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budding bird artist? (1 Viewer)

midlands birder

Well-known member
hi everone
for a long time i have been casually drawing birds,like small sketches and jottings,but now would like to bulid my skills further, i am not an avid artist,when out birding i dont want to pick up a pencil and paper and want to enjoy what i see,then take photos and draw my pictures from the pic's or memory
i will attach a drawing i made of a waxwing(my fave bird),

note i am only 14 years old and havent been doing this that long,
so has anybody got any tips to improve my drawings.:t:
thanks in advanceo:D
SDC19220.JPG
 
Very nice piece of drawing M-B. The only suggestion I have for you is to draw and draw - etc. You have the love of the subject and can clearly handle the tools so all that's required now is the wll to do it (which you also seem to have). Keep posting your work here and there'll be plenty of advice and comment, no doubt. Just checking your blog and it's clear you take id seriously, so a good way to integrate your art with your hobby would be to make field notes. Just make a few sketches of the obvious field differences twixt say herring and great black-backs (structure and behaviour particularly) each time you're out and I'm certain that these will soon be forming a major part of your art.
Good luck!
 
thanks for the tips tim much appeciated
and thanks for the welcome solitaryVSong
most of my pics feature about birds i have seen recently(have drawings of cattle egret,waxwing,sabine's gull and little stint).i will include a drawing of the recent little stint:t:SDC19226.JPG
hope you like it
 
Nice work and I enjoyed taking a look at your blog too :)
I am not exactly too far away geographically so was interested in all your sightings, I never manage to see nearly as much.
 
glad you like my blog chrissym,and as for the sightings,i do try very hard and get out as oftern as possible.
love the work on all your blog/websites everybody
 
M-B love your blog,and yes,I love Gulls,they make me smile.They perch atop chimney pots,sending each other screeching messages from roof to roof.Very noisy ,very articulate ,and very entertaining.
Keep going with your art,yes,keep an eye on Tim's site,he is excellent,.Welcome to BF,so good to have a young person with us.
 
Great to have some blossoming talent on the best bit of BF!

The best advice, as always, has already come from Tim; Draw and draw and draw...
And try to remember that every time you make a mark you're learning something, even if it's only not to make a mark like that again! Disasters are often the best learning experiences.

Mike
 
wow,so many people like my blog!!!
thanks for the extra help guys and gals
i love gulls too christie,great things to watch and nice to spend a couple of hours looking though 2000 gulls looking for this:
DSCF7794.JPG
sabine's gulls are great,when seen 4 times over 2 weeks at a small inland flash pools:t:
cheak out my blog for more pics and videos of sabine's and lots moreo:D
 
glad to have you on board - sorry it's taken so long for me to say hello! You can certainly handle pencils - you've got a nice clean technique. The stint is gorgeous. The way forward is (despite what you say) to at least do some sketching in the field. It doesn't have to be 'artistic' drawing, you could be sketching to make field notes for example. Sketching makes you look a lot harder at the birds, you begin to notice things about them you didn't before which will improve your ID skills, the more you look the more you see. Looking forward to seeing more from you soon!
 
hi mb,thoroughly enjoyed your blog.your birding knowledge already far outstrips my so far miniscule learnings.well done and welcome
 
Welcome to BF , you already know way more about birds than me, but maybe I can share a few things about art sometime.
For now if you are as interested in the art as you are the birds may I recommend you find a copy of
"Letters to a Young Bird Artist" by George Sutton. He like you started very young and had a correspondence with Louis Fuertes, one of the all time greats of bird art, that is just chock full of the perfect advice to a young artist.

Sutton went on to become not just an artist but also Professor Emeritus of zoology and curator of Birds at Stovall Museum at Oklahoma Universtiy. He's a wonderful writer and the story is naturally full of birds, birdlife, and great tips on how to make art.
 
hi eveyone o:D
another drawing,this time a common crane,my most recent lifer,
its in a similar pose to the bird i saw:
SDC19339.JPG
got some field sketches of goldeneye,pintail and curlew,will try to upload them later,
thanks again for all the info and the compliments,
btw,new to the art thread,not birdfourum:t:
MB
 
a strong piece, you've kept it simple which gives it a lot more impact as the form and pattern of the bird stand out.
 
sorry for not posting recently guys
being overloaded with coursework/homework so not having be able to draw much.will try to do something soon
MB
 
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