I took this class as I’ve been taking drawing and painting classes for two years on Skillshare - while I feel I’ve got most of the basics down, I am looking for ways to push my skills further. I do a lot of animal drawings and paintings, so really studying how to draw animals realistically seems like a good next step, and something that I can apply in various ways to my loose watercolours, bold charcoal and stark ink drawings.

I started by establishing the basic outlines of the ostrich (I started with basic shapes and refining them, but I did adopt the ‘doting out’ method to help refine the detailed outlines), then built up an under-drawing with the blending stump and added the texture of feathers. For me, the contrast between the course feathers on the throat and the long, wiry hairs on the head was most interesting, and that is what I tried to focus on. I also trued to fade out the lighter areas of the neck to suggest dimensionality. 

The end result was a fine drawing, but slightly out of proportion (the beak is a bit too small and the eyes a bit too large) but with some interesting textures on the face. So I did the drawing again (I always plan to draw everything twice, even if I can’t always keep to it).

In the second drawing, I paid closer attention to the profile of the ostrich's head and created contrast on the throat that would suggest the light and shadow, as well as texture. I also used watercolour hotpress paper, which took the graphite more easily than my thinner, exercise paper.

I had some trouble with the eye, which I had to lift out and redo - the shape ended up being slightly different from the image, but maintained the judgemental expression. I also went in with the kneaded and Mono Zero eraser to lift out some lights and between the darker strokes.

In the end, I was much happier with the second drawing, but I am still working on my measuring and proportion and on creating subtler textures. I am planning to go onto the Baby Rhino class (after loosening up with a bit of charcoal drawing), so I am very happy for any feedback.