How to Draw Birds

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When sketching the body of the bird, add a centre line in the middle of the breast. This will help you maintain symmetry as you’re drawing the breast feathers. If you’re an artist, birds can be one of the most rewarding and fascinating subjects there is. Sketching birds will bring you constant new discoveries, and it’s a great way to spend time with nature, science and art at the same time. Birds are also a great subject to practice wildlife drawing, since they’re fairly easy subjects, yet so diverse and challenging that you’ll be busy for a long time. How do you get started with sketching birds? Learning how to draw birds from life is as much a sport as it is an art. Birds rarely hold still, so catching them on paper requires a combination of observation, good reflexes and a fast pencil. You can work from photos, but one of the rewards of drawing birds from life is that you’ll get to know them well.

Be sure to also study and draw live birds whenever you can. While photographs are helpful for learning technical details, the only way to really get to know birds is to watch them in life. Learn by Doing If you want to dive in really deep and learn all the basics for sketching birds, anatomy, and painting techniques, then my class How to draw birds is the right thing for you. A note about sketching birds in the field As you sketch more, you will learn more about each species, and this will in turn help you to identify birds in the field. All in all, sketching birds is rewarding and fun, and it will bring new sketching opportunities each day. If you’re someone who just wants to make a beautiful bird watercolor painting, then you’ll probably end up in the first category soon – because the more you watch birds, the more you will get drawn into their daily activities, and observe details and just enjoy their bird-ness. Having a good understanding of birds will in turn help you to make better drawings of them. Today I want to give you a short breakdown of how to get started with sketching birds. I’ve already talked your ear off with reasons to start bird-watching and how to get started with birding, so sketching birds could be the next step! Why sketch birds?

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By using patterns of pencil strokes to fill in the feathers, as we’ve done here, you can cover a large area in a short time. Trying to draw moving subjects can be hard, but it can be learnt and will get easier over time. Some of the sketches I like best in my sketchbooks are those that contain an element of motion and spontaneity. You can practice drawing from life with videos or webcam footage, or simply jump in and sketch birds in the field. Drawing birds – the step by step technique

If you’re sketching from life, break down complicated scenes (for example, lots of branches or ruffled feathers) into simple shapes and patterns.I took slow-motion video of yellow-tailed orioles sparring in a Panama marsh, making sketches from which to paint Yellow-Tailed Orioles (oil on canvas, 20×16) in the studio. The shape is the most important aspect when drawing birds. If your shape is accurate, then the bird will seem realistic, even without detail.