Quirky Peacock

It’s been some time since I’ve followed mixed media artist Tamara Laporte’s Create Your Life Book.  I got distracted then forgot about it and now I’m back!  In one of the chapters, the author introduces creating  your own “quirky bird”.  It’s an opportunity to feel free and playful by drawing something cute and add sparkle to life.  And why quirky?  I guess because it doesn’t have to be perfect, not even look like a real bird.  So I chose a quirky Peacock.

Pencil Sketch

So why a peacock you ask.  I’ve always thought they are so elegant and regal of all the birds.  And their stunning feathers!  Those jewel colours look so beautiful together, emerald green, sapphire blue and turquoise.  But you know the ones with those feathers are males right?  That’s right.  After having brushed a layer of white gesso on my Canson’s Mixed Media paper, I made a pencil sketch.  Another chibi-style anime version of my peacock.

Painting Away

This time, I decided to make a simple acrylic painting of my Peacock, nothing too complicated because I wanted to focus on the elaborately-coloured feathers.  The background was two different shades of pink, and the body blue.  I used Dylusions paints for this painting, as I like their range of colours.  For the base of the feathers, I spread some modelling paste to add some texture and give the feathers some boost.

Once I let the modelling paste dry, I painted over it.  Then once the green paint was dry, I in turn dry-brushed some yellow to give it some dimension.  For the smaller areas and finer details, I simply used acrylic markers from Molotow and Amsterdam Acrylics.  Then I glued on some gold sequins on the feathers for some added bling.  I also love the gold acrylic Deco Markers by Pebeo which I dotted along the peacock’s lashes and comb.

And here is the whole picture:

I decided to keep it sweet and simple this time.  All I wanted was to draw something I haven’t done before, and a peacock was a brilliant idea.  In hindsight, I could’ve made the body smaller (looks round) and the feathers longer, but the huge eyes add as a distraction away from the “could’ve”.  It’s supposed to be chibi-style and kawaii so the pudginess suits the theme well.   I am well pleased with the piece.  Drawing quirky animals is so much fun!