EA Project 6: Western Tragopan

The Western Tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus) is a pheasant found around India and Pakistan. During courtship, it raises its crest, extends its bright blue lappet, and its horns (by its ears) grow erect! It is the darkest of all the tragopan species, but it is still hunted for its striking plumage. It is also directly threatened by hunters looking for meat, and indirectly threatened by deforestation of the mountainous areas where it lives. We can help by buying only sustainably harvested timber and by supporting existing conservation initiatives, such as the Palas Conservation and Development Project.

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This is my June entry for the Endangered Art project. It is also my entry for #Birds-Club's Close-ups art contest! I would say "Two birds, one stone," but it seems inappropriate when discussing endangered species, doesn't it?

Anyway, I chose this species because I was looking for an endangered pheasant to draw, and the argus pheasant, while pretty, was just too... brown. And other species didn't capture my fancy as much as this guy. The problem with drawing endangered species is that it can be so hard to find good reference photos! All the ones I looked at were small and blurred, so I don't even know right now if my drawing is entirely accurate.

Originally, this was going to be a triptych, with the two other frames showing off the chest feathers and the tail feathers, but like I said... Really hard to find references. Plus I was running out of time to meet the contest deadline, so I just decided that having the head was good enough.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 and tablet
Visual References: Dreamstime Stock, Flickr, other random images on GIS
Information References: Arkive, Wikipedia