This is the first image I ever drew of a duck, back in the Spring/Summer of 2003. I'd moved back to Bolton from Bristol, was supposed to be writing my thesis up, and getting into Glorantha in a big way for the first time. I'd not really drawn much since leaving school, and the composition is somewhat static, but I did like how it came out. It was a bit of a fluke in some ways, as many attempts since then have been less successful.The big influence for this picture (though obviously not in terms of panoply) was Ralph Horsley's lovely illustration on page 101 of Wyrms Footprints. Ducks 101 indeed! Obviously, everyone's ducks will vary, but I really liked how Ralph expressed the duck part of 'anthropomorphic ducks'. The short, thin bird's legs; the swollen belly and rump; the large head; the exaggerated (relative to humans) proportions. I like my ducks to waddle just a little, after all!
My own sketches are slightly more anthropomorphic than Ralph's (as much by accident as design, at times), but that picture will always define ducks for me.
