Whew. I knew i was in for some work when I started thinking about doing this piece a couple months ago, and sure enough it was a grind. I originally intended it as a third entry in my series of bird illustrations, but it ultimately turned out quite different from the other two. Compositionally I was inspired by pictures of peacocks where their plumage fills the entire background, and also saw it as an opportunity to experiment with some new techniques and treatments. I started by making the entire composition as an outline sketch, and then gradually built out the coloring and shading a bit at a time. for the plumes I drew up three different patterns and used the Envelope Distort > Mesh tool to warp and reshape them into an interlocking layout. 

While I do enjoy making detailed vector pieces like this, I sometimes get bogged down in the middle of the process, and even wonder If I should cut my losses and go work on something else. But in hindsight I’m glad I stuck it out, it’s nice to finally have it done. Next up: I have some 3D projects on tap, but also I want to add some more 2D vector pieces to my list. To be continued…