With a similar mindset as the Victorians who brought bird illustration to the forefront of the public’s attention in the 19th century, when John Gould contributed to Birds of Europe (1837) and teamed up with Charles Darwin, Miles believes that “being there” is an important element in what makes his work different from other bird illustrators. “You need to know what mistakes have been committed in the past. One mistake on a bird and you can trip up a novice.”
As the designer, artist and editor of 10 books on Ecuadorean wildlife, especially its birds, Miles works very much the same way bird illustrators did more than a century ago. Using plumage and skins, he captures detail with his brush that breathes life into sketches and watercolors.
McMullan’s paintings are more than beautiful, they provide a guide to the Colombia’s astonishing avian biodiversity.
Often he will head out into the field with his notebooks and brushes to paint birds in their natural habitat, but given the power and immediacy of digital cameras, this artist admits that it is far easier these days to “Google” a species than to try to spot one. And Miles works on deadlines, so expeditions have to be carefully thought out, as this artist understands that painting birds is as much of a business as it is a pastime. “I do my market research before I do a book, so my family doesn’t starve.”
By the time Miles, his wife Adriana and two children, Arturo (4) and Michelle (14), decided to move from Quito to Pasto in 2008, he had already painted 2,000 birds and many of the fish and sea mammals of the Galapagos. While illustrating a special booklet that divers and marine biologists could take underwater with them, Miles admits that he never learned how to swim despite living in the tropics. “I had to rely on what the scientists saw down there. If they said, move the eye of the fish up a bit, I did.”
In 2010, McMullan finished illustrating the 250 page softcover ‘Field Guide to Colombian Birds.’ Published by ProAves and with texts by Thomas Dunegan and Alonso Quevedo, the ‘Guide’ is a bestseller among birders with requests from Europe, Central America and the United States. With 4,000 color illustrations by McMullan of both the male and female variety of birds found in Colombia, it is by far one of the most accessible books on the market and easy for both professionals and amateurs to take out in the field.
When the dean of Colombian birds Steven Hilty co-authored with William Brown ‘A Guide to the Birds of Colombia’ in 1986 it quickly became the benchmark by which all other books on this subject was judged. And birders can be an unforgiving bunch when it comes to mistakes, especially when many travel thousands of miles to see a Trogon or a Forpus Passerinus, otherwise known as a Green-rumped Parrotlet.
More than a quarter century after Hilty and Brown published their 996-page book, ProAves’ Field Guide with McMullan’s illustrations reveal how the authors are responding to a popularization of bird watching. “There is a greater consciousness out there of the green movement and the importance of Colombia’s biodiversity,” claims McMullan.
Although for many still considered a hobby for recent retirees, a younger generation is picking up on the birding phenomena. As increasingly thirty and forty somethings travel, the essential tools required for spotting birds are a field guide and some binoculars. “I’m not a hardcore bird watcher,” says Miles regarding his own interest in the subject. “I like to popularize birding as a nascent market. I want my book to be the first people buy on neotropical birds.”
As more illustration jobs are offered to Miles, he is selective as to what he takes on. Although there is a need for more detailed illustrations of other native Colombian species, the artist wants to focus on his portraits and build a tree house he promised his son, Arturo. “I am a painter rather than an illustrator. It’s about my brush work.”
But beyond the birds and the binoculars, Miles is a big believer in the country he calls home, Colombia, and the potential “out there” for attracting more ornithologists and bird enthusiasts to these shores. “People in the international birding community are beginning to take Colombia very seriously,” claims the artist. “They should just come and see how good it is.”
