How to Draw a Swan

Bước một bước

1. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! Building the body from several small arcs.

   Kiểm tra The body should be one smooth closed shape.

2. Bước 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.

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

   Kiểm tra About four head-widths should fit along the body.

3. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! Leaving the head disconnected from the body.

   Kiểm tra Both neck curves should touch head and body.

4. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! Sticking the beak flat onto the front of the circle.

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

5. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! Placing the eye centrally, which deadens the whole face.

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

6. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! Drawing the wing floating inside the silhouette.

   Kiểm tra The wing should cross the body outline somewhere.

7. Bước 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.

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

   Kiểm tra You should count feather GROUPS, not feathers.

8. Bước 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.

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

   Kiểm tra The legs should attach behind the middle of the egg.

9. Bước 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.

   Cẩn thận! A tail at war with the angle of the body.

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

10. Bước 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.

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

    Kiểm tra The chest should be the roundest curve on the drawing.

11. Bước 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.

    Cẩn thận! Drawing the pattern flat, ignoring the curve underneath.

    Kiểm tra Any stripe or patch should bend with the body.

12. Bước 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.

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

    Kiểm tra The marks should bend the same way as the chest outline.

13. Bước 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.

    Cẩn thận! Skipping it and leaving the bird hovering.

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

14. Bước 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.

    Cẩn thận! Uniform line weight over the whole bird.

    Kiểm tra Silhouette darker than interior - check by squinting.