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Name that Bird!
My sumi-e birds just pop out of the brush on to the paper. I rarely plan them out and while I do attempt to get them somewhat anatomically correct, I realize that often exaggeration is what makes them successful. Like this one: I asked my Facebook followers to give me names for him and I loved the variety of suggestions: "Lord Horty", "Wellhellow", "Crook" and "Themistocles", were offered, then there was "Archibald", "McGrackle" and "Ronald". I think my favorite for elegance points was "Ba Da Shan Wren", a hilarious international word play on the artist Bada Shanren, who painted very funny birds, and of course "Wren", one of our smallest birds.
What kind of bird is this? Not a clue! I just put some body parts together and then got excited when I saw how well the wing feathers came out! Tip: if your strokes are strong and self-confident, you can get away with anything!
Bird About Town
Here we have a sophisticated strutter with his nose in the air. I suspect his feet are going in the wrong direction, but does this really matter?