Going all in with practicing bird anatomy (found myself seriously lacking in it). My brain can be quite a B**** when it comes to anatomy, because I always seek to "bring characters to life". Here, I was practicing on the body underneath the feathers and fluff... And end up using the shape of a chicken as a reference... XD
Finding out why I wasn't able to properly draw something like this readily in pencil... This sort of styling is better represented in less-detailed styles such as paint, or even using just a marker. Pencils are highly detail-oriented, and... this is the "essence" that I have been trying to present behind the pencil medium...
One day in my frustration I scribbled over some thumb nails and proceeded to draw birds with lyrics to that song by The Eels, Birds....it was one of those days.