Introduction to Drawing Songbirds
Birds are amazing creatures and can be observed very easily compared to other animals. Learning how to draw them will help you to look more closely at our feathered friends, learn common species around your home, and build up your skills in portraying subjects on paper. This introductory course will show you the basics of quickly sketching a bird, working through the details on your final sketch, making sense of the complex feather groups, and advanced field sketching techniques. Click on the first lesson to get started. Happy sketching!
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Part 1: Intro & Gesture Sketching Birds
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Lesson 1: Introduction
Learn how to draw backyard birds in this course taught by naturalist-artist Jack Hobe!
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Lesson 2: Gesture Sketching Overview
Why make a gesture sketch before putting in detail? Jack explains in this gesture sketching primer segment.
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Lesson 3: Gesture Sketching Part 1
Gesture sketching a bird begins with the back, head, chest and body. Learn how to get started on your bird drawing in this tutorial.
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Lesson 4: Gesture Sketching Part 2
Finish your gesture sketch by adding placeholders for the wings, legs and tail and carving the final angles.
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Lesson 5: Practice Gesture Sketching!
Let’s practice the steps we just learned using photos of songbirds!
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Part 2: Filling in Detail and Wrap-up
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Lesson 6: Drawing the Head: Facial Feather Groups
There are several prominent feather groups on the face of a songbird that create a characteristic structure on the side of the head. Which ones are most important to know about when drawing a bird?
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Lesson 7: Wing Anatomy
The bird's wing can appear complex, but it is made up of four major feather groups that are the same across all songbird species.
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Lesson 8: Drawing the Head and Wings
Let's start filling in fine details on our bird sketch. Getting the head and wings to look right is an essential step in creating an accurate bird drawing.
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Lesson 9: Drawing the Tail and Feet
Let's finish filling in fine details on our bird sketch. The tail is essentially a sandwich of feathers, while the feet and legs take some practice to get right but can be done correctly with practice.
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Lesson 10: Start-to-finish Bird Drawing Challenge
Try drawing a songbird from start to finish!
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Lesson 11: Course Wrap-up
Let's wrap up this introductory bird sketching course.
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Meet Your Instructor
Jack Hobe is a birder, natural history illustrator and educator with over a decade of experience drawing birds. He teaches nature drawing techniques in partnership with local nature centers in the Greater Philadelphia area. He enjoys sharing ways to appreciate God’s creation with others through his workshops and courses!
