Arkansas ATC

Well, it's done. It turned out to be another photoshop/jpeg special. Here is what happened. I tried to draw the bird. It was going along pretty well until it was time to do the wings. That's where everything went wrong. I got the proportions and patterns all wrong. The penwork was already done before I realized how inaccurate the wings really were.  Picture an airplane with the wing's front flaps longer than its' rear flaps. It would never get off the ground like that. That's how my bird's wings were. An ostrich would have flown before this thing did. After sending it to file 13, I went on the computer. I took the photo I had downloaded, and drew an Arkansas map on it with the jpeg tools. I then did some jpeg and photoshop tricks to get the color and background patterns. In retrospect, this may have been the way to go. The colors tie in with the bird pretty well. What I was able to do on the computer, I would not have been able to duplicate with the supplies I currently have on hand. In the future, I will do my drawings completely in pencil and inspect them thoroughly before I go over them with something that can't be erased.

This is the first of what is going to be five appearances for the mockingbird. It is also the state bird of Texas and three other states as well. It is one of natures great entertainers. It is called the mockingbird because of its' ability to mimic other birds and even other animals or just random noises in general. It is also very aggresive. If you get to close to one of its' nests you can get your ear plucked by a dive-bombing parent bird. It tends to sing loudly at night. I really enjoy its' company.