How to Draw a Bird

In this step by step drawing tutorial, we’ll draw a bird.  Here again, we’ll take a step by step approach to this drawing.  We’ll focus on finding “easy to draw” basic shapes that can be pieced together to make up the form of the bird.  We’ll draw loosely in the beginning stages and become more precise as the drawing develops. This approach of drawing shapes can be used for drawing any subject.  Let’s get started…

Step 1 – Draw a Circle for the Head and an Oval for the Body

We’ll start off with two simple overlapping shapes.  A circle is drawn for the head, while an oval is drawn for the body.  This bird will be perched, facing to the left.  For this reason, the circle drawn for the head is positioned slightly on the left side of the oval drawn for the body.  The shapes should overlap.

Step 2 – Draw Lines for the Tail, Legs, and Beak

We’ll simply start to build off of the shapes that we drew in the first step to define the locations of the tail, the legs, and the beak.  The lines drawn for the tail should extent downward from the “body” oval.  Two shorter lines are drawn to locate the positions of the legs, again extending down from the oval.  A curved line is drawn for the shape of the beak extending outward from about the middle of the “head” circle.

Step 3 – Draw a Shape for the Wings, Lines for the Talons, and a Shape for the Eye

We’ll continue to build the structure of the bird by adding a line for the visible wing.  In this case, only one wing is visible.  The line is drawn starting from the connection point between the “body” oval and the tail on the upper side around to the front of the breast of the bird.  A couple of curved lines are drawn for the talons.  

The eye is added almost directly in the center of the circle that was drawn for the head, slightly above the beak.

Step 4 – Develop the Form and Add a Few Details

Up to this point in the drawing, only simple shapes have been drawn.  In this stage, we’ll begin to create a few complexities in the drawing.  A line is first drawn to divide the middle of the beak.  This line should slightly curve. The form of the bird is more clearly defined  using the circle drawn for the head and the oval that was drawn for the body as a guide.   The breast is raised outward a bit and the back of the head is extended slightly.  A few lines are also added to separate different regions of  the feathers.

Step 5 – Finish the Drawing with Heavy Lines and Value

Using the structure that has been developed in the previous steps, the drawing can be completed. A darker drawing medium may be used to go over contour lines.  Lines should be varied so that the illusion of form can be achieved.

Some areas will need to be shaded, such as the eyes, and areas on the head.  Just be sure to leave a highlighted area on the eye on the top of the head as well.  A branch is also added to the drawing underneath the talons.