Painting Birds/Feathers

Painting Birds

Assignments. (Use the paint of your choice).

Part 1: Paint at least one feather

Part 2: Pick a detailed section of a bird and paint that area.

(Ex: Only the head or only the chest area or only the tail). The choice is yours, you can paint the whole bird if you want to.

Before you begin watch the video on John James Audobon who is best known for his book, “The Birds of North America.” "This monumental accomplishment consisted of 435 life-size, hand-colored illustrations of some 700 different bird species. The book was made with the use of engraved copper plates that printed on sheets measuring 26 by 39 inches — quite large. One of the most famous of his illustrations is the wild turkey, which had been Benjamin Franklin’s pick for our national bird. It somehow lost by a landslide to the bald eagle!

'The Birds of North America' is considered to be one of the finest ornithological works ever compiled. In it, Audubon identified twenty-five new species and many sub-species". (Text was taken from the article, How Art Shapes Our Lives: John James Audubon. Posted by: Sal Maccarone, M.A. October 2, 2019.

Part 1: Paint at least one feather

For the feather practice, if you paint more than one feather it will be easiest for you if you start your feathers on the edge of the paper that is farthest away from your dominant hand. ex: I am right handed so I would start painting on the left side of the paper.

Part 2: Paint a section of a bird so you can practice creating clumps of feathers.

Step 1: Draw your image.

Step 2: Paint the background. You can leave the bird area blank.

Step 3: Lay down the base coat of your bird.

Step 4: Add textural details.

Tips:

Start loose and then refine.
Alternate colors will help define textures.
Be sparing with super-defined details. You just need to provide info that will indicate the shapes and texture of the patterns because the viewers' brain will make up the information that makes the super fine details. (Because you have seen multiple birds throughout your life you will recognize that the blobs of paint are feathers if they are applied in the right shape and pattern. They might not need a lot of tiny detailed line work.)
The brush strokes should go in the direction of the feathers.

Painting Birds

Assignments. (Use the paint of your choice).

Part 1: Paint at least one feather

Part 2: Paint a section of a bird so you can practice creating clumps of feathers.

Watercolor bird tutorials