Drawing Birds

"A wise old owl sat on an oak;

The more he saw the less he spoke;

The less he spoke the more he heard:

Why aren't we like that wise old bird?"

This week my task was to draw birds. Would you believe that I have bird attack stories, too? I won't bore you with the details but if you want to read one head over to this blog post here. Let's just say that I will NEVER watch the movie "The Birds."

This time we were given a bit more direction in our bird drawings and that helped me to break this complex little being into something more manageable. I focused on the shapes, the head, beak, body, tail. And what I tried to do was keep to a simple shape, the half circle, as my point of departure for the shapes that I was drawing. But this time I think my details may have taken a back seat.

I had an epiphany when I was drawing: I don't fancy that I will ever be a photo-realistic drawer. All the details of the feathers and the eyes and talons and the environs escapes me. But I am pleased with just getting the basic shapes right. You can tell these are supposed to be birds, right? And I am not too concerned if my bird is of a real species or not. My birds have beaks and talons and feathers and wings. That is all they need for you to see that.

I was reading a blog that posted a little blurb about UK illustrator Alice Melvin (so sorry that I can't remember which blog it was!). I was charmed by her whimsical bird drawings and knew that is the way that I wanted to go. So I set about trying to imitate her style. I think that whimsy is my way so that is likely where my drawings will take me in the future. I thought the stylized shapes of the birds would be cute filled with a patchwork of patterns, in lieu of real-looking feathers.

One of the 'extra credit' assignments is to take your drawing and do more with it. This week I decided that I would try to use my Photoshop Elements program to color in the details on my owl. It didn't start out as I had intended, but because I didn't use a very dark line on the drawing the colors sort of had a mind of their own (plus I am not that well versed in Photoshop Elements). The shading on the head and body were not planned. It's a happy accident, but I like it.
 

Do you prefer a specific sort of drawing? The more photo-realistic details with shading and an almost three-dimensional quality? Or the whimsical illustrations of artists like Alice Melvin and my favorite Mary Engelbreit? If you could learn to draw (and you can!) what style would you like to do? Do tell!

Enjoy the day!