Painting birds in watercolour

The simplest animals to draw and paint are birds. This is due to their rounded shape and simple body structure. To paint birds it is not necessary to go too far. You can find a good model at home, in any pet shop, photographs in books or magazines or at the zoo. The help of a photograph is one of the most widely used.

Basic structure and the drawing

The first thing a beginner must remember before painting any animal is the study of its body structure (anatomy).

In the first place, great attention must be paid to the first sketch of the body structure of the bird. If you look closely at Figure 1, you can see that the body is an oval shape and the head is almost circle.

I have drawn a parrot as the outline on Figure 1. The painting of the bird is started with a light yellow and bright green is used to the breast. Let the colour of the first coating dry. The wet parts of the paper must not be touched, otherwise the colours will mix.

A light red is used for the beak, while the tail is painted in one stroke with green. Observe the foot of the parrot a light brown colour is applied showing a grip to the bark.

I have drawn wings and feathers with a thin outline. It is not necessary to show in brush strokes and with flat colours a simple colour drawing of these birds are shown. If you look closely at these illustrations, you will observe each bird is placed, starting from an oval shape.

The main colour used to paint the parrot is green. It is used in a lighter tone which allows each of the shadow areas to be painted.

The two birds on Fig. 2 the Mynah and Fig. 3 - the Magpie that sings every morning. The first colour application on Fig. 2 is a yellow wash which is the base of later colour.The dark colour black are painted on top while the head and wings are done on the dry background.The two birds in Fig. 2 and 3 are alike in build, but totally different in colouring. The Magpie is completely black in colour.

Therefore, one flat colour black is used leaving a white spot on the eye. The tails of the birds are done with one brush stroke. Painting birds or animals are the same technique as those used for landscapes and still life.

Only the way the stroke is applied changes. As you will be using colour the drawing paper should be quality paper where colours, especially water based ones will get absorbed without smudging the drawing. A bright glossy paper does not absorb colour nor dry easily. The paper to be used for drawing and colouring should be fine grain paper.

Bond or Kent 250 or 200 grams paper is used for colour. The selection of brushes are also important for water colour.

Nos. 1, 2, 3 is used for light artwork usually to paint feathers. Brush No. 17 flat brush and No. 14 round brush could be used for thick brush strokes.