How to Draw a Robin

Dingana amin'ny dingana

1. Endrika 1

   Draw one oval for the whole body of the robin.

   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.

   Mitandrema Building the body from several small arcs.

   Jereo The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. Endrika 2

   Place a small circle for the skull.

   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.

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

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

3. Endrika 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.

   Mitandrema Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   Jereo Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. Endrika 4

   Put the beak on, and get its angle right.

   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.

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

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

5. Endrika 5

   Draw the eye, then fill 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.

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

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

6. Endrika 6

   Draw 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.

   Mitandrema Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   Jereo The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. Endrika 7

   Add the wing feather divisions.

   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.

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

   Jereo You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. Endrika 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.

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

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

9. Endrika 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.

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

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

10. Endrika 10

    Draw the underside of the robin.

    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.

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

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

11. Endrika 11

    Draw the pattern this bird actually has.

    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.

    Mitandrema Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    Jereo Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. Endrika 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.

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

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

13. Endrika 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.

    Mitandrema Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. Endrika 14

    Firm up the keepers, remove 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.

    Mitandrema Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    Jereo Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.