The most beautiful bird drawings in watercolor. Watercolor portraits of birds painted with calligraphy brushes. How to draw a forest bird
“In painting and calligraphy, the first movement of the brush is most important: it is born spontaneously, but it already means something,” the artist describes the creative process Karl Martens... His passion is birds, in the master's portfolio there are dozens watercolorswritten with brushes for Chinese and Japanese calligraphy.
Karl Martens studied the world of birds for many years, he knows very well what representatives look like different types birds, among his works one can see "portraits" of both formidable predators and tiny defenseless birds. The master writes pictures from memory, without looking into special reference books.
The first thing that catches your eye is a huge “drop” that spreads across the paper, and only after that, the traced details create an integral image. The artist applies the first strokes with large calligraphy brushes, the rest is "polished" with pencils and thin brushes. With amazing accuracy, he draws the plumage, selects the color, anatomically correctly conveys the wingspan and the structure of the beak.
Karl Martens draws inspiration from the works of the Chinese calligrapher Shitao, who lived during the reign of the Qing dynasty. This artist was distinguished by an innovative approach to painting, in fact, ahead of his time, and later his work was often compared to the abstract expressionism of Pollock. Shitao became famous for his work "Ten Thousand Ugly Spots" and developed the principle of non-judgmental writing with "one line", in which he saw the quintessence of art. It was this principle that Karl Martens took as a basis, because the essence of creativity, according to Shitao, is to write intuitively, filling the "void" of the sheet.
Karl Martens says that paper always reacts differently to paint: some strokes are almost completely absorbed, others spread over the surface. And brushes behave differently depending on size, pressure and other (sometimes unpredictable) factors. Sometimes the artist sprinkles the individual parts of the sheet with salt, then the specific reaction of the paint gives rise to new forms and shades of color. Each canvas is a bold experiment, the result of which often surprises the creator himself.
Lesson summary on him: "Exotic bird hoopoe"
with a drawing master class.
Gorbova Nadezhda Yurievna, teacher at MBOU DOD "Children's Art School" in the Yaransky District of the Kirov Region, the city of Yaransk.
Description: this lesson summary is intended for teachers of fine arts, teachers additional education, children from 8 years old and their parents.
Purpose: great idea for a gift, interior decoration. You can also depict such a bird with gouache, plasticine technique, applique ...
Goal: acquaintance through a fairy tale with an exotic bird hoopoe and making a bright drawing with watercolors using the "raw" technique.
Tasks:
- to acquaint with an exotic bird the hoopoe through a fairy tale;
- consolidation of the skills of working in the "raw" technique
- further development color sensation;
- development of attention, accuracy.
Materials: for the teacher a sample of a drawing of a hoopoe, a tale about a hoopoe;
for students: a watercolor sheet of A4 paper, watercolor, squirrel brushes, a jar of water, a rag, a graphite pencil.
During the classes:
Teacher: Hello guys! In many Russians folk tales the main characters are animals. Which ones do you know?
Pupils: Hare, wolf, fox, hedgehog, bear, squirrel.
Teacher: Right! Think about the character of the squirrel?
Pupils: She is agile, fast, bouncy and playful. He does not offend anyone, he is friends with everyone.
Teacher: And the hedgehog?
Pupils: He is sensible, intelligent, albeit prickly.
Teacher: And the fox?
Pupils: She is cunning and resourceful.
Teacher: The main characters of fairy tales can be birds - cuckoo, white-sided magpie, woodpecker, starling, nightingale.
Now listen to the fairy tale, and then we will draw our main character.
Gold Crown.
Once upon a time, King Samed lived in a beautiful palace, and around the palace a green garden rustled with leaves. In the garden, animals walked along the paths and deer birds nibbled the grass, birds of paradise and parrots were sitting on tree branches. Peacocks spread their wonderful tails, and baby hummingbirds flew from flower to flower, drank sweet nectar like elegant butterflies.
But most of all the king loved the hoopoe. I fed him with grains from my hand. The hoopoe is such a cute bird with bright plumage.
Once the king sat on a camel, took a box with gifts - gold, silver and precious stones and went to visit his friend, another king, to congratulate him on the birth of his son. His devoted servants accompanied him.
But at night the robbers attacked the camel caravan. They took away all the camels, took away all the gifts from the king, and killed his servants. Samad was left alone in the desert. What to do?
He decided to return to the palace. He waited until morning and went alone through the desert.
The sun rose high and burned mercilessly. The old king was barely walking among the sandy desert, when suddenly a cloud appeared above him and protected the king's head from the hot sun rays. Samed raised his eyes and saw that his beloved hoopoe was flying over him. All day he saved the king from the heat, and by evening he returned home.
The king stroked the faithful bird and asked the hoopoe how to thank him. The hoopoe thought and answered:
-I will fly to my nest and ask my wife.
