Illustration of A Tree Swallow

For this illustration, I was inspired by how shiny the tree swallow was. It felt like it would fit into the bird series I was illustrating, and it sure did! The illustration has the look of a postcard, which I really love, all in all, the process was fun!

Firstly I started with a sketch of the bird, which turned out to be one filled with trial and error. But was well worth it.

Next, I worked on my line work. For this part, I wanted the illustration to have a comic style which is why I filled in a solid color in some areas. The outline didn't suit what I had in mind so I changed it to white.

For the following parts, I used a more detailed grain brush to apply my tones. I did this by each color. My focus was in capturing the glistening or shimmery look of the feathers of the bird.

After the bird was finished, I went on the work on the background to my taste. Here I used the grain brush, the grain filter, a textured brush and some really cool fonts!