How to Draw a Chicken

Žingsnis po žingsnio

1. Step 1

   Draw the body as one oval and stop there.

   Nearly every bird is one egg-shaped mass with everything else attached to it. Draw the egg in one motion and let its tilt say what the bird is doing.

   Saugotis Building the body from several small arcs.

   Patikrinti The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. Step 2

   Draw the skull as a small circle above the body.

   Bird heads are smaller relative to the body than beginners expect - usually about a quarter of the body length. Measure against the egg before you commit.

   Saugotis An oversized head, which turns the bird into a cartoon.

   Patikrinti About four head-widths should fit along the body.

3. Step 3

   Join the two masses with the neck.

   Even a short-necked bird has a neck: two curves joining head to body, front and back. Without them the head floats and the bird reads as a snowman.

   Saugotis Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   Patikrinti Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. Step 4

   Add the beak.

   The beak grows out of the skull rather than sitting on its surface, and its angle continues the line of the head. Shape and size are the strongest species cues on the whole bird.

   Saugotis Sticking the beak flat onto the front of the circle.

   Patikrinti The top edge of the beak should line up with the skull.

5. Step 5

   Place the eye and darken the pupil.

   A bird's eye sits high and close to the beak. Small, dark, with one highlight - and its position matters far more than its rendering.

   Saugotis Placing the eye centrally, which deadens the whole face.

   Patikrinti The eye should be nearer the beak than the back of the head.

6. Step 6

   Add the wing shape across the side.

   The folded wing lies ON the body, crossing its outline. That overlap is what attaches it - a wing drawn inside the body outline reads as a pattern, not a limb.

   Saugotis Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   Patikrinti The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. Step 7

   Suggest the feather layers.

   Feathers come in groups, and the groups are what you draw - two or three curved rows, not individual feathers. The eye supplies the rest reliably.

   Saugotis Drawing every feather, which turns the wing into a fence.

   Patikrinti You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. Step 8

   Draw the legs and toes.

   Legs attach much further back than they appear to, because the visible leg is really the bird's foot and ankle. Get the attachment point right and the balance follows.

   Saugotis Legs planted centrally, which makes the bird tip forward.

   Patikrinti The legs should attach behind the middle of the egg.

9. Step 9

   Draw the tail as one shape, not separate feathers.

   The tail continues the body's line rather than being stuck on the end. Draw it as one shape - separate feathers come last if at all.

   Saugotis A tail at war with the angle of the body.

   Patikrinti The tail's top edge should flow from the back line.

10. Step 10

    Draw the breast curve.

    The breast is the fullest curve on the bird and it carries the pose. Round it generously - a flat chest makes any bird look deflated.

    Saugotis A flat front, which loses the bird's volume.

    Patikrinti The chest should be the roundest curve on the drawing.

11. Step 11

    Put in the chicken colouring.

    Markings follow the body's form - they curve as the body curves. Flat pattern drawn over a round form cancels all the volume you just built.

    Saugotis Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    Patikrinti Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. Step 12

    Put a handful of feather ticks on the chest.

    Three or four short V-marks down the breast, each curving with the chest rather than sitting flat, and the whole bird reads as feathered. They also confirm the body's roundness - marks on a form must bend with it, which is the same rule as every stripe and patch on the site.

    Saugotis Covering the breast evenly, which turns the bird into a pinecone.

    Patikrinti The marks should bend the same way as the chest outline.

13. Step 13

    Draw what the chicken stands on, plus its shadow.

    One line under the feet and one flattened shadow arc beneath the body, darkest between the legs. A bird with no ground floats in white space no matter how well it is built - and the shadow also confirms where the legs actually are, which birds hide well.

    Saugotis Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

    Patikrinti The shadow should sit directly below the body's widest point.

14. Step 14

    Go over the keepers and erase the guides.

    Weight the silhouette and the beak, keep the feather marks light, erase the construction. The contrast in line weight is what separates finished from traced.

    Saugotis Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    Patikrinti Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.