How to draw feathers

If you've always wanted to know how to draw feathers, and make them super-realistic, you're in the right place. This step-by-step guide offers hints and tips on giving bird feathers a more three-dimensional finish. 

For more useful tips, head over to how to draw – a roundup of the best drawing tutorials on the web. Or, if you'd like to learn to draw the bird before you add the feathers, check out how to draw a bird.

In this tutorial, Ivan Jones will be using the example of a drawing of an osprey – you can see the finished thing below. Read on for his in-depth guide.

For this artwork, I used Rembrandt soft pastels and a mixture of Derwent and Cretacolor pastel pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper, which has a fine, sandpaper-like texture. I have accumulated a wide range of pastel pencils in various shades over the years, and use Derwent for its softer texture, while Cretacolor’s pastel pencils are harder and can be sharpened to fine point for the details. 

For most of my artwork, I like my paper to have a little ‘tooth’. However, if I’m creating a human portrait for instance, a more absorbent paper – such as Clairefontaine Pastelmat – is better, as it allows for blending to a smoother finish for skin.

01. Draw the outlines and add a base colour

The first step is to draw the outline of the feathers. I work from photos to reproduce details as accurately as I can. Each feather has a base colour applied – I use the photograph to choose the range of colours I need. This base colour is then blended to create a smooth surface using a piece of polystyrene cut to a pencil shape.

02. Use three different shades

The second step is to chose three different shades (light, medium and dark) for the next layer. You need to study each feather to see where the light falls – one side will always be darker than the other. To give the striped effect to each feather, I stroke with the pencil from the feather edge towards the middle. Note the darkest parts are always under the feather. 

03. Add highlights

The final step is to add highlights along the central quill using a white pastel pencil – I use Cretacolor white as it sharpens well and gives the best true white available. I then add fine details to the feather using very sharp pencils. I look at the photo again to capture the final touches and give a three-dimensional effect.

Read more:

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