Saturday, March 6, 2021

Digital Art of Paradise Birds

When I guide visitors to rainforests of West Papua to watch birds of paradise, I take some pictures of those avaifaunas. Later they become important references for my digital art works. I can draw manually using conventional media, colored pencils on paper and digitally using vector illustration software or digital drawing apps. Some of them can be seen below:

Drawing of Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) created in Autodesk Sketchbook
Digital Drawing of Red Bird of Paradise

The above male Red Bird of Paradise lives in tropical rainforest of Waigeo island. It has become a very important target of observation for birding visitors who travel to Raja Ampat islands of Indonesia.

Vector drawing of Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor)
Vector Drawing of Lesser Birds of Paradise

Another important target of observation among birdwatching visitors is Lesser Birds of Paradise. This bird species lives in tropical forest of New Guinea (the provinces of Papua and Papua Barat as well as the independent state of PNG). Lesser Birds of Paradise live in lowland and lower montane forest of New Guinea. Unfortunately, because of their beautiful feather, they are often hunted by local people.

I create digital artworks of these birds to raise awareness of all nature lovers about the importance of protecting these wild animals especially the paradise birds. Their natural habitat is tropical rainforest. They don't belong to cages in the houses of wealthy people. Birds are guardians of rainforest. They eat fruits and disperse seeds to all corners of the forest. They eat insects to help control the population of the insects whose larvae eat leaves or wood of trees.

In West Papua, there are a number of rainforest areas where tourists can visit to watch birds of paradise and other tropical birds. Some of them include Wondama regency, Susnguakti forest of Manokwari, Mount Soyti in Arfak range, Tambrauw mountains, Klasow valley and Waigeo island of Raja Ampat. 

Wondama regency is located in Cendrawasih Bay, it has got a lot of islands. Visitors can enjoy birding in the forests of mainland as well as in the islands. Because there are coral reef with abundant fish, visitors can also enjoy swimming and snorkeling. For wildlife watching gear, tourists usually bring binoculars; camera; laser pointer; and spotting scopes. 

In addition to drawing birds, I also draw fish, flowers, butterflies, human figure and any interesting subjects that I see in nature. All these digital art drawings can be seen in my redbubble artshop at this link: Nature Art Shop. The manual paintings and digital drawings can be printed on mugs, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, tote bags, spiral notebooks and etc. They are offered in affordable prices and can be bought through the online shop. 


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