How to Draw a Pigeon

ก้าวต่อก้าว

1. ก้าว 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.

   ระวังตัวด้วย Building the body from several small arcs.

   ตรวจสอบ The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. ก้าว 2

   Add the head circle and note how small it is.

   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.

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

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

3. ก้าว 3

   Build the neck with a curve each side.

   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.

   ระวังตัวด้วย Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   ตรวจสอบ Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. ก้าว 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.

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

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

5. ก้าว 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.

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

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

6. ก้าว 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.

   ระวังตัวด้วย Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   ตรวจสอบ The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. ก้าว 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.

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

   ตรวจสอบ You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. ก้าว 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.

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

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

9. ก้าว 9

   Put the tail feathers on.

   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.

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

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

10. ก้าว 10

    Draw the underside of the pigeon.

    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.

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

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

11. ก้าว 11

    Put in the pigeon 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.

    ระวังตัวด้วย Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    ตรวจสอบ Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. ก้าว 12

    Add breast marks that follow the chest's 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.

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

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

13. ก้าว 13

    Anchor the bird: ground line, then 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.

    ระวังตัวด้วย Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. ก้าว 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.

    ระวังตัวด้วย Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    ตรวจสอบ Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.