Art by Sunbird

[Sunbird]

So I've already posted a few Sanderson fanarts in the official gallery, but I figured since I have a bunch of other drawings that aren't Sanderson-related, it would be a good idea to start a topic here for them. =) I think I'll go generally in chronological order from oldest to newest to show how I've evolved as an artist. My favorite medium is colored pencils, but I also sometimes enjoy scanning the pencil drawing into the computer and creating a digital version of it. So far I've only used Corel Painter X for that.

I used to draw a lot of full-body shots of superheroes, including a few characters I created myself.

The first one I ever finished (at least, of the ones I have saved on my computer) was Spider-Man, with the help of a "How to Draw Spider-Man" book. I'm not sure of the exact date that I finished this one, but I'm fairly sure it was in the first half of 2009. I would have been 14 at the time.

Spoiler

Looking back, I can see that his hands and feet are pretty undersized compared to his face, but I'm still proud of managing to keep the web patterning on the red parts of his costume from becoming a "spaghetti junction."

Next up: Carol Danvers as Ms Marvel from Marvel comics. I copied this pose from an image of Rachel Summers as Phoenix in an X-Men Encyclopedia. I'm even less sure of the finish date for this drawing, but it was sometime between 2009, when I finished Spider-Man, and summer 2010, when I uploaded it to my album of art on Facebook.

Spoiler

Above is the original colored-pencil drawing; below is the digital version I made with Corel Painter X. It's mostly the "oil pastel" brush, but for fine details like her nose, eyes, lips, and jawline, I used the "pencil" tool.

One of my favorite X-Men is Gambit, so he got the fanart treatment too. Same possible date range (2009-2010) as Ms Marvel.

Spoiler

Things I know have issues: basically all the clothes, especially the jeans. His pose, especially his legs.

Things I'm proud of: the playing card and its aura, his hands, and the shine on his hair.

This is the full-body superhero (well, supervillain) drawing I'm proudest of: Mister Sinister, the bad guy behind the Morlock Massacre in the X-Men comics. I'm fairly certain I drew this sometime between summer 2009 and summer 2010.

Spoiler

His skin is all metallic, so it gave me a really hard time with the lighting, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. And that rusting cape was a nightmare! The way his evil smirking expression turned out makes up for it, though.

The X-Man Nightcrawler is the reason I chose to learn German instead of some other foreign language in school. Same possible date range as Mister Sinister.

Spoiler

I'm wishing now that I'd drawn him larger on the page so that I could have included more detail in his face, specifically for his awesome fangs and glowing yellow eyes.

This is one of my OCs, created to be a member of the X-Men. He doesn't have a name so far, except for Phillip.

Spoiler

Unfortunately there are black smudges all over the paper where the black pencil from his wings smeared, but I'm really happy with how the wings turned out. I spent for-storming-ever trying to get the shape just right.

Another superhero OC that I call Velocity. (No prizes for guessing what her superpower is! XD) This was the first time I created a background for any of these drawings. (Spider-Man doesn't count because his background is just a boring brick wall that required zero creativity.)

Spoiler

I got this pose from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Drawing Superheroes and Villains" but the costume is completely mine.

And then I decided that a dusty desert scene would look cool redone digitally with a grainy chalk "brush," and this Corel Painter version was born.

So all the art I've posted thus far was completed before July 2010. I'll make another post with more recent projects so this one doesn't get too image-heavy.

[Sunbird]

Art by Sunbird, Part 2!

During the summer of 2011, I started trying my hand at people portraits--usually of my favorite movie or TV characters. Thankfully I have definite dates for most of these drawings, unlike the ones in my first post.

I started with Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor, completed Aug 28, 2011.

Spoiler

And the very next day I redid Matt Smith in Corel Painter with a "blunt chalk" brush, adding in a spacey background.

Spoiler

Once during an assembly in the gym at my high school (September 2011), I brought a sketch pad and pencil and did a quick contour drawing of a guy sitting a little ways in front of me. This was the result:

Spoiler

More Doctor Who fanart! David Tennant this time. Original colored-pencil version completed Sept 18, 2011, with the Corel Painter version almost a month later on Oct 16.

Spoiler

I'm not really satisfied with the way Tennant's face turned out in this drawing. Yeah, you can tell it's him if you've watched Doctor Who, but I feel like I made his nose too long and the lines at the sides of his nose too prominent. I'm pretty happy with his hair, hand, and eyebrows, though.

I think the digital rendering was an improvement on the original: his face looks smoother and younger because I removed the creases next to his nose and on his forehead, and his nose doesn't seem so excessively long. (I used Corel Painter's "real-bristle brushes" for this, with pencil in places where I needed more precision.)

In between the colored-pencil and digital versions of David Tennant, I drew this graphite sketch of a Barn Owl in a barn for my art class. Completed October 13, 2011.

Spoiler

Our teacher really wanted us to focus on portraying different textures, so I tried to show a variety of them in the wood grain, the speckles on the owl, and the straw scattered around the barn.

I decided I didn't have enough villains in my superhero collection, so I did one of Mystique. (Fear not; she's wearing clothes, unlike in the X-Men movies.) Completed December 3, 2011.

Spoiler

Fun fact: I copied this pose from same the "How to Draw Spider-Man" book I used to help with the first drawing I posted here. The original was Spider-Man swinging around on his webs.

