Drawing Birds in Pencil

Comparing Two Birds

What are the differences between the two?

How would you describe their shapes?

Look at the patterns and lines.

Puffin Goldfinch

Photo courtesy of (Hefin Owen@flickr.com)- granted under creative commons licence – attribution

Photo courtesy of (Tony Smith@flickr.com)- granted under creative commons licence – attribution

Look closely at the following photographs

Black-Capped Chickadee

Cattle Tyrant

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Nuthatch

Puffin

Robin

Starling

Suggested task:

Photo courtesy of (Tambako the Jaguar@flickr.com)- granted under creative commons licence – attribution

Photo courtesy of (Smudge 9000@flickr.com)- granted under creative commons licence – attribution

Photo courtesy of (Rodney Camplbell@flickr.com)- granted under creative commons licence – attribution

• Select one of the birds and complete your own observational drawing in pencil.

• The important part is the looking. The more looking at the object, the more detailed the drawing will be. Ensure you do a big enough drawing so that the detail can be seen – it should take up the whole page.

• Look for different types of marks e.g. hard, soft, light, heavy, jagged, smooth…

Extension:

Find out more about your bird’s habitat and diet using books and the internet.