How to Draw a Bird Head
Birds are extremely diverse, but their head has a structure universal to all of them. So let’s see how to draw a “universal bird head”.
Start with an oval. Some species will be easier to draw with a circle, others with an ellipse.
Define the perspective of the skull with some directing lines.
Mark the jaw joint on the bottom of the skull.
Draw a long curve defined by the bottom of the upper jaw. The beak is wide near the base and narrows toward the tip.
Draw the curve of the upper part of the upper jaw, and lead it far to the back of the skull. This will be our guideline for the eyes.
Draw the lower jaw now. If you curve it backwards, you’ll create the second guideline for the eye socket.
Now, add the eyes and the nostrils.
Once you have all these guidelines, you can put the details in their place. The eyes are round and surrounded with thick skin.
The front of the jaws is covered with keratin, and that’s the actual beak. Notice it even has a kind of hard “lips”!
Finally, you can add the feathers. The easiest way to achieve a realistic effect quickly is to sketch the areas of feathers.
How to Draw Bird Feet
Birds have wings to fly, but they can’t spend all time in the air (though some definitely try). They still need their feet, but they also need them for various purposes depending on the species. That’s why their toes can be arranged in various ways. Before you draw some species, make sure you know what kind of arrangement they utilize.
To draw the feet, start with sticks for legs.
Draw a circle on the tip of each stick, and some circles for the ankle.
Sketch the toes. Their length and arrangement should follow from the styles presented before. End them with curves for claws.
Imagine the toes are wires, and that you slip beads through it toward the base.
Now put a bead on the tip of each, right before the claw.
Put the rest of the beads in between, following the toe arrangement. The most popular arrangement is anisodactyl, that is 2-3-4-1 (counting from the body).
Once you have the guidelines, you can cover them with body, creating appropriate bums around the joints.
How to Draw Various Bird Species
There are many species of birds, all specialized to their way of living. So many, actually, that it would be impossible to describe them all. That’s why I will show you orders of birds rather than specific species. This way you’ll learn a “general recipe” for each kind of bird, but this theory must be completed with a lot of practice with a photo reference.
Perching Birds (Passeriformes)
This is the biggest group of them all, so we can consider the passerine body a classic bird body. All the songbirds belong here, as well as birds of paradise and ravens. The smaller the bird, the bigger its head in comparison to the body. The long tail makes the whole body seem elongated and slim.
The beak is simple, sharp and thick. The eyes are usually dark, and in smaller species they look like shiny beads.
The wings follow a clear rhythm; in smaller birds primaries can be almost indistinguishable from secondaries.
Birds of this group, especially the small ones, have very thin and flexible toes, arranged in the anisodactyl fashion. The scales covering their top are elongated between the joints. These feet are optimized for perching.
Landfowl (Galliformes)
This order includes all the chicken-like birds—big, heavy, better at scratching the ground than at flying. They have long necks and often oddly shaped tails (with the peacock as an extreme example).
The beak of these birds is not as smooth as the passerine one, and it may be slightly hooked. The eyes are often bright, gold or orange, though they can be dark as well. There’s often skin visible somewhere on the head, at least around the eye, but it often makes weird fleshy structures, like the comb of the chicken.
Because these birds walk more than fly, their wings don’t have to be highly optimized. They’re broad and rounded.
These birds have similar feet to the passerines, but they keep their “back toe” higher, and the toes are thicker. There’s slight webbing between the toes. The scales make neat overlapping rows. These feet are optimized for scratching.
Falcon-like Birds of Prey (Falconiformes)
This is slightly controversial group, because the newest studies suggest that falcons are more related to parrots than to eagles or hawks. However, their look matters more to us than their genes, so it’s better for us to think of them as one group still. These predatory birds look like passerines, except they’re usually much bigger, with highly specialized beaks.
The beaks of falcon-like birds are hooked, and they have a special outgrowth around the nostrils. They also have bony eyebrows that give them an angry look. The eyes are located more in front of the face, which is characteristic for predators. Their colors range from golden to brown to almost black in falcons.
Birds of this group have various shapes of wings depending on their size and style of hunting. Eagles have long, “square” wings…
… falcons long and “sharp”…
… and hawks demonstrate a compromise between these both styles.
These birds have impressive talons specialized for catching prey. The toes are thick, covered with rows of big scales on top, and spiky scales on bottom (to create more friction).
Waterfowl (Anseriformes)
This order includes the birds specialized for swimming. Their bodies are big, but flattened, with short tails and long necks.
The beak of these birds is specialized for filtering food from the water. It’s flattened, blunt, and long. The cheeks are big and round, giving the bird a smiling expression. The eyes have a variety of colors, including blue and red.
Wings of these birds are optimized for taking off from the water surface. They’re elongated, with a clear border between the primaries and secondaries.
Swimming birds have webbed feet with quite blunt claws. Their scales are arranged neatly in rows.
Owls (Strigiformes)
Owls are specialized for hunting in the night, so they have keen eyes and great sense of hearing. Their flattened face is supposed to gather sounds efficiently, and it’s made of feathers—there’s a normal round bird skull under them. The body is big, rounded, with almost no visible neck.
The beak is hooked, like in all birds of prey, but only a tip of it is visible through the feathers. The eyes are huge and placed in the front of the face. They’re usually brightly colored, gold or orange, but they can also be very dark (barn owls).
Owls have unique wings perfect for silent hunting. Their feathers are wide and rounded.
Owls are birds of prey, like eagles and falcons, so they have similar feet. There’s one difference, though—they’re zygodactyl. They’re also often quite furry.
Parrots (Psittaciformes)
Parrots have a smooth body elongated by their long tails. The head is quite big and round.
Parrots have a rounded, hooked beak that seems to be a part of the face. Their eyes have a variety of colors, sometimes multiple colors in the same eye! The eyelids have rows of little bumps on the edges, and they can be colored as well.
Parrots have long wings with elongated primaries, similar to those of falcons.
Most parrots are zygodactyl, like owls, but their claws are not near that impressive. The scales start big near the claws, and then they turn into horizontal rows.
Ostrich-like (Struthioniformes)
These birds don’t fly, but they’re most definitely birds. They have huge bodies with ridiculously long legs and necks. Their feathers can even look more like fur than real bird feathers.
Ostriches have usually a long, flattened beak with a blunt tip, and huge eyes. The head is covered with fluffy, bristle feathers.
Because birds from this order don’t fly, their wings are mostly vestigial. In emus they’re indistinguishable from the rest of the plumage, and the common ostrich (shown below) uses them for showing off or to protect its young.
These weird birds have weird feet as well. Common ostrich is ditactyl, and emu (below) is tridactyl. The feet are big, with thick toes and claws often blunted by contact with ground.
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