Paco the Toucan

A very close friend of mine recently asked me to draw something for him. I always get a bit nervous when I’m drawing or painting something specific for someone. The perfectionist really does start to freak out!

Luckily he asked me to draw a bird and I’ve drawn quite a few birds this year so it was definitely within my comfort zone. His bird of choice was a toucan.

I was a bit torn about which materials to use for this one. My friend’s request was to have a bit of a mixture, so I started with watercolour, then added pencil and then tried out some pen on it. I tested a few methods out on the head and sent some photos over to my friend to see which took his fancy. Watercolour and pencil was the preferred option.

I didn’t realise that there were so many different toucans out there. According to Britannica, there are 35 different species in the toucan family. The toco toucan features in this piece – one of the larger toucan species. 

South American tropical rainforests are the toco toucan’s home. Though it’s rated as ‘least concern’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, numbers of tocos are declining. According to National Geographic, this is partly because they’re hunted for food and, horrifically, they supply the pet trade. 

My favourite bits to work on were the beak – it’s quite magnificent! – and the dark plumage. The latter might be a bit surprising but I used lots of colours in these feathers. I started with prussian blue watercolour paint and then added burnt umber (a type of brown). I also mixed in the colours I’d used on the beak into the blue-brown mixture (cadmium yellow hue and cadmium red pale hue). After the watercolours, I layered on some dark indigo, warm greys and black Faber-Castell pencils. I prefer to use a mixture of colours for dark shades rather than black from the very start.

I was over the moon to hear that my friend loved Paco! Creating him was very therapeutic in November and he’s one of my favourite bird pieces!