Certainly try new techniques, but I don't think you need to discard graphite powder. You just need to find the best way, for you, to apply it smoothly.
It's not the patchy appearance that spoils this, it's that the patches are split by the vertical branch. And the thin halo around the Magpie and branch aren't helping either. Instead of looking like a blurry distant background, it definitely looks like something very near, because both the Magpie and branch are directly affecting it... if you see what I mean?
None of this takes anything away from the lovely work in the Magpie. It's just something you might consider doing differently next time.
Excellent! I think a lot of artists do reduce their references to B&W, but that leaves them open to using the values they see, rather than the values that are best for the drawing.It's the first time I've made a drawing based on a coloured photograph. Before, I always converted the photos to black and white first. It's a big challenge for me at the moment. It takes practice to see the dark tones, mid-tones and light tones in coloured photos, but as you always say: A drawing is your interpretation. I like this approach and I'm keeping going.
Using coloured references removes the temptation to copy the values. And it offers other advantages too, such as being able to follow detail through areas of shade. That's especially true when the subject is multi-coloured, because removing the colour makes it very difficult to tell cast shadows and areas of shade from changes in colour.
Personally, I always work from coloured references. The only exception is that B&W sometimes exposes detail more clearly. In that case, I work with both - but never with just B&W.