How to Draw an Ostrich

ჟრყოკა ოჲ ჟრყოკა.

1. ნაბიჯი 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.

   გნთმაგაი! Building the body from several small arcs.

   ოპჲგვპკა The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. ნაბიჯი 2

   Place the head - much smaller than you think.

   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.

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

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

3. ნაბიჯი 3

   Run two lines from the head down into the body.

   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.

   გნთმაგაი! Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   ოპჲგვპკა Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. ნაბიჯი 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.

   გნთმაგაი! Sticking the beak flat onto the front of the circle.

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

5. ნაბიჯი 5

   Put the eye in, high and forward.

   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.

   გნთმაგაი! Placing the eye centrally, which deadens the whole face.

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

6. ნაბიჯი 6

   Add the folded wing, overlapping 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.

   გნთმაგაი! Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   ოპჲგვპკა The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. ნაბიჯი 7

   Sketch the feather groups on the wing.

   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.

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

   ოპჲგვპკა You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. ნაბიჯი 8

   Place the legs under the body, toward the rear.

   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.

   გნთმაგაი! Legs planted centrally, which makes the bird tip forward.

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

9. ნაბიჯი 9

   Draw the tail.

   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.

   გნთმაგაი! A tail at war with the angle of the body.

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

10. ნაბიჯი 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.

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

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

11. ნაბიჯი 11

    Draw the plumage pattern.

    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.

    გნთმაგაი! Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    ოპჲგვპკა Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. ნაბიჯი 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.

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

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

13. ნაბიჯი 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.

    გნთმაგაი! Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. ნაბიჯი 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.

    გნთმაგაი! Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    ოპჲგვპკა Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.