I recently got a couple of books to learn more about layering colors and general painting tips. I very quickly and roughly drew out an example from Painting Wildlife Step by Step by Rod Lawrence. It wasn’t a perfect sketch but I wanted to dive in and test layering color, here is what I ended up with. My example is on the left and the book example on the right. I learnt quite a bit and I hope to test some more from this book.
A Mute Swan bill in watercolor
A little bit of fun here for any birdwatchers, can you work out what the 4 birds are that I have sketched??
Guess the birds from the sketch
Each bird has a number, just write a comment, list numbers 1 to 4 and what bird (example: 1. Chicken, 2. Turkey etc…)
It’s just for fun so write away!
Been basically trying to get a grasp on drawing birds, both quick and slow, learning shapes, postures, positions etc..
Sketch of Common Pochard
Bean Goose, I feel the body is a bit short but other than that I like it.
A Green Sandpiper - from photo
I’m going to start drawing up waders ready for Spring, I had trouble last year picking off the waders, even from my photos. Hope to change that this year.
Furthering my learning I decided to do a quick feather study instead of a full bird from a photo I took last summer, a juvenile Northern Wheatear at Hjälstaviken.
Just done an standard budget A4 print paper, I know I should be using watercolor paper but I’m saving money and just practicing on normal print paper for now, when I feel comfortable enough on a subject I will “do it for real”.
Quick sketch this time to lay out some guides, I miss judged the angles again but adjusted the photo of my painting and superimposed it on the original, it’s pretty accurate and to scale so I’m rather pleased.
Left: Original painting
Top right: Superimposed painting + photo
Bottom right: Original photo
Northern Wheatear wing feather study watercolor
I’m still learning and would love to hear any comments about this, constructive criticism, tips or just your thoughts.
Next step – learning some feather names and maybe a head sketch + painting
Painting and Drawing Birds 