, and the species is unlikely to go extinct as long as we continue to aid them.

Bird #92 - Guadelupe caracara (EX)

Back to my roots with extinct birds... The Guadelupe caracara, also known as the calalie or quelili, was considered common in 1876. Within a mere 30 years, the combination of active hunting from farmers and habitat destruction brought them to extinction. The last confirmed sighting was in 1900.

Full (and not flickering) image, plus some ramblings from me:

Me if I was a duck with my beautiful duck wife, and fish swimming in the sky for some reason.

Wishing everyone a lovely June :>

Bird #91 - Microraptor gui (EX)

Based on this incredible fossil. I return from the dead to bring you: my favourite dinosaur!!! Did you know powered flight/bird-like creatures likely evolved multiple times?? Modern birds are the only lineage that still persists, but many other pseudo-birds co-existed with them in the Jurassic and Cretaceous.

Also I still don't have my new ipad and apple pencil lol I'm waiting for the case to ship and it's gonna take A While.

Nightmare? Day stallion? Good dream gelding?

This was meant to be a little colour study and now I like it a lot, but the dimensions are too small :,)

Also tried altering the hues, as usual I can't pick one favourite

I'm hoping to use my hiatus to practice things like form & colour which I want to work on! Also soon I'll finally have a stylus with pressure sensitivity for the first time in my ~6 years of digital art. I'm SO excited.

I'll be gone for a while! I dont want this blog falling into sad silence, but I don't think I'll have the time or motivation to continue the birds for a while. Initially wanted to reach bird #100 before a hiatus, but I think stopping now is for the best :c

Here's also a little wip of a superb lyrebird, suggested by @slightylightly - they've been on my mental to-draw list for AGES, i'll try to finish it some day! Hopefully i'll return some time this year!

Bird #90 - Blue-footed booby (LC)

Do you ever think about how these animals will never know nor understand how silly they seem to us? Also, boobies are in fact the sister group to the elegant gannets, and they share the same grace and ferocity when diving for fish or in the air. I just think they look so funny when they do big steppies to show off their feet.

Bird #89 - leucistic Bohemian waxwing! (LC)

Largest of the waxwings, these divas are found all throughout the northern hemisphere. The 'wax' tips on their wings are actually just extensions of their flight feathers, coloured by carotenoids from the berries they eat!

I've been fighting some art block but finally managed to make something I actually like :D painting white or black things is so fun

Prints

Bird #88 - Schalow's turaco (LC) Requested by anon

This gorgeous (and strange) bird can be found in some wooded parts of Africa, searching for fruits and bugs. Their eBird page contains the sentence "Acts like a typical turaco, bouncing through the trees". I just think that gives a delightful mental image.

"Ah yeah, no one knows what to do with those things now. One day the concrete will pave over their little patch, too, and maybe we'll just forget about them."

Ramblings and alternative colour version: