How to Draw a Flamingo

قدم ب قدم

1. قدم 1

   Draw one oval for the whole body of the flamingo.

   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.

   دیکھو Building the body from several small arcs.

   چک The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. قدم 2

   Put the head in as a circle, set forward.

   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.

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

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

3. قدم 3

   Draw the neck on both sides.

   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.

   دیکھو Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   چک Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. قدم 4

   Place the beak at the front of the head.

   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.

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

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

5. قدم 5

   Add the eye - small, and nearer the beak than the back.

   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.

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

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

6. قدم 6

   Draw the near wing.

   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.

   دیکھو Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   چک The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. قدم 7

   Mark the layers of feathers.

   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.

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

   چک You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. قدم 8

   Add both legs and the feet.

   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.

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

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

9. قدم 9

   Draw the tail out behind.

   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.

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

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

10. قدم 10

    Shape the chest and underside.

    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.

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

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

11. قدم 11

    Put in the flamingo 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.

    دیکھو Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    چک Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. قدم 12

    Add a few breast feather ticks, following the chest curve.

    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.

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

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

13. قدم 13

    Add the ground and the cast 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.

    دیکھو Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. قدم 14

    Press harder on the final lines and erase the blocking-in.

    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.

    دیکھو Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    چک Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.