Bird Drawing in Pencil

Free Tutorial in Bird Drawing-a three part illustrated drawing lesson in pencil.

Below are Bird Drawing samples covering a pelican, seagulls and swans.

This lesson is a breakdown of the birds in simple shapes followed by a finished line drawing.

When drawing birds from life your approach will vary depending on the bird. Every winter seagulls arrive in my home town. They are quick, good flyers and skittish enough to make drawing them difficult.

Below are samples of how I quickly capture their movement and form.

Exercise 1

1, See how I break down the form using shapes. This is something you can learn to do very quickly. Do it at leisure to begin with. Look at the simple shapes and concentrate on each one separately. When happy with your results do it again as quickly as possible. After some practice you should be able to do it in hardly any time at all.

2, Now add details. I say details but really they are only simple scribbled lines and dashes which indicate the stretching, finger like feathers on each wing. Now work on the second bird.

3, Again the details are very simple.

4, The rest of this sketch was finished in less than two minutes. Copy it and apply it the next time you want to attempt this type of Bird Drawing.

Exercise 2

The following is an easy pelican. I won't go through each stage with you. Just follow the images on step at a time.

Exercise 3

Swans are sedate creatures most of the time. This makes them very suitable to draw from life. Even so a quick breakdown of shapes gives you extra help that can save you valuable seconds.

1, This little group make an interesting series of shapes. Use egg like shapes for their bodies and curved lines for head and neck. I've also indicated where their eyes will go.

2, Using the guides I draw in outlines and features.

3, This will help you with the heads of the nearest swans.

4, Trace off or erase your construction lines.

As you can see your approach changes depending on the species of bird.

You may be interested in this page on eagle drawings

I hope you have enjoyed these free drawing lessons. Check in regularly or use the buttons to follow me using RSS.

Return to drawing animals from Bird Drawing.

Home