Shorebirds
From annotated sketch to colour identification plate
Four Indian Ocean shorebirds gathered on a single plate: the whimbrel, the Terek sandpiper, the curlew sandpiper and the greater sand plover. The plate is used to tell them apart, so it has to show what sets them apart.
Everything starts in pencil, with the criteria noted in the margin: plumage colour, bill shape and length, leg colour. Digital colouring comes afterwards, without losing any of those markers.
- Client
- Thesis work
- Year
- 2026
- Role
- Naturalist illustration
- Service
- Tailored scientific visuals
Behind the scenes
The creation steps
A scientific commission is not drawn in one go. Here are the real steps of this project, including the ones that produce no image at all.
- 01
Sketches and criteria
Each bird is drawn in pencil, its identification criteria written alongside: pale grey plumage, white belly, straight or curved bill, orange legs. Those notes decide what the colour will have to show.
- 02
Digital colouring
The sketches are redrawn and coloured on a tablet. The birds are placed on the shore and numbered, each number pointing to their scientific and common names at the foot of the plate.