Painting birds with watercolors can be a fun and rewarding way to capture their beauty and bring them to life on paper. Birds have vibrant plumage in a diverse array of colors and patterns that lend themselves well to watercolors. With the right supplies, techniques, and practice, anyone can learn to paint colorful, realistic birds in watercolor.
What supplies do you need to paint birds with watercolors?
To get started painting birds in watercolor, you’ll need the following basic supplies:
- Watercolor paints – Watercolor paint comes in tubes or pans. Look for professional-grade paints with good pigmentation.
- Watercolor brushes – Use a variety of brush sizes and shapes like rounds, flats, and riggers.
- Watercolor paper – Use thick, 100% cotton paper with a cold press or rough texture.
- Paint palette – Use a palette with wells or mixing areas for mixing your colors.
- Water containers – Have containers for clean water and dirty brush water.
- Paper towels or rags – Used for blotting and drying brushes.
- Drawing supplies – Pencil, eraser, tracing paper to sketch out your drawing first.
- Reference photos – Use sharp, detailed photos of birds as reference.
Gathering the right painting supplies will give you everything you need to start painting vibrant watercolor birds. Quality paints and brushes allow you to mix bright colors and get precise details. Proper watercolor paper holds up to wet washes without warping. Take time to familiarize yourself with your new supplies by doing color swatches and test drawings.
How do you plan out a watercolor bird painting?
Careful planning is key to ensuring your bird painting turns out looking accurate and realistic. Here are some tips for planning out your watercolor bird art:
Find reference photos
Look for sharp, high-resolution photographs of birds in the pose and plumage you want to paint. Print out the photo for easy reference. Gather multiple photos of the same species so you can refer to colors and markings from different angles.
Make preparatory sketches
Lightly sketch out the basic shape and pose of the bird with pencil on your watercolor paper. Draw big shapes like the head, body, wings, and tail. Don’t worry about details yet. Do several practice sketches to work out the right composition.
Consider your painting surface
Figure out how you want to position the bird on your paper. Horizontal, vertical, or diagonal? Leave enough space around the bird to allow for background later.
Establish values
Squint your eyes to reduce the reference photo to basic shapes of lights and darks. Make a value sketch mapping out the lights and darks. This will guide your color mixing later.
Make a color chart
Use your reference photos to mix up swatches of the colors you’ll need to paint the bird’s plumage, beak, feet, etc. Having pre-mixed colors will save you time and effort later.
How do you sketch the bird?
Once you’ve gathered your references and made your sketches, it’s time to transfer your drawing onto your final painting surface. Here are some approaches:
Freehand drawing
Lightly sketch the outline of the bird’s shape directly on your watercolor paper with a pencil. Go slowly and work out the proportions as you build up the sketch.
Transfer paper
Trace your completed pencil sketch onto transfer paper. Tape the transfer paper onto your watercolor paper and trace over your pencil lines to imprint them onto the painting surface.
Projector
Project your reference photo onto your watercolor paper, using an overhead projector or slide projector. Trace the projected outlines lightly in pencil.
Light box
Tape your sketch and watercolor paper onto a light box so you can see the sketch underneath. Carefully trace the main outlines onto your final paper.
Once you’ve transferred the sketch onto your watercolor paper, you have guide for outlining the bird and starting your painting. Take your time sketching accurately since mistakes will show in the final.
How do you paint the base layers?
After sketching in the bird’s outline, you can start laying down the first layers of color. Here are some tips for handling the base coating stages:
Wet the paper
Use clean water to wet the area you are going to paint. Let the shine disappear before painting. Wet paper allows colors to blend easily.
Paint background first
Lay down loose, wet washes of color for the sky, trees, ground, etc. Leave white where you will paint the bird later.
Apply initial base coats
Mix your pre-prepared colors and start painting in the base colors of the bird’s plumage, beak, eyes, and any other color areas. Avoid hard edges.
Work from light to dark
Start by putting down the lightest background colors before adding darker values on top. Building up color gradually gives luminosity.
Work wet-in-wet
While the paper is still damp, blend adjacent colors together by dropping in more pigment. Let colors mix and mingle naturally.
Be patient as layers dry
Let each layer fully dry before moving onto the next section. Slowing down allows for subtle blending.
Taking it slow and gradual with the base layers gives you time to correct mistakes early on. The loose beginning stages will get tightened up as you progress.
How do you handle the details and texture?
Once the base layers are dry, you can start refining details like the eyes, beak, feathers, and feet. Here are some watercolor techniques for finishing realistically:
Focus on the eyes
Eyes draw the viewer in, so intricately paint the iris, pupil, eyering, and eyelids. Show highlights and shadows to make the eyes lifelike.
Define feather groups
Use your reference photo to delineate individual feather groups with subtle color variations and textures.
Add speckles and spots
Dab tiny flecks of darker color within feather groups using the tip of a small round brush. Vary hues for realistic color mixing.
Scumble lighter feather tips
Use an almost-dry brush to lightly scrub or scumble over the tips of feathers to tint them lighter.
