For today we're going to a pencil sketch of a bird. Birds are excellent subjects for beginning to more advanced artists. The starting shapes are simple but you can get more in depth depending on the bird's pose or the level of detail you put into things like color and texture.
Let's get started!
1. Start with just the basic simple shapes of the head and body. Check your proportions (how large one shape is compared to the other) and where your placement is. Try to draw lightly in these early stages so it is easier to correct and refine your drawing later on.
2. Now we can connect the head to the body, note the neck gets wider towards the body. Add the rough shapes of the beak, wings, tail, and legs. See how the feet are horizontal to the ground.
3. Adding details to the head and cleaning up our lines. .
4. Adding additional detail to feathers. It might look like a lot but it is really either short or long J shaped lines, short near the top of the wing, and they get longer to the base to create flight feathers. The legs and feet really just get a little thicker with little C shaped curves for the claws.
7. It is shading time! Good advice on shading, follow the direction of your object, meaning if the feather is going at an angle, shade at that same angle. Also shade in layers, building up layers of pencil will add a lot of depth to your artwork versus just pressing down harder will look a bit more cartoonish and flat.
Great work everyone. I hope you enjoyed our short drawing lesson. Try using what you've learned on your own by drawing another bird from a photograph. I would love to see your fantastic birds! #indigoartlessons
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