I think you guessed that Samed understood the language of animals and birds and could speak it.
Meanwhile, the hoopoe flew to his wife.
-To ask the king? he asked his wife.
She thought and answered:
-Ask Samad for two golden crowns - you and me. In crowns, we will become more important than all other birds!
The hoopoe obeyed his wife, flew to the king and asked him for two golden crowns.
“Well,” answered King Samed, “you will receive crowns, you deserve them.
The next day, the hoopoe and his wife flew to Samed, and he himself put golden crowns on their heads, studded with pearls and diamonds.
The birds bowed deeply to the king, thanked him for the precious gift.
But, alas, golden crowns did not bring happiness to the hoopoe! The bird hunters tried to catch them, set up traps where they wanted to lure the birds. Once the hoopoe nearly fell into a trap, but a small bird - a hummingbird warned him of the danger.
Then the hoopoe again flew to the king Samed and said to him: "Golden crowns will destroy us, take them back."
- Yes you are right! - agreed the king. - People are greedy, they love gold and precious stones, for their sake they can destroy you and your wife.
He removed the golden crowns from the heads of the hoopoe. But, so that the birds would not be offended, he touched their heads with a magic feather, and immediately beautiful crowns appeared on the heads of the hoopoes, which the birds were very proud of.
(Shorygina T. A., Literary tales. Conversations with children about prose, poetry and folklore. - M.: TC Sphere, 2015. - 96 pp. - (Fairy tales)).
Teacher: Here is a hoopoe bird! Now take the watercolor sheet that you have on your desk and place it vertically. First, he outlines the size of the bird, the body, the head in the form of an oval with thin lines. The wings are folded together at the back. The hoopoe has a long, thin beak.
Then we will draw feathers on the head. This bird has a very interesting pattern on the wings, feathers on them are black and white. Therefore, we will carefully shade the dark places to make it easier to paint with watercolors later.
We wet the sheet well with clean water. We are waiting for the water to be absorbed. The puddle should not be on the sheet. We take a thicker orange paint on the cysts and apply it to the head and neck of the hoopoe. We write the background right away.
Draw the black tips of the feathers and the nose. Add blue, purple, green to black …….
Then we begin to draw a dark pattern on the wings of the hoopoe. We paint over the log. We also use different shades of brown.
As it dries, you can add details (eye, beak). Draw twigs with leaves on the background. Once again, the dark "comb" of the feather. Draw a shadow under the bird on the log.
Today we will tell you how to draw beautiful and bright birds watercolor. The work is difficult and painstaking. Watercolor is one of the most difficult painting techniques. It uses 99% water and only 1% paint. Remember this when you work. So let's get started.
Bright bird
This cute rainbow chick looks a lot like a chicken. Today we will analyze it using his example, in watercolor step by step.
The first step is to outline the outline of the chicken and the approximate location of the paws. Remember that they are laid down with a translucent layer, so we draw quickly with one thin pencil line. We can also outline the eyes and beak. And now we turn to the direct image of the bird in watercolor. We paint the chicken with light yellow paint.
When the first layer is dry, apply the second. It will consist of spots of color. We use pink and orange on the chest, several shades of green on the head, and green, blue and pink on the wing. You also need to draw in layers. The first time we add color to the image, and the second layer we apply strokes that will mimic the feathers. Last but not least, we work on the chicken's eye and beak. Now it remains to draw the paws. Draw lines with a thin brush around the perimeter of the paws. And then we refine it with black paint and give the bird's paws a shape.
Hummingbird
A small colored bird is often featured in the works of artists. Let's start with the pencil sketch of the bird in watercolor. We outline the hummingbird and outline the locations of the flowers. First of all, we apply the lightest colors. And this means that we designate the tail and belly of the hummingbird, outline the flowers with wide strokes.
With the second layer we again apply red paint, but this time on the bird too, paint over the wings and head. When the second layer is dry, proceed to the third. We outline the greenery, this includes the leaves on the flowers and the highlight on the tail of the bird. The next layers are blue-green and purple paint. We apply them one by one. We draw feathers, head and beak with purple paint, and then we place accents with green. Let's not forget to draw a point-eye and leave a highlight in it.
Dove
The bird of peace is usually depicted in white. But it will be difficult to convey such a shade in watercolor, so we will draw a dove in the shade.
Our bird will be done in watercolors using the raw technique. We will use only two colors - turquoise and black. We start drawing with a pencil sketch. It seems that the sketch is too sketchy to depict something with a pencil. But in fact, if you do not observe the proportions, then the pigeon will no longer seem realistic, and in the worst case it will not look like a bird at all. So don't neglect sketching.
