Draw a realistic Fantail using pencil

1. Introduction: - all right, under a minute. I'm an artist and teacher based in Wellington, New Zealand. I've been teaching up for the last 13 years to high school students. And over those years, I've worked out some really great ways of explaining the techniques in skills that students need to develop their own style work and to help them create more realistic paintings. I've also been developing my own art practice and having lots of exhibitions and selling work as well of the last few years. And I just want to share some of those skills and techniques that I use in my work with you . In this course, I want to share with you how to take a photograph off a bird and turn it into, ah, drawing that has a level of detail that you can be really proud off. In this course, we're gonna talk about how to find a really good image, an image with a good resolution that will be great for our drawing. What is that gonna talk about? The tools that we need the pencils, eraser, the craft knife in the paper that we're gonna be using. We're gonna talk about during the basic shapes off this bird to get the proportions of the dry and then using the pencils to chick sum of the angles some of the lines that were drawing us, we're going to next feeling or skitch the bird. And we're gonna keep looking back at the photo just to make sure that we have it right. We're gonna add tone to make the boot appear more three d and we really gonna think about the shape and talk about subject tone. This is directional lights turn. We're gonna have lots of Blair's of tone in and we're going to get more and more detailed as we move along. We're also going to look at how it takes you to the fevers and how to give it a more realistic look. And we're going to do the fine details in the faint, the big in the eye. Last of all, we're going to talk about contrast and how we want to create a really nice focal point in the drawing based on the eye of the boot. I know that you're really benefit if you do decide to enroll in this course. And I would just encourage you to come on a journey with me. Thank you 2. Selecting your lmage: All right, Welcome to this course how to draw Fantail. Now, the first stage that you need to do is you need to find a really good image of a fantail. Now, it's really important not to just search on Google images and find an image that has a copyright attached to it. You need to find an image there is under Creative Commons or that his, um, usage rights on it s so you don't run into any trouble with copyright. So I found this image creative comments, which means that it's free to use if I quote the source and the reason I chose this images . I really like the details that you can see in the boot here. Andi, I really like the way that the fantail is spread lovely out here and also some of the textures in the wood. So I think this is gonna be a really good image to draw from. It's also important that it's well let so you can see the different parts off the bird. And also it's in a good resolution. We need to be up to see the fine details in the boot. And if the photo isn't high enough. Resolution, Name. When you print it out, you're going out to see them. So this is my chosen photo, and I think this is gonna work really well. 3. Selecting your tools: all right, Now, these are the tools that we're gonna use for the story. I like to use a range of pencils and we're going to be going from an HB through a to be a four B and a six b pencil. Now, if you don't know the H stands for hard in the B stands for black. And so it's about the how hard that leaders inside the pencil. So the higher the B number, the softer the lead. Which means it allows mawr of the sort of graphite to come off on your drawing on makes it softer, easier for blending in smudging. So really, we're gonna be using the HB in the to be for our sketching and details in the four being the 60 year going to be for money for the use of time. Now I like to use a craft knife. Went on, um, when I'm sharpening my pencils and the reason is that you can control how shop or how blunt you want the people to be with the baby pencils. Therefore, in the six b, you actually want quite a blunt, large end, honest and with the HB and the to be. You want to have a sharper point. So the craft knife allows you to just have more control over the pizza. And then, of course, we need in a race up. And the paper that I'm using is called February on a paper. It's ah, 285 grand. Just captured paper with a nice, very slight teacher. You can use any paper that you like, really? But you do want something that's a little bit thicker and something that, uh, holds the pencil really well. So without tolls, let's get started on the drawing. 