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Saw this at the corner of my garage when I was mowing the lawn yesterday.
A robin decided to take up residence in the worst place possible, perched precariously atop the gutter drain. Or maybe it's actually the best place possible. She's shielded from the rain by the garage roof.
By the way, I'm not actually nine feet tall. I was standing on a ladder when I took this shot.
As you move in closer, you can see she's got a nest full of hungry kids there.
I can clearly see at least three little beaks. It's possible there may be a fourth baby crammed in there somewhere. I didn't want to get any closer because I didn't want to stress them out and inadvertently kill them, plus the nearby mama bird was livid by this point and I didn't want my eyes scratched out. And no, I didn't chase her away so I could take photos. She flies off every time I go out the back door of my house.
Probably another week, maybe two and they'll be ready to leave the nest so I can tear the ugly-ass thing down.
UPDATE: I seriously misjudged the age of these baby birds-- the very next day after I took these photos they all clumsily flew out of their nest after I apparently spooked them by walking past the garage.
Just one thing left to do before I go-- Instagram the photo! Nailed it!
Several people (OK, one) have asked how I did the Oily Boid vector drawing, so I thought I'd make step-by-step how to guide. You'll probably have to click on the image and enlarge it to see the details.
Step 1:
Here are the various shapes and parts I drew to make the bird and worm. I used the mouse this time, not the graphic tablet, to draw the parts in InDesign. Note that I didn't actually draw all the parts strewn about the page this way; this exploded view is just to illustrate the pieces that make up the character.
Step 2:
I drew various shapes and colored them until I had a reasonable facsimile of a cartoon bird and worm. Note that the colors are all flat at this point, with no shading.
The biggest challenge in doing vector as opposed to bitmap drawing (for me, anyway) is the planning involved. When I do a bitmap drawing, I jump all around the character. I start with the eyes or nose, move on to the head, then the body, back to the mouth, etc.
With vector it all has to be planned out. You make the head, then the eyeball, then the iris, then the pupil, then the highlight. You can't jump around or you'll end up with a piece underneath another. It's like putting together a model kit or a puzzle.
Step 3:
To add shading, I drew darker colored shapes over the various parts of the characters. At the top of the frame is the shape I drew to shade the bird's head. Again, I didn't really draw the shading up at the top of the page like that, I drew it directly on top of the bird's head. I set it up there in order to be seen better.
Once I got the shape and coloring right, I feathered the shape in InDesign to give it a softer edge. You can feather shapes a little or a lot; there's no set formula. I just eyeball it until I think it looks right. Once the shape was feathered, I cut it and then placed it inside the bird's head.
Step 4:
I continued to add shading to the rest of the bird and worm. I also added a shadow under the bird.
Step 5:
Once the shading was done, I added details to the characters. Things like feathers on the bird's body, spots on his beak, lines on his legs, etc. I also added segment lines and white highlights to the worm.
Step 6:
Next I used InDesign's pencil tool to draw an irregularly shaped background. I played around with the color until I thought it looked right.
Step 7:
Then I placed a grungy bitmap texture into the drawing.
Step 8:
I then placed the bitmap inside the green background shape, and used InDesign's blend settings to combine the two. Again, there's no real formula for doing this; I just play with the settings until I see something I like.
Step 9:
I thought the background was a little dark, so I added a white shape to the center and feathered it so it would have a soft edge.
