This is a really difficult subject and I appreciate the work that has gone into it but I think your Wildlife Expert is right to some extent.This Ring-necked Pheasant is a bird I know very well and have photographed on many occassions. For me, the over-riding, attention grabbing aspect of the bird is the smoothness of the feather covering and the glorious sheen. The detail is apparent but not very obvious. In cases such as this, as I know from personal experience, there is a very fine dividing line between reality and over-detailing that results in coarseness.
In some lighting conditions I think your approach might be quite acceptable but you have one very strong shadow running from the breast to just past the eye. If the lighting is strong enough to create this shadow then I'd expect a lot of reflection and shine to come off the feathers, which in turn would describe the roundness of the body.
The detailing, extending from the top of the body to under the belly, is drawn with a consistent tonal range and clarity which creates a flat appearance. In reality the detail should not be apparent as it it curves over the back, around the crop or under the breast. The fact that the bird is stretching a leg and a wing might explain the coarse feathering of the wing covert but this shouldn't affect the body feathering.
In my opinion this a drawing that probably took control of you to the extent that you became detail-orientated and lost sight of the three-dimensional form.... which is not to say that I don't like it...because I do. I just think it's strong on design rather than realism.
MIKE
www.SibleyFineArt.com
www.Starving-Artists.net
I really enjoy your work.
) I was also thinking the shadow... there should be more or none IMHO.