4. Drawing the proportions with basic shapes: Now, the first stage off drawing this bird is that we're going to be drawing the basic shapes to get the proportions of the drawing. Now, um, I have with the image here just sitting up in front of me, and I'm gonna be constantly referring back to the image. It's really important to have that photograph right there. You can have it digitally if you like. You don't have to print it out, but you need to have it where you can just keep referring. Better keep looking back toe. So the first thing I'm gonna do is we're going to start off with some of the basic shapes. Now, we started off with the body, by the way, I'm using the HB pencil because it's the lighter stuff up in source. We're just gonna kind of look at where the heat comes into the body and just really lightly . Um, drew all those elements on trying to get the kids off the feet is at the back. The reason went during this really lightly is because we're gonna be rubbing most of it out . But what it helps us to do is just to be able to reference where the different parts in the drawing out and just make sure that they're the right size in the right shape for what we want to do you . Now one of the things that you can do here is use your pencil to check the angle off some of the lines and the drawing. So what I can do is just take my pizza like this. If I pull this down, I can check the angle, say the angle of this branch here and I can hold it like this in Jordan, and sometimes you can just you can freehand it and then just chicken and just see is that shooting rush? All right way have the basic proportions drawn. Now let's move on to the next layer. 5. Feeling in or sketching the Fantail: now for the next layer of the drawing, we're going to feel in or sketch the bird. And the important thing here is we're gonna use sketchy lines to just work out that more of the detail or more of the the actual shape of the bird and just get a get a stronger sense off the bird from with what we've started with with proportions here. So we're using a to B P talk for this stage, and the important thing here is just to keep looking better at the drawing. And really trying to copias is strongly as you came using little sketchy lines from, Well, - what Now when we come to the tail, it's really important here to really think about on the different parts of the toe. So we have these different sections here, and what I like to do is just start with the scene to one. So this piece here and say if we call that one and we're gonna have to 3456 even up here, we call that one we're doing 12345 in small, one under here sets. So it's important at this point with with something repeated to have like the tail is to just stop with for the angle off the central one. Try and get the curve of it like this, and then just look at how they interact. So this one that comes in here, another two coming down kind of sits underneath this well, I think it's skinnier as it comes back in, and then the next one again quite rounded, get skinnier. And like that, it's there is at that point C and it's not quite as fire out, sir. Sort of more like this. The fourth is smaller again and in the fifth as just a little bit on there. So you can see that without proportion lines. We actually came out of that too far there, and we could also rub out some of the extra, um, just guidelines that we drew when we were sketching in proportion. It's worth taking the time on these things just to get them arise so that you know that the drawing itself is gonna look like it's in proportion. So we have one. So three well, fire six. So there's just checked it. That's right. So if this is a middle one here one. This is a curvy one here, too. So 12 three, three, 4455 66 Cheaper. Steven in the bottom one is just a small line there. So when we come to do the turn, we're gonna be looking closely at how the tone shows in these feelings that are sitting on top of each other. Now, we also want to try and just, uh, just get a sense off the wood here as well. So we have some grains running through it. Obviously, um, some of this is around and teacher, but there is a kind of long skinny one like this that will pick up and the secret with wood . Organic things like this is that they never have really straight lines. So any lines on the Internet that's just just sort of extending the bet and a little bit of kind of missing us to the edge of the line. We also have some some time coming up here. Some of the lighter, um, most or liking or something having in here. All right, cool. So that's looking pretty good now, And what we just want to do is just go around and just tidy up those little areas that were that we may have drawn kind of an outfield. Sketchy look, sketchy techniques. You're looking good. Cool. Good. More out here. All right. Okay. That's looking good. That's the end off that stage. 