Bird Watercolor Painting Tutorial
Step-by-step guide to capturing the beauty of a wild bird
I love this image of a garden bird, known as a nuthatch. The image was from a photo I found in a wildlife book. I like it because it shows the bird in a characteristically alert posture, with its head and tail slightly raised, as if it’s listening out and might fly away at any moment.
I tend to find that painting wildlife is a challenge made easier by careful study. It helps to have watched animals in their real-life surroundings to get a sense of how they move. All animals, and birds especially, have a way of shaping their bodies, sometimes tall and open, sometimes low and crouched.
Even though this painting was made from a photograph, I think it helps to know the shapes that animals make in order to judge if your painting is true to life. It’s also a good to watch animals, just for the pleasure of it.
I began this painting by making a fairly detailed pencil sketch of the bird. I paid particular attention to its outline and the position of its key body parts: the eye, the beak and the legs. From experience, I know that getting these parts in the…
