Hey everyone, it's update time again!

I know I posted yesterday that there were strict guidelines I was going to adhere to that would enable me to finish this piece on time, but I feel like that completely killed my mojo somehow. I just couldn't get into it today, I think that's because I tried to dictate how all of this was going to go, and apparently I subconsciously had a pretty big problem with that. I'm not really sure how I work just yet, so putting up walls around myself was a bad idea - I'm seeing that now. I'm just going to do my best to create a finished work by the end of the month, and let the process happen as organically as possible.

I was thinking today about some pictures I took last weekend, and one of them jumped out at me as a good reference for this painting, have a look!

Pelicans might not be the most majestic of birds, but I love the look of the wings and feet of this one while it was making a landing. That got me thinking about the pose my creature would be in, and since I have the animal reference here to work from, I wanted a human one to look at as well. I quickly found myself Googling ballet dancers to find what I needed, and I stumbled upon a picture that I did a quick study from.

I think both the photo and my study have a similar grace and power to them, so I'm definitely going to try to bring that into the final composition.

I did another loose sketch of what the image might look like, take a look below.

I think it's alright, I elongated the wings to add a little extra drama, but I think the composition's a little too plain. I'd definitely like to change the angle of view in the final image so that it's not dead-on the subject, that'll help make the image more interesting. I'd love to position the viewer slightly above too, but I don't really know that I'd be able to pull that off! It's worth trying when I do a couple of thumbnails though.

That's all for tonight, check back tomorrow for something new!