6. Thinking about subject tone and light source tone: for the next stage. We're going to be mainly using the higher be pencils were going to be using the four B in the six p. And, um, what's useful toe have at this stage is just a script piece of paper on that you can just put on the side on that you can use to just soften up the pizza lead, get so just get a kind of smoother area on the interview. Pienso let's keep it off to the side there. Uh, and what we're trying to do here is we're going to really look at the tone off the strong this picture. So we're looking at some of the areas that are really nice and dark in here. All right, here in this and good, different tones in here. And we're also gonna look at, um, the difference between, uh, the subject tone in the lifetime. Now the subject tone, the colors or tones that are in the subject. So, for example, this piece of wood this branch is DACA then the birth in most of the areas. There are some lighter areas here, but the bird is quite life in here. But in terms of subject tone. It does have some dark areas stingrays into darker browns in here as well. So we need to try and figure out what is a subject owner. What is like tone now light tone is the do is when you think about the direction of the life and you try and describe the bird using time to do that. So if we think about like, usually is coming from above, so the light is coming down from above and we can tell it because this part of the bird here is lighter, but it's probably the same color. You know. Subject tone is this part, but it looks lighter there at the top. And when we look at the light of years, the white theories of the booed it's just a slight, slightly darker underneath here, senators on the air and at the top and weaken differently. See some shadows here, which is created by the life. So we're just gonna be aware of that is returned and just think about um, just being aware of the tone and noticing were is coming from when we coffee in the drawing 7. Tone on the Fantail: So the best way to stop with this is just to start with some of the dark areas. Now, we don't want to go too dark too soon, okay? Because it is quite hard to, um, rub out and pull back if you go really duck. So we're just going to just end in some of the tones and I just want you to leave the I in the beak at the moment in the feet. We'll come back to those sort of high detailed areas in a little while. As you can see, the tone is going on just nicer, smoothly. And if we were using an HP or to beeping so you'd see more lines in here but here because the four b we're getting just a nice sort of tonal ranch now on the top of the fevers, you'll notice that there are some really light areas, and those are those of the subject time. So we need to just be aware of those in tone accordingly. And really, at this stage, what we're just trying to do is just just lay down a base of time. We're not trying to do the final details, and because we have got quite a blunt pencil. Not gonna be out to do really sharp details with this one. So we're just wanting to get a bass tone down, and then we'll work back into it with more detail. Sir, it's all right. Now, at this point, it is our Katie. Do some smudging. Just be a bit careful that you don't smudge over the beach. And also, yeah, that you just don't don't smudge too much. Um, so being aware of your kind of, like, serious now you can I use my finger for this, but you can buy it all. What? You just lets you, uh, second, that's a roll of paper effectively, which lets you just kind of much some of that time in there. And because we're using the four B pencil, that makes us a lot a lot easier to there. You can see here that I've mostly lift the bottom off the food. Uh, just kind of free of time. I'm saying, just how about a little bit of That's fine. That's because the bottom the birds really watched, and I don't want to I'm kind of him. But looking to grace, if you do so much over the age of little bit. You can just use your rubber to your eraser just to kind of shock on shop in the age, Yeah. 8. Tone on the branch: Okay, now I'm just going to switch over to the six b pencil for the branch, and the thing to remember with us is that you want to keep all the pencil struck's moving and same direction. So try and just moved down the branch because that's generally the way that would grain legs. And we just think, Teoh, just be aware that there are some darker areas underneath the branch because, generally speaking, the lights coming from above So we have some darker tones under there. But problem is, this is actually being countered by the mosque. Sits there as well. So we need to lose some areas whiter and just make them slightly darker on the bottom here . But we'll come back and pick there. Pick that morse up when we when we do the details. Life the right. Okay, so that's a basic layer of tone. Uh, I might need to just work back into it a little bit with the with the rubber to get back some of the really white areas, but that's kind of the start of it. And then we're going Teoh, move on Teoh using some of the other pencils to create some more detailed layers. A turn 9. Fine tone on the Fantail's face: Okay, So we're just gonna switch back to the to be pencil now for the next layer of time. And what I like to do at this point is used another piece of paper, just a blank piece of paper here to Reese my hand on, because otherwise you can start to smudge your picture by leaning on it. So just put this here, and then I can lean on this paper and just moving around as I need to now with the to be pizza. What we're trying to do now is we're just trying to build up some more layers, a turn. But this is going to give us a lot more control. So we're gonna work