Hello! 👋
If you are new (or not) to this blog, welcome! I’m so happy that you’re here 🤩!
Welcome to another tutorial post. Today, we will be learning together how to draw birds, both traditionally and digitally. In this case, I will do a traditional sketch, and then colour it digitally.
The post is separated in two parts: in Part 1, we’ll be sketching traditionally, and in Part 2, we’ll move onto the Krita art program for the final digital piece.
Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a comment down below to tell us about your drawings!
(Just so you know, this post is not sponsored in anyway.)
🛠 YOU WILL NEED:
- a piece of paper/a sketchbook or if you prefer, an iPad, a PC or a phone
- a pencil/ a mechanical pencil/ an apple pencil or XP pen tablet
- an eraser
- colouring pencils and pens (if you want)
- any art program that works for you (it could be Procreate, Krita, gimp, Photoshop…) (if you to do this digitally)
🎯 BEFORE WE START:
Here are a few recommendations for this exercise:
- Sit comfortably, your back straight
- Sit in front of a window, natural light will make this exercise more enjoyable for you
- Listen to some relaxing music, it will help you concentrate
- Take your time! You don’t need to rush it
- Don’t compare. Your drawing(s) is/are going to be awesome, so please don’t say “That person did way better than me” or “My art sucks” because it demotivates you into creating art.
- Make mistakes! This must seem a strange suggestion, but trust me, the more mistakes you do, the better and the faster you will learn.
- Keep practising! You might not have made a nice drawing on the first try, so take a break and start again later.
ARE YOU READY? LET’S GO! ⏳
PART 1: TRADITIONAL SKETCH 🕊
Here are the reference photos we will be working with 📷. (Pinterest pictures: credit goes to the photographers linked in the pins you can find in my “Reference pictures” board over on my profile: https://www.pinterest.fr/SketchbookDraws_/)
For this drawing, I’ll be working with the third picture, but you can choose any other one you like.
☁ STEP 1.
Take a piece of paper or your sketchbook, your pencil and your eraser and sketch out the simple body shapes. Focus on the reference picture and train your eye to simplify complicated body structure into circles, squares, triangles…
☁ STEP 2.
Add the wings and the shape of the tail. Keep them simple, we don’t want to go too into detail yet.
☁ STEP 3.
Now, add the beak, the eyes and a few branches for the background.
☁ STEP 4.
Add a few details such as feathers, highlights, etc..
PART 2: FINAL DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION 🦢
☁ STEP 5.
If you can, find a place to take a picture of your sketch that has good natural lighting, the digital illustration process will be easier if you don’t have to edit the photo. You must be able to clearly see the lines and details.
Transfer the photo onto your device, and save it as a PNG/JPEG or other image file.
☁ STEP 5.
Open your art program, (in this case I’m using Krita 5.0.5) and create a new canvas to what ever size you want. I prefer working on medium sized canvases, so I’ll pick somewhat between 2500 by 3500 px.
☁ STEP 6.
Upload your photo as a new layer and lower its opacity. Start a new normal layer above the picture. Pick a brush, lower the size to a thin line and start drawing over the sketch. This will be the lineart. For this illustration, I’m using the Krita brush set I’ve created: The Graphite Universe Brushes. If you are interested in purchasing them, I sell them on my new Gumroad shop at: https://sketchbookdraws.gumroad.com/
☁ STEP 7.
Now, pick your colour palette. You can either choose the same colours as the reference or choose your own. If you want colour ideas you can use in your digital and traditional illustrations, I recommend you try this colour palette generator: https://colorkit.co/color-palette-generator
☁ STEP 8.
Start colouring from dark to light, remember to use multiple layers.
☁ STEP 9.
Add a few details, highlights and textures. Play around with the different brushes offered by your art program. You can create really cool effects with simple brushes by changing the brush's opacity, size, etc…
☁ STEP 10.
Finally, add a background. It can be simple shapes or a full landscape behind the bird. (in this case I was lazy so I just drew random things around the bird 😅)
You have finished! Congratulations !🎉🍭🍫
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
If you would like to learn more on how to draw birds, I recommend you watch these great YouTube videos that will go ore into depth about bird anatomy and feather structure 💡:
✨I also recommend you have a look at real life artist’s works. Internet is such a great place to find all sorts of resources. I offer a free page of websites and blogs that I personally have found helpful in some way on the “Resources for artists” page of this website 🎈.
This is the end of this drawing tutorial… Did you enjoy it? You can send me your drawings by e-mail, I’d love to see them!
I post new art, books and lifestyle related posts every Sunday, so make sure to subscribe to this blog to know when they will come up ⭐.
Also, if you have any questions, suggestions for a next post or tutorial, or even ask feedback for your art, make sure you write a comment down below, or send me an e-mail at sketchbook.draws@protonmail.com, and I’ll be sure to reply very soon! ✉
See you next time! 🌙
Charlotte (@SketchbookDraws)
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