We drew a pencil underpainting, and now we turn to watercolor. We moisten the entire sheet with water, and while it has not dried, we apply turquoise and black paint. The stains will blur immediately, so we use less color and more water. Here our task is to show the feathers on the tail and wings with clear strokes. We are waiting for the paint to "set" a little, and put the second layer on the sheet. With dark paint, we refine the feathers and outline the shadow on the neck. We are waiting for the complete drying of the picture and only after that we draw the beak and eye.
Owl
We will draw the night bird using the grisaille technique, however, we will add a couple of colored strokes on the eyes. The owl is truly beautiful, which is why it can often be seen in the drawings of artists.
It is easier to draw animals and birds in watercolors than people, which is why beginners begin their creative searches with owls. The shape is easier to show when you sculpt it with one paint. Therefore, many people love grisaille so much.
First of all, we will mark the outline of the bird, the branch under it and part of the tree with a pencil. Now let's get down to drawing our beautiful bird in watercolor. With strokes of light gray paint, paint the bark of the tree and the feathers on the tail of the bird. We work out the back and belly of the owl with horizontal strokes. A couple of times we walk along the wing and head.
The paint has dried, now in a darker tone we depict horizontal stripes on the tail feathers, feathers on the wing, the bird's head and feathers under the eyes. With black paint we will paint the branch on which the bird sits. For greater effect, it is worth trying to paint the bark not with wet, but with a dry brush. We outline the eye sockets in black and draw in the pupils. Give the eyes a liveliness with yellow.
I draw from the photo below. The purpose of the work is to show the way of drawing a bird's plumage.
For work I used:
- watercolor paper "Flora" state sign, size A5,
- watercolor "White Nights", whitewash gouache "Gamma"
- masking liquid for watercolor (optional) and a feather (or old brush) for applying it
- brush of columns No. 5, No. 3 (squirrel can be used)
- nag (to remove the saturation of the pencil outline without damaging the paper)
I start with a careful sketch of the bird on the sheet.
I erase unnecessary lines, make the pencil sketch paler with a nag.
At this point, I have applied masking fluid with the pen to make it easier to fill the background.
In the photo, the masking fluid has a yellowish tone.
I fill the background with ocher and cobalt blue. I also outline the color of the bird's plumage.
I'm starting work on the bird. After filling the plumage with the main colors and drying the first layer, I draw with a thin brush in the direction of feather growth. I use cadmium yellow and olive colors (olive can be obtained by mixing light green and orange). 
I continue to work on the plumage of the head, changing the saturation of the colors and adding volume.
I fill the wing plumage with the main colors - first with an almost transparent layer, then I intensify the tone by re-filling. The layers must be completely dry before starting again on the same area. This method called - glaze.
In the same way I draw the tail feathering and under the tail. First, just fills, then I detail some of the feathers separately.
I remove the masking liquid - it easily rolls off the sheet of paper. You can use the eraser, or you can just use your finger. I proceed to the twig.
To paint a picture, we need:
- Brush 1 ″ flat (flutes)
- Brush number 2 round (fine brush for fine work)
- HB (TM) pencil
- Watercolors of colors: Indigo (dark blue), Gray (strongly diluted with water Black) and Burnt Ocher
Take the photo of the bird we are going to draw.
First, let's mark the main lines of the picture. The idea is not to exactly follow the contour of the bird, but to draw the most important lines of the shape. Do not accurately draw every detail of the bird's shape, now the main thing is to concentrate on the accuracy of the proportions of the picture. Drawn with an HB (TM) pencil.
Once you are satisfied with your pencil drawing, paint over the body of the bird (very pale) with a mixture of Burnt Ocher and a small amount of Indigo. While the paint is wet, add a little Burnt Ocher with a little Sulfur mixture on top to add volume to the bird's body. Paint the beak with Gray so that the bottom is darker than the top. Drawn with a 1 ″ flat brush.
At first, it seems that a shape like a beak cannot be drawn with this brush, but with experience you will understand that you can draw more complex things only by changing the angle of the brush.
Details such as shadows under the head and behind the head, small hints of feathers are drawn in warm gray. Paint over the eye with a blacker color using a # 2 Thin Brush, leaving the highlights as highlights.
Next, we prescribe more clearly the details using a mixture of Burnt Ocher and Gray. The feather structure will make the painting more interesting. Use a thin brush to outline the feathers around the eyes and head. A little spray of paint on the bottom of the bird will give a nice and smooth transition from the white sheet of paper to the bird itself. The bird's head on top needs to be prescribed a little lighter. This will give volume to the head.
The final step is to add a background. Since the bird is painted in warm colors, the cool Indigo color will add more expressiveness to our bird. In order for the picture to be more expressive, it is necessary to place the darkest part of the background near the lightest part of the head and beak. Below the beak and behind the neck, the background will be much weaker in tone. Finishing painting the background from below diagonally, we will thus draw attention to the bird's head and balance the picture as a whole.
