How to Draw a Heron

خطوة خطوة

1. الدرجة 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.

   إنتبه Building the body from several small arcs.

   .. تحقق The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. الدرجة 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.

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

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

3. الدرجة 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.

   إنتبه Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   .. تحقق Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. الدرجة 4

   Draw the beak - it comes off the front of the skull.

   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.

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

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

5. الدرجة 5

   Add the eye high on the head.

   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.

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

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

6. الدرجة 6

   Lay the wing over the body.

   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.

   إنتبه Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   .. تحقق The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. الدرجة 7

   Draw two or three feather groups, not individual 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.

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

   .. تحقق You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. الدرجة 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.

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

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

9. الدرجة 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.

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

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

10. الدرجة 10

    Shape the breast.

    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.

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

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

11. الدرجة 11

    Add the markings that say heron.

    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.

    إنتبه Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    .. تحقق Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. الدرجة 12

    Texture the breast lightly, curving with the body.

    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.

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

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

13. الدرجة 13

    Add ground and shadow so it stops floating.

    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.

    إنتبه Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. الدرجة 14

    Strengthen the outline and clear the ovals.

    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.

    إنتبه Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    .. تحقق Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.