I love sketching gulls! There's something about the character of them, especially the 'big ones'. If the larger species were a bit easier to study in the winter and a bit more plentiful then perhaps all my time would be took up with them. Common Gull is one of my favourites and here's three drawings done from birds sketched at Old Moor over the winter.
Although they often look like an easy subject, often loafing around, I find the different postures and head/bill profiles a real challenge, and only very rarely do I feel I get it right. If the eye's the tiniest fraction out; the gape line's too short or long; the forehead's too steep or shallow, then the whole bird can often resemble something of Sesame Street!
I've cocked-up the bill on the third bird. The sketch is ok but on the drawing it's lost it's shape - too much fiddling!