How to Draw a Swan

قدم در قدم

1. قدم 1

   Lay in the body mass first, in one motion.

   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.

   ڏسو Building the body from several small arcs.

   چيڪ 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.

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

   چيڪ 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.

   ڏسو Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   چيڪ Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. قدم 4

   Draw the bill.

   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.

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

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

5. قدم 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.

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

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

6. قدم 6

   Add the wing shape across the side.

   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.

   ڏسو Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   چيڪ The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. قدم 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.

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

   چيڪ You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. قدم 8

   Put the legs on, and check where they attach.

   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.

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

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

9. قدم 9

   Add the tail and its angle.

   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.

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

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

10. قدم 10

    Round out the chest.

    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.

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

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

11. قدم 11

    Put in the swan 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.

    ڏسو Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    چيڪ Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. قدم 12

    Give the chest a few feather suggestions.

    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.

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

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

13. قدم 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.

    ڏسو Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. قدم 14

    Weight the outline and lose the construction.

    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.

    ڏسو Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    چيڪ Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.