Sketching common birds from memory (1 Viewer)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2012

• #1

Can you draw a blue tit (or a goldfinch) without first looking at a field guide? Are you able to get the blues, yellows and grey/black bits in the right place?

I pose the question knowing that I'd probably get it wrong, despite seeing such common birds countless times each day.

It may well be a really good piece of observational discipline to try it, leading on to the ancient, largely lost, art of making field notes.

Peter

 

Farnboro John

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2012

• #2

.... and making it totally clear that notes on unusual birds must be done at the time and not afterwards, especially not when useful books are temptingly to hand.

I don't think I could do it for many species with any degree of accuracy, either.

John

 

Mike Montier

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2012

• #3

Amazing! I tried to do just that with a Blue tit the other day, I got it wrong but not too bad. I can do a Magpie and a few others but I cannot stress too much how good a discipline it is to draw birds; shape, proportion, primary projection, legs, all important stuff and helps aid identification no end. Drawing birds, even badly, has improved my skills a great deal so thanks for highlighting this. Mike

 

dantheman

Bah humbug

• Oct 22, 2012

• #4

I've said to people now and then how difficult it probably would be to draw a House Sparrow or something from memory ...


(I think I could just about do a male Blackbird.)






.

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2012

nickderry

C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.

• Oct 22, 2012

• #5

couldn't resist trying the experiment, these are drawn from memory without looking first (ok, I've seen both today, but goldfinch only in flight and I didn't really look at the blue tits)

 

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Larry Lade

Moderator

• Oct 22, 2012

• #6

I tried drawing some very common birds in our area from memory a few weeks ago. I was quite surprised that on something as common as our Blue Jay I was "close, but no cigar"! I think someone looking at what I had drawn would probably say, "Oh, that's a Blue Jay." But getting the blues, grays, white and black in all the proper areas and proportions was somewhat off what it should be.

I think I will have to do more of this drawing from memory as I see it as a good training exercise.

 

Larry Lade

Moderator

• Oct 22, 2012

• #7

Nick, I thought your drawings were excellent!

 

dantheman

Bah humbug

• Oct 22, 2012

• #8

Larry Lade said:

Nick, I thought your drawings were excellent!

Click to expand...

Agreed, although being an artist/used to drawing/painting birds (and having done these specific species in the past?) must be a huge advantage in terms of the question at hand. (A guess a photographic memory would help too ... )

A useful exercise, should do ...

 

nickderry

C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.

• Oct 22, 2012

• #9

photographic memory I don't possess sadly, but yes, drawing these species in the past helps enormously, which is why I always recommend trying to sketch when out birding, you take in so many more details.

 

Jan-Paul Charteris

Sussex birder and budding moth enthusiast

• Oct 22, 2012

• #10

To flip the point around a bit...for building a good strong search image for finding rares, sketching/drawing is an excellent way to do it. You have to pay attention to detail when drawing, so you could either make a habit of drawing/sketching common birds (and therefore be more likely to notice the difference when you find a rare one) or draw rare birds/potential vagrants from photos and therefore know what to look for if you ever find one

 

Farnboro John

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2012

• #11

The trouble is I don't really bother drawing any more, I'm always looking to photograph what I find.

On the other hand I do know my birds in the field including most common calls these days so anything unusual does stand out for me. Having said that, it still amazes me how many sounds at night I have no idea about.

John

 

kitefarrago

Well-known member

• Oct 23, 2012

• #12

I once attended an id course where the leader challenged us collectively to fill in the colours on a male mallard. We could agree that the head should be bottle green, but not even on how far down the neck that should reach, let alone what colour should follow it.

Apart from helping with recognizing unusual birds I think this kind of thing is also very useful when trying to identify a bird only some part of which is visible...

Andrea

 

A

Aoibhneas

Member

• Oct 24, 2012

• #13

Your work is wonderful Nick. You capture the birds and other wildlife beautifully. I just visited your website and I will find you on Facebook when I next check in.