The Space Dodo – Ink

This week I had a go at drawing without any reference. It really began as a doodle of a dodo, who became a space dodo when I put him in an astronaut’s headgear and then landed on the Moon when I drew in his background. He’s quite sad because there aren’t any more dodos left so he doesn’t want to go back home.

I wasn’t really intending this drawing to be more than a doodle so I didn’t take any process photos until I had my dodo already drawn (above). I drew him in the normal way though – using simple shapes at first and then more and more detail and texture.

I liked drawing the craters the most in this drawing. They were interesting and relaxing to draw. While I drew I was listening to the audiobook of “The Rivers of London” by Ben Aaronovitch. It’s funny how my dodo picture is now connected in my mind to the story in Ben’s book, even though they are not connected except by happenstance.

Finally I added a very light ink wash (made from water with the tiniest bit of ink in it). This helped separate my subject from his background. I think it would have been OK without but I preferred the wash. Here’s the finished drawing…