Illustration Friday: That's "Nature" For Ya!

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Nature". While I was trying to think of an idea for the painting several different possiblitlies came across my mind; like someone taking a walk in the forest, or some kids gathered around a campfire telling ghost stories, or even Poison Ivy from Batman surrounded by plants and shrubs. 

All of those ideas seemed like the obvious route then this one hit me...

 I was on the phone speaking with a client and I randomly drew this quick sketch of two birds perched on a tree with a hawk in the background swooping in on them. Almost immediately this joke popped in to my mind; "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." Boom, now I had an idea to run with... The circle of life and a little karma mixed in. 

Here we have Thomas (green bird ) getting his worm snatched away by Nathaniel (red bird) who is unaware of his impending doom. 

Down below is the original sketch drawn on copy paper with a blue mechanical pencil and the rest was painted digitally in Photoshop CS6 on a Wacom 24 HD Cintiq. 

Have a great week everyone!

 Original Sketch

 Value Block-In

 Color Ruff

Final Painting