Paint wet-into-dry
Re-wet just the area you want to refine without disturbing existing layers. This allows for detailed color changes.
Refine the beak and feet
Add fine details to the beak, eyes, and feet with the tip of a small rigger brush. Show highlights and shadows to add form.
Lift out details
Lightly moisten areas and lift color out with a paper towel or kneaded eraser to bring out details.
Take your time refining all the textures and fine features that make your bird painting come to life. The finishing stages allow you to create realistic details.
How do you paint soft or tricky feathers?
Birds have many types of feathers that can be tricky to portray. Here are tips for handling soft, downy, or difficult feather areas:
Use a large brush
A large brush makes soft, diffused strokes for areas like downy breast feathers. Let the hairs fan out naturally.
Wet the paper
Pre-wet and pre-mix the colors on your palette. Then load a large brush and stroke lightly over the wet paper so the colors bleed into the feathers subtly.
Use masking fluid
Mask out small, fine feathers with masking fluid. Remove it after all surrounding layers are done to reveal the white of the paper underneath.
Scrub in texture
For fluffy regions, use a dry brush in a scrubbing, scumbling motion to rough up the color and imply texture.
Dab with a paper towel
For downy feathers, dab a paper towel into wet paint and then press onto the paper, lifting in irregular spots to achieve a mottled texture.
Let areas fade out
Allow feather edges to fade out naturally by working wet-into-wet and letting pigment diffuse into the paper.
Experiment with wetness and a variety of brush techniques to capture soft, delicate, and difficult feathers realistically in watercolor.
How do you paint the background?
A thoughtfully painted background sets off your bird beautifully while also looking realistic. Here are tips for handling the background:
Paint abstractly
Don’t feel like you need to paint every leaf and branch. Use irregular splatters, dashes, and watery texture to suggest foliage.
Soften edges
Allow background colors to bleed into the bird’s edges by painting wet-into-wet. Let pigments mingle and form natural soft transitions between bird and background.
Create interesting textures
Add visual interest with mottled grass, weathered bark, scattered leaves, rough rocks, or flowing water.
Add subtle details
Further unify the bird into its environment by carefully echoing its colors and implied shapes into the background. Add just enough detail.
Keep it secondary
The background should be understated so as not to distract from the bird as the focal point. Keep colors and details subdued.
Overlap branch perches
Have any branch the bird is perched on overlap into the foreground space to increase realism and depth.
A thoughtfully painted, textured background makes your bird the star without being distractingly detailed. Soften edges and echo colors to tie it all together.
What common mistakes should you avoid?
Learning how to paint birds in watercolor comes with a few common pitfalls. Here are some mistakes to watch out for:
- Skipping the planning stages – Take time to find good reference photos and make preparatory sketches. Planning helps prevent major mistakes.
- Applying colors too dark or opaque too early – Start by mapping out the lightest lights and slowly building up transparent layers.
- Not allowing enough time for drying – Be patient and let each layer fully dry before moving on. Slowing down allows for subtle blending and lifting.
- Unrealistic color mixing – Mix colors to match real feather colors as closely as possible. Overly blend adjacent hues instead of varying them subtly.
- Painting in isolated segments – Unify the layers together by softening edges between sections and letting background colors bleed into the subject.
- Insufficient contrast – Squint periodically to check that you’ve maintained contrast between lights and darks. Push the range for vibrancy.
- Rushing the details – Take your time delicately layering and lifting out the final feathers, eyes, beak, and feet. Don’t rush the refinement stages.
Avoiding these common watercolor pitfalls takes patience and practice observing both your reference photos and painting progress. But you’ll see noticeable improvements with each bird you paint!
How do you add the finishing touches?
The finishing touches will truly bring your bird to life in vivid color and fine detail. Here are some final steps for completing your painting:
Check values and colors
Compare your painting to your reference photos. Make any last color adjustments and value fixes for accuracy.
Refine details and textures
Make sure you’ve included all the fine feather patterns, beak textures, intricate eye details, etc. Add any missing elements.
Add selective pops of brightness
Glaze some clean water or brighten a few select areas like the eye, bill, or illuminated feathers to make them really stand out.
Sign your work
After the entire painting is fully dry, sign your name or initials lightly in the bottom corner in pencil or with a neutral watercolor.
Choose a frame or mat
Frame your finished art in a complementary colored mat and frame that suit the style and colors of your unique bird painting.
Taking time with the final details, selective color changes, and presentation staging gives your painting an extra level of polish and care for displaying.
Conclusion
Birds can make stunning subjects for watercolor paintings, allowing you to experiment with rich colors, intricate details, and realistic wildlife artwork. By gathering the right supplies, planning your composition, understanding watercolor techniques, and avoiding common mistakes, you can learn to paint colorful, lively birds in watercolor paint. Approach each new bird painting as an opportunity to improve your skills. With patience and practice, you’ll be amazed at how vibrant and lifelike your watercolor birds can become. Express your unique creative vision while also capturing nature’s feathered beauty.
