Painting day birds is a beautiful, yet challenging, skill.
Capturing day birds -- goldfinches, bluebirds, cardinals -- as realistically as possible in their natural setting is a source of enjoyment as well as a skilled art. Bird painting requires skill, as the process is complex and grueling. Fortunately, painters can take an innovate approach in which instructions are broken down in such as way that even beginners can learn painting methods quickly and easily. With practice, a beginner can transform into an expert who can render birds accurately and capture the spirit of their beauty.
Instructions
1. Type "day bird" into an Internet search engine and press "search." Locate an image of a day bird and print out the image to use as a guide.
2. Draw a rough sketch of the bird.
Draw a rough sketch of the bird in the photograph using an HB lead pencil. Sketch in loose details and progressively fill in further details to obtain a rough guideline for the major shapes. Erase any errors or lighten specific markings along the way.
3. Apply a damp wash of burnt sienna mixed with a tiny amount of indigo paint over the drawing using an 1-inch flat brush. Mix an equal amount of burnt sienna and indigo paints in bowl to form a dark gray color. Paint the beak and mouth area gray using the same flat brush.
4. Dilute a portion of the dark gray paint with white paint to create a warmer gray coloring. Add more detail to the day bird using the flat brush around the back of the head. Draw shadows under the beak area and create suggestions of feathers on the wing. Draw in the eye using the dark gray paint and the liner brush. Leave a few white patches for reflections within the eye.
5. Create a solidly formed bird using the warm gray and burnt sienna paints. Paint a feather texture on the wing and splash warm gray paint below the chest area. Draw fine lines using the liner brush to form feathers near the head, beak and eye.
6. Add a background for the painting with the flat brush using indigo or yellow paint, depending on which time of day you would like to present. Use darker strokes near the lightest part of the head. Create lighter strokes on the back of the neck and near the beak. Stroke the brush quickly to form a slight diagonal thrust to draw attention to the head. Set your painting aside and allow it to dry.
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