our way really slowly. Just around kind of all of the pieces eso different parts of the bird. And we're gonna, um just try and get a bit more detail trying get nice, sharp edges. Um and yeah, let's go for yeah , 10. Fine tone on the Fantail's wing: all right. Now, as we move down through the booed, we're going to look it, trying to bring up some more of the details and some of these parts. So, with, uh, with this part of the bird, there is, um, quite let's watch pieces, um, off the way. So we're just gonna just rub those out like that? And we're going to use our to be insulted, trying drool these in a bit more detail. And what this involves is just really just looking really kind of strongly it the subject and just trying to see kind of walked. What shapes are going on in the S, Edison. Different kind of little feet is going on here and some other ones that ahead in just call ahead and under here and what, doctor? - Good . - Okay , now, there are some really detailed figures in here, but we're gonna leave them until we do the details layer. So at the moment, we're just really concerned about just trying to get the tones right 11. Fine tone on the branch: all right. So if we start to move into this branch at the bottom, we can start to just pick up on some more of the tones. And I've just shopping the to be pizza. And now I can get a bit of a crisper huge going here on a low each of the timber. Remember not to make it a straight line because it's an organic, organic, uh, branch. It's not a man made ice, and so it needs to be a little bit kind of crusty and, you know, textures. And we definitely don't want to just be outlining the whole image. So what want to do Once I finished, this is just work that that line down a little bit into, ah image. So that just means started on the edge and just blending a little bit down. And that will also help to give a sense off this being around it branch because rounded up to you so his cylinder will be docked on each size in the last year in the middle. So just giving it a little bit of extra tone around the aegis will help to do this. Remember, we're just leaving feet the clothes at the moment in the eye and will come back to do those with the HB pencil Being aware of the bits of, um most and, uh, like in down the bottom. So we're not wanting to do it too dark up in here, um, might be a few little pictures in here, but nothing to to, uh, what we can do in here as well as we can. Use the rubber just to serve the eraser. Just Teoh drawback in and just draw some of this sort of brunch and the fictions. You can see how that just just helps. That is a little bit of text. Your toe. It makes it look a bit more more realistic. So now this the Serie here, this kind of splitting, the word is something that we want toe focus on. We can give that quite a good amount of detail in darkness. And also, it is a bit that sort of chats up here and pick that up with the washing 12. Fine tone on the Fantail's tail: So if we move up into the tail and what we notice is, there are some sort of dark in here. Is that air coming down along the line of H Fear? So we just want to trying the couple that line like that and just it's and turn into here. - Okay , Now, with these lower for this, what we need to try and do is create a bit of contrast here. So we want to make the each of them of that lighter and just add in a bit more, a bit of tone that just comes out from the base. So it's a little shadow that comes from underneath rightness, and this is really important. So some we need to have some contrast. So what? We want to try and does have a little bit of light on the side and a little bit of dark on this side. It's and what that does is it tells there I that this fever is sitting above this future, so it's a very important little piece of visual information that we need to hear. Okay, cool. It's looking good. Now. You might be thinking thes lines aren't really sharpen our for high contrast in love. But we are going to be coming back and working back into the begin with another layer when we do the time. So we don't need to worry about making and perfect at the moment. Okay, now, if we move Oh, what is a little bit more doctor here? 13. Texture on the Fantail: Okay. Now, for the next lamb, we're going to start having instant textures. Now we have the textures off the fevers and here, which is especially strong. We have some teach you here in these feelings, but it's mostly the kind of fluffy food is around here. And we have some texture in the back on the branch here. So we're just gonna try and, um, just add those teachers. And what's important here is with the feelers, they're all moving in a direction. So we need to try and kind of mimic the movement off the fetus is they come around, so just start up on the face. And for this, I'm just going to use an HB pencil, But you can use a to be if you need it to be a bit darker. Um, spring. Some of this and it's really just about figuring out what what is the texture So little We flick fitness and you want to try and just break the Egion a little bit as well, because that just helps to create the