Look at all dem rhytons

I was looking at the rhytons and all the animals in the google results you provided and to be honest, I didn't want to do any four legged animals. It seemed a little over done to me. Also I was looking at an endangered species list online and thought it'd be pretty cool to go a different direction and make rhytons with birds. As for my historical example, I included one of the few bird rhytons I found that I think was dated to 480 BC. I'm going to use the shape and format as inspiration for my kiwi bird rhyton but without the support clay underneath since a kiwi bird is a ball of fluff on it's own so it'll be plenty supported. I really like how it all fits together, it doesnt look awkward and the bird looks very regal. it's standing straight up which I find to look a little better than the rhytons that are at an angle.

I included this rhyton simply to show the shape of the macaw rhyton I'm going to do. I'll probably make more of a bend between the cup and the head for added stability.



P.S. I used the google results for both images.

These are my sketches. I chose birds because I didn't want to do any four legged animals and fish would've been kind of difficult. I had recently done a watercolor close up of a macaw and since then, I've really liked them. I haven't decided if I want to do slip work on it because (1) the black slip on my first assignment didn't turn out to be black and (2) a straight terracotta color macaw would look cool, especially around the eye. Also, I chose the kiwi bird because I saw a youtube animation of a kiwi bird that dreamed of of flying it's whole life (it's flightless) and to acheive that dream, it jumped off a cliff to it's death so it could feel like it's flying and die happy. My heart hurt, it was so sad and cute. Going along with the bird theme, I chose the kiwi, another endangered species of New Zealand. I don't think I'm going to make the heads themselves hollow because if I plan on using them, I don't want to worry about cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the heads. The only thing I'm kind of apprehensive about is the strength of the kiwi bird's beak. I might have to make it slightly thicker than it should be to ensure it won't break off over time.