The Shrubbery

i was wondering if you would be okay with telling me how it's going with the comic? no pressure obviously, i was just getting worried since it's month 3 int he new year and no word on a schedule for the comic. obviously if you're busy with real world stuff, that comes first.

I'm working on Käreitär in chapters with breaks in between, so I'm going to finish drawing all of chapter 2 before I start posting it. I'm currently about 2/3 done with the chapter, so it's going to take a bit longer. Real life just keeps me busy, and I don't want to burn myself out by worrying about the length of the breaks too much. I'm soon moving to a new city and starting a new job, so I'll likely stay busy, but I always try to work on the comic whenever I can.

People have been making teasers for their comics again, so I was emboldened to make one for my next comic!

Hello, and thank you! I ended up getting inspired by this question, because when I googled some reference photos of morning doves, I discovered that there is a wikiHow article called "How to identify a mourning dove". And the illustrations in it are, ummmm....

This is really rough. The text was written by an ornithologist, but it barely helps because it feels like the illustrator has never drawn a bird before this. Doves and pigeons usually have a very distinct body and head shape, and based on this image, I couldn't even tell this was supposed to be a dove of any kind, much less a mourning dove. So I thought that we could learn by looking at what went wrong here!

(Keep in mind that I'm only being this critical of these illustrations because they are attached to an article that's supposed to help you identify a mourning dove, and they do not help in this matter.)

There are multiple issues here, so let's address the general ones first. The legs are too straight for a dove, and also so far back in the body that this bird would end up falling on its face. The feathers are very strange and almost look like fur. And I don't know how they missed the most distinct feature of a mourning dove, which is the long pin-tail. Here is a quick redline to make it actually resemble a dove!

You can probably see that the head has the most issues. The head is what gives doves and pigeons a very characteristic silhouette, so let's focus on that in more detail!

You can compare the head of a mourning dove to something like the head of a thrush to see what makes it distinctly dove-like!

Doves and pigeons also have quite a bit of body mass, but their head stays small, so the head looks comparatively small to the body.

Some more tips for drawing the head!

Like in that wikiHow article, I sometimes see people draw doves with too much curvature in the beak. Doves and pigeons have a relatively thin and short beak, and it curves less than you think!

What is your favorite kind of bird and why?

( Also pls marry me, your guide to drawing birds is amazing)

(I'm very late in answering messages again, sorry. Also, I'm flattered, but I'm not accepting marriage proposals at the moment)

This is always a tough question... There are so many amazing birds in the world!! How could I choose! But I have a soft spot for some extra cute birds that can be found in my country.

Long-tailed tits are super cute and fluffy, and they have such pretty colors! Seeing one is always a treat!

Siberian jays are very curious and friendly, it's always fun to see one! I really like the rusty orange color in their tail, too!

Hi! I was thinking about mentioning flightless birds in the tutorial, but I decided I didn't want to open that can of worms, since there was already so much to talk about. But in short, some things in the tutorial still apply to flightless birds, others less so.

Especially the parts about feathers don't apply as well to flightless birds, because the general anatomy of the wing has evolved to maximize flight efficiency. In flightless birds, the general bone structure and the shape of the featherless wing is still similar, but since the wings aren't used for flying, the feathers can be completely different.

Ostriches use their wing feathers for social and sexual displays instead, so their wing feathers are big, poofy and less "orderly". In other flightless birds like emus and kiwis, the wing is very tiny and the feathers on the wings are very similar to their general body feathers, so they are basically invisible.

Penguin wings have evolved for swimming, so they are more robust. In general, flightless birds have heavier bones, since they don't need to reduce their weight in order to fly.

Flightless birds also don't have much of a tail, since the tail is the most useful for balancing flying.

While the leg anatomy is the same for flightless birds, the feet have usually lost a few toes, since there is no need to grab branches. Ostriches have only two toes.

Second, I wanted to ask about bird legs because I have no clue what to search up....

For this, I'm talking more about the big birds with the bigger legs, like... secretary birds, cranes, herons...

I struggle with one main aspect with drawing the bird legs

And its the texture of the legs. I don't know what its called, or what to look up to figure it out on my own... is it like, scutes? Is that what birds have? Or is it scales? Any tips on how to interpret the pattern of the scales/scutes to depict them into art? Any tips on how the scale/scute covered flesh wrinkles and folds on itself?

You don't have to answer any of these but it would be really really appreciated... I struggle SO much with this 🥲

Even a point in the right direction on what to look up would be really useful... thank you, and i hope you have a nice day!

Hi! Sorry, I think I missed this question earlier, I only now saw it in my inbox. I'm glad you liked the tutorial! I honestly hadn't looked too deeply into the small details in bird feet before, so I'm not an expert, but I did some digging just now and maybe it will help you in the right direction.

It seems that scute is the correct term to use for the "scales" in bird feet (English isn't my first language so I didn't know about it either). The function very similarly to scales!

It seems like generally, bird feet have a row of large scutes on top of each toe. From below, the toes have these soft "foot pads" instead. In those areas, the skin may form tiny scutes, but those are usually hard to see so I wouldn't necessarily draw them in detail.

I also found this video which, starting from around 15 minute mark, goes over a lot of fine detail about bird feet from different angles, with some info about the scutes as well. Most of it definitely wasn't covered in my tutorial, so I recommend checking it out!