feeling of off teacher. Now, I did just sharpen the HB kings as well. So it's my son shot. Um stands, we'll just move through, adding and all the chicks just now. Now one of the things that we can do while we're having the texture to the bird is to I really think about the tone, and we can use the sharp details of the texture to faked the tone. And the way you do that is over the light areas, the light times you space out the texture a bit more, and over the dike areas you build it up a bit more so you can see how on the whites off the the tummy of the bird, the base of the bird. I'm just hearing a few spots lines trying to just created a little bit docking around each to create the time. But I'm mainly just doing a few little dishes to show the texture, but trying to stick to the tone a bit. Parts of boot. - Now , we're gonna look at, uh, adding some texture onto the tail. And while there isn't really a lot of picture ah, on the tail figures in the photograph, I like to just add a little bit of extra teacher on because I think it helps to defined the tail and just balance it out with the recent the image. So I'm just adding some little lines here just to kind of represent the little lines on the fetus. And, um, it just helps to sit a little bit nicer with the other side of the bitch. 14. Texture on the branch: really now When we had the texture into the bok, we really just want Ah, some just some kind of shaka texture kind of points. So what I kind of does use a bit of a random person, um, so staving sort of pacing with us. And the other thing to consider here's is there in this image, we don't really want that the branch Teoh take away from the food, so we don't really want it to him a lot off its own detail and texture. We want we wanted to look like a branch, but we just wanted to, um, sort of blend into the background of a but and just be there to support the boot. We'll be looking at branch. We kind of we think of it as a rough texture, just a gritty sort of rough texture. So that's why lots of individual little dogs, um, feels rice now . Obviously, you could just keep going for a long time doing this. And if you didn't want to carry on, you could do that. And you could build up layers and layers of texture in detail and you could look at each little section really, really closely. But I think for the purposes of this video, you can now see um, how to create the detail, how to create the texture and the branch there. 15. Fine details on the tail: Now we can work their way over here as well. And, um, on these parts here there is, um, different. There are some different parts of these feeders, so we have the outline of the future. But we also have a little line for the middle of the future, and we're just gonna draw those lines on is a shop detail and then, uh, try and just just in a bit more tone in there. So if we start with a middle one here, there's a line that shows from here. Well, the way out here, you just have to try and keep your hands TV when you're doing this. And then, yeah, names to see on that one. Okay, now, this is another one up here, and then it's quite difficult to see from those other ones because they're sort of open letting. So what we'll do now is we're just work our way through these lines and trying to define them livable again . We don't want to be outlining everything, but we there is a tone. Sorry. There is ah each here between each of these fevers and so, yeah, we probably want to just just rub out a little bit of the, um, suck outlined at the themed. Because if you look back to the picture, they're not really sick at once. They're just very thin. Uh, to find each is Thanks, sir. - Cool . Now let's just work back over these areas a tone and to see we need to and in some sort of dark here. So just in these two bumps is about more time is definitely Cem. More contrast between this figure in this field contrast means how much does something stand out against something else? So when it's high contrast, that means it stands out of loss against something besides a black and watch be really high contrast in high contrast items high contrast parts of the drawing team to draw our I into them. So we want to just, I think a little bit about how you know which part of the drawing wants to be looking at when you want the view into the case. If you do need to go back and read some more Tonen, it's a good idea to, um just jump back to the H s early to be pencil because it's easier to get a bit of a smoother time. Sometimes the H beacon give you quite a line e tone. With the lines out. She's trying to get a sense of the those white tips on the end of the futures this quarter , Twitter's sir. 16. Fine details on the wing: Now, if we look at our image of that bird, we have a whole lot of these little individual overlapping feeders in here. Now it's gonna be quite difficult for us to create all these little bits of tone using the rubber. So we're gonna need to just use dark lines to create those times. So the first thing I want to do is just figure out kind of were they are. There's a few larger overlapping wells at the top my bed, and then I