The Crow's Gyre
 

An original illustrated poem...

Nice job Steve.

pinions and fingers
 

Steve,

Good drawing, good framing. The use of your own handwriting makes the verse more immediate, more expressive.

Steve.

Even though the eagle is in silhouette and only 3 values of grey are used, I still get a feeling of background and foreground space, which is pleasing. Is the paper color true to reality?

I agree with Steve about the handwriting, it works very well. It has the right degree of looseness and a good scale in relation to the image.

My only nit is that the lines of writing are not level. That could be ok if not for the bar down the side of the poem. I would prefer to see this rotated till the bar was straight or see the bar gone entirely.

Thanks...
 

Thanks for the comments, all. Sharon: I felt the text needed a weight to make the bird soar so I added the bar. I should have lined the text first but I wanted a free hand look. I'll take your comments into consideration. Thanks again for commenting, everyone.

Yes, the bar does add more visual weight and balance the image. It's just that, handwriting is a spontaneous thing. The uphill angle of it is ok for that reason, maybe even fitting because the eagle is in flight. The bar is structure, the only part of the image not in motion. Structure being crooked feels different, unsettling. Please keep in mind that what is to my taste doesn't have to be to your taste.

I reworked it a bit...
 

I reworked the bird a bit. The erasure left a slight image so I worked with it. I kind of like the effect.

Interesting effect, Steve.