Little Pixie Peacocks
There was this video that came to my attention earlier this week about an unusual little bird from Peru. The Spatuletail Hummingbird is this tiny little creature (endangered, of course) with only four tail feathers. In the males, two of those four tail feathers grow long and have these dark blue-violet paddles at the end (the spatules). Imagine a peacock’s tail, how huge and beautiful and totally, impractically unweildy it is. Now imagine that on an itty bitty hummingbird. The males don’t fly much, and when they do, it’s only for a few seconds, and it’s just to impress a lady (of course!).
I love hummingbirds, and I’ve been playing around with ink and watercolor in this little spiral-bound watercolor book lately, and the spatuletail hummingbird kind of captured my imagination, so I had to have one for myself. I wish I hadn’t done the leaves- it would’ve been a stronger composition- so if I do it again on nice paper I’ll take them out. But go watch the video, because they are really amazing.
This is my sketchblog, which is for doodles, comics, essays, and other stuff that an illustrator and comicker might blog about. I'm Veronica, and I run this joint. All the artwork is copyright Veronica C Guzzardi. Please don't use it without permission from me. Please contact me if you want to pay me to draw for you; that's my favorite.
Dang! That poor little dood works *hard* just to stay airborne for a few seconds. I noticed that when he lets the ‘paddles’ float, they sort of line up with the similar bright color on his throat and head. That probably means something to the female. Anyway, I like your rendition of him and I don’t think the leaves detract from him all that much.
Nick says God was smoking some bad crack when He designed this bird LOL…but we like your drawing
It’s too beautiful and strange to exist, but it DOES! I love that.
Nice drawing! you’re right about the green leafes
keep up the good work