Just two more for this post, I think--both characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I set a personal speed record with Spike--I started early in the morning before school with the contours and had finished adding full color by dinnertime. I did this December 5, 2011, but it's still one of my favorites.

Spoiler

(I signed my real name on the drawing, so that's been redacted due to my Internet paranoia.)

Ok, last drawing for this post: Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, completed sometime in the days leading up to Christmas 2011.

Spoiler

I had so much fun putting in the color on his hair!

[Sunbird]

Art by Sunbird, Part 3!

This post will contain my finished art from 2012 to my latest work as of January 22, 2017. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to draw recently, so "my latest work" is almost a year old at this point.

From January 13, 2012, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Spoiler

Fun fact: At one point while I was using colored pencils to fill in his hair, I accidentally grabbed the wrong pencil and put in a few strokes of purple instead of black or brown. I don't think it's visible in the finished product, though. =D

If I had to pick one of my drawings that I think is my absolute best, it would probably be this one of Loki. I finished it June 4, 2012, after The Avengers was released in American theaters.

Spoiler

Shading the helmet was easily the most time-consuming part of this project. Metal objects are difficult because there's so much stark contrast between the highlights and shadows and very little middle ground, but I think the difficulty is part of what made it so rewarding.

I did another Avengers portrait later that summer: Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, completed on August 26, 2012.

Spoiler

Putting in his lighter-colored hair was an interesting new experience for me. I found that I was able to give the body of hair noticeable highlights and shadows more easily than with black- or brunette-haired characters.

Last Avengers fanart for this post, I promise. XD Robert Downey Jr as everybody's favorite billionaire playboy philanthropist inventor, Tony Stark. (Not Iron Man, though, because I didn't draw him in the armor. ) I finished this one April 6, 2013.

Spoiler

Although I'm mostly happy with the final look of this drawing, I'm not completely satisfied with the lower part of his face around his mouth. The shape seems a little bit off, but I'm not sure exactly how.

But the eyebrows. I like the eyebrows.

Most people here probably won't recognize this next character, although you might know the actor: vampire PI Mick St John from the one-season TV show Moonlight, played by Alex O'Loughlin. (Mr O'Loughlin has also been in the TV shows Three Rivers and Hawaii Five-0 (the 2010 reboot), as well as the movie August Rush.)

Funny story about the history behind this drawing: I started working on it in like early/mid 2013, but it got buried and forgotten in the chaos of my move to Utah for college. It wasn't until Christmas break 2015 that I finally found it again and resumed work, finishing December 21, 2015.

Spoiler

My last three portraits are the drawings that I have also posted to the official Shard fanart gallery. After I finished reading Calamity, I just kinda got an itch to do Reckoners fanart and neglected homework and sleep to work on these. XD Drawing book characters for which I had no photos was in some ways easier and in some ways harder than drawing movie/TV characters from reference photos. It was easier because I didn't have to make my people resemble anyone specific, but it was harder because I had to figure out the lighting and clothing pretty much just from my brain.

First, my imagining of Obliteration, completed Feb 20, 2016:

Spoiler

I brought my sketch pad to some of my classes while I was working on him and got asked multiple times if he was supposed to be Jesus (I go to BYU, so not that surprising), and then I had to explain about Brandon Sanderson and the Reckoners and Epics. XD

Of course, no collection of Reckoners fanart is complete without Prof! Completed Feb 21, 2016. (I think I may have matched my personal speed record with this drawing--one day from start to finish, same as Spike.)

Spoiler

I decided a bland, easy-to-draw expression wasn't going to cut it for Prof, so I tried to make him look stern/concerned/worried. The goggles are based on a pair of goggles I use for my own Prof cosplay.

My last Reckoners fanart and the most recent drawing I've finished is Mizzy. After I finished Prof, I looked back at my collection and realized it was sadly lacking in female characters, and I hadn't drawn a single person of color. I felt bad and picked Mizzy as my next subject, completing her portrait Feb 27, 2016.

Spoiler

Cornrows are hard.

So that's pretty much all my stuff that I consider good enough to share on the Internet. Comments, questions, suggestions, limericks...? I'd love to hear all your thoughts.

[Darkness Ascendant]

Huh, You've really improved.

Also, done any more lately?

[Sunbird]

@Darkness Ascendant Thanks! Unfortunately I haven't found any more time to draw since my last post in this thread. I'd love to do a portrait of Adolin or Kaladin, but I'm totally swamped with school work this semester.

[Darkness Ascendant]

ah that's too bad,  would enjoy seeing more of your work

[Sunbird]

I'm hoping I will not bring down the wrath of the mods by necro-ing my own art thread, but after a looooong hiatus, I have some new art to share!

I decided to do something different and try my hand at drawing some birds. So far I've only done two, but I'm quite happy with how they turned out.

Townsend's Warbler, a small songbird found in western North America:

Spoiler

First I drew him with my usual colored pencils...

Then I decided to have a go at making a digital version in Adobe Photoshop:

Blackburnian Warbler, another small songbird, but this one's found in eastern North America. In terms of visual appeal, I think it is the single prettiest bird I've ever seen.

Spoiler

For this one, the base I used was a photo I took myself in May 2018 in northern Ohio: