I learned from createarteveryday who learned from awingandaway that today is draw a bird day. So I thought I’d give it a go. I haven’t drawn anything in ages but I managed to find some drawing basics: white paper, a pencil, an eraser and a pencil sharpener. No green highlighters manifested themselves during my search but I did come upon a brown pen. It took a lot of drawing and erasing of pencil marks but a satisfactory bushtit outline finally appeared. Fun!
Photographic inspiration:
Aw! I love it!! What a sweet little face. I’m so glad you joined in the feathered fun! 😀
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Thanks Laura! Your bluebird put a big smile on my face. And then I thought, if there is a day to join in the fun… it’s today!!! 🙂
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Yay!! Are you gonna draw more? I love your little birdie!
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Maybe. Did you post a review of a “how to draw birds” book a while back? I think I could use some tips. And some colour pencils.
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I did. If you go to my home page and type book review in the search box, you should see it. Let me know if it doesn’t work. I’m on my phone now, but I could post a link for you in the AM. If you’re looking for colored pencils, I highly recommend Polychromos by Faber-Castell. Derwent watercolor pencils, if you’re looking for those. Good luck! Looking forward to your progress!
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Thanks Laura. I’ll check out the Laws book. The library has it. Do you have favourite paper?
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You’re quite welcome. Hmm, paper…for drawing, or painting?
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I’m curious about your drawing paper preference. Although at the moment, I would probably have fun drawing with any paper and coloured pencils or markers. But I definitely want some colours!
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I could tell you what I use, but it’s slightly different depending on whether I’m painting or drawing. Do you wanna know what I use for both?
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Sure :-).
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Ok, I use strathmore watercolor cards for painting and Strathmore and Stonehenge sketch pads for drawing. For the most part. I’d post links, but I’m on my phone. Let me know if u need more info.
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Thanks Laura. I’ll look for one of those sketch pads at the art store.
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Awesome bird!! Way to go.
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Thanks Jennifer :-). I admire your beautiful illustrations. Maybe they will inspire me to pick up some colour pencils and draw a few more birds before next year’s Bird Day…
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Very cool — that’s great!!
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Thanks for getting the word out! Birds and drawing are a magical combination.
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Thank you! (Sorry about the late response; somehow I missed this comment.)
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:-). (No worries, I find it quite hard to keep track of comments in WordPress. I get e-mails about some but not others and different WordPress site templates have different commenting interfaces.)
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Yes, sometimes keeping track is not easy. I appreciate your understanding. 🙂
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Most excellent drawing of this little Bushtit! I’ve wished I could paint and draw since I was in jr. High. After countless art classes I gave up as the teachers I had taught to those in the class that had natural talent. I thought I was a hopeless case until I found Doug Wright in Adult Ed. He taught me to use rulers, grids, and gave me permission to experiment, fail, and play.
It was after his classes that I was finally able to draw and paint something that actually looked like I had it my head.
Keep at it, don’t give up! I hope you find your Doug Wright!
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Congratulations on persevering with your drawing lessons :-). It is pretty cool to be able to draw things as you see them in your head. As for drawing from a photograph, grids are a great tool. I may try a watercolour class one day, but for now I think I’ll stick to books. And maybe I’ll work my way up to drawing a heron some day… in one of the easier poses ;-).
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Lovely birdie! Glad you did this. It sounds like a fun challenge. I love drawing birds and do it relatively often. 🙂
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Thank you :-). I’d mostly given up on drawing (there is so much else to do!), but the ability to draw birds and other cute animals is just so cool. The animal illustrations you whip up every day are way awesome! I’m not going for awesome… but it would be fun to expand on my stick figure repertoire.
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[…] by a little girl named Dorie (Draw a Bird Day website). Two years ago, I was inspired to draw my first bird by Laura of Create Art Everyday and M.R. Emberson of A-wing and […]
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Though this little birdie is really lovely, I can’t help to be mesmerized of the fact that only ONE year took you from drawing like this to like this: https://myrsbytes.com/2016/04/08/draw-a-bird-day-2/ ?!
Wow, your artist grow is the quickest and biggest I have ever seen! :O
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* “can’t help being mesmerized” is correct? 😀
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Yes :-). And instead of “of”, use “by” – “can’t help being mesmerized by”.
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Oh! I did do a lot of drawing with graphite and colour pencils when I was in my late teens and early 20s. So I was relearning instead of learning from scratch. It took a lot of patience to draw the barbet. I haven’t found that kind of patience since then. Also, the house where I lived then had really good natural lighting. I find it harder to work with colour pencils in artificial light. I like how the barbet turned out too. I like the colour variation in the feathers from the thin layers of different colours. Maybe someday I’ll try to draw another bird with that technique. 🙂
I’m super impressed by your growth as an illustrator! I find it inspiring. Thanks. 🙂
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As your barbet is definitely my favourite of yours, I love your other birds too. For example, the hawk, bare-legged owl, golden-crowned kinglet, red-winged blackbird snacking on a cattail – they are really something. 🙂
Thus, even if you don’t draw any bird with that technique again, you still are one of my favourite artist. 🙂
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Thanks, Hanna :-). I appreciate your appreciation. You are one of my faves too. Thanks for having such a wonderful imagination and creating beautiful drawings with it!
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