start to come down in the year. Life there's they should have over laying there in the comeback. And the only way to do this really is to just individually drawer each little piece. - I don't think you need to count the number of overlapping. Be this here. I just need to have the scenes there they are over letting and that they ah, um, there's a death of line where it's creating the age and where you can. You just want to have a little shitter underneath each peace. So there's a small shadow here, rooms paces. I've been living up here this whole shit over there, and it's actually probably more important at this stage. Two. Get it. Be able Teoh. Describe the tone in the contrast between each layer. Then it is to get it exactly right because it's a bit finer, then I think we should do. But if you do it this way, you get the real sense off these overlapping features and is they go underneath this area a few this. They also it's in time. So we just need to just add a little bit of time like that and just much of 20. But I want to much. And then there's Soak Watch Doc, you're here right underneath you in a few pieces, that fear that just kind of over let their whole space. - When you said one too many fears going on here, all right, that's looking really good. 17. Fine details on the eye: now the I is the part of the picture that we really will draw the viewers I enter. And so we need Teoh. Really? Um, have a good, strong piece of contrast in there. So we want what we want to do here as we want to leave a little bit of the eye white and we want to have some of the eye black. Now, if we look really closely at the picture, you can see that there is a little spot of wife here in here and those those are the parts that show us that three. I eyes glassy and it needs some reflection. So what we'll do is will just decide on a couple of points. Um, usually, it's kind of around the talk, but I'll just I'm just a little piece like that in another little piece. Hanson can you don't leave those watch and then I will work around the I trying to get a nice so and then I'm just gonna go here and black and the rest of it, using my shop HB in Poland thing instead. The highlight His in contrast, so has bled beside the watch, and it's usually a little bit like just around the eye. You can a little bit of a ring my bed and just like that, there finishes the I. So when I look at this drawing now, I'm drawn into the eye and I'm also the other focus points. I think down here with this, um, really strong contrast train docks and let's and is some of it here as well. So we're a little bit, you know, moving around. But I think the I is naturally the place with a cot. Whether viewer looks and the using the highlight just helps to really reinforce that viewpoint. 18. Fine details on the feet: all right. So I'm happy with how that's looking. So fire. I just wanted a little bit of work now on some of the features. And the reason I left these for last is I think these are really important. Um, especially since they're darker pieces and because they really the parts of the bird that draw your eye. And so I'm thinking about the I, and I'm thinking about the big in the the feet. So start off with the feature. Um, in what I'm trying to do here is just try and use a shaft of a really not shop HB pencil, and I'm trying to the scenes with is that there's a bit of texture in the feet. If you can imagine what a what bids? Fetal life, Um, has his little talents that come down little claws. So I really want that to be Quint. Uh, close. It pretty much gonna be blast. And the other parts are, um, kind of puffy innovate rounders. So we want them to, um, have these little contour lines. He sort of rounded contour alliance, but also be quite dark as well. Especially they go up under the bird that really, really dark. And then usually were the feet sitting on the wood. This a little bit of a shed over there. It's just kind of and a little bit of share you're looking at, Um, now I just want to just bring a few feet is in front here, is to climb disguise. Were that what is coming up into the part of the bid on the bottom on this side? It's not really a problem because it's going to the other side of boot cool. 19. Fine details on the beak: but let's move on to the big. So with the big um, it's quite dark on the bottom. It's pretty much black it in the main ministers to get nice contrast on the bottom off the beach. What the top. It's a little bit around it, so you want to just get a good ever seen swimming a little bit lighter and talk in a bit darker on the bottoms. But we but we definitely want to keep their definition of the bottom half the beach in there, and we just want a nice sharpened um, Now there are just a few little whiskers that come out, so just quite this, have a nice touch. 20. Conclusion: there. Yeah, We started with this photograph off Fantail, uh, from museums, and we ended up with this during of the fan toe. I hope you enjoy this drawing course. I really appreciate you taking the course, And I hope you have lonesome, valuable skills that you can continue to use in your drawing. Thank you.