Draw Birds in Procreate

1. Introduction: I enjoy looking at birds. I enjoy photographing birds, but never realized how much I would love and enjoy illustrating them. There are many types of bird illustrations. Cartoon birds, folk birds, traditional birds, abstract buds, line of birds, birds you can draw with a pen or ink or charcoal or watercolor wash. I love folk birds and watercolor books. And in this class, I'll be teaching you step-by-step on how to paint birds. In Procreate. Birds are my favorite illustration studio. I find that drawing a bird really relaxes me. It's my perfect way to relax and unwind during my d. Hi, I'm Dan Kumar enjoying the pandemic. I got into digital illustration, being a full-time mom and a part-time content creator, videographer, photographer. I find that drawing birds were the perfect width to infuse joy into my D. I wrote and illustrated a children's book called swan friends and created a coloring book, animals in the world. Last year I drew an illustrated my first bird. I loved her relaxed, it made me feel and I couldn't stop. I made 12 birds and ended up assembling them to make a yearly calendar, a devotional journal, and found out that my illustrations made the perfect cards and gifts to give to friends and family. In this course, I'm going to share my methodology, take you step-by-step through my process and give you an easy to follow guide to become a master at bird illustration. In this class you will, number one, look at references of birds and choose one to illustrate. Number two, I'll teach you about sketching birds. Number three, how to color block. Number four, we will look at adding details and finer details. Number five, a look at adding shadows and highlights to your bird. Number six. And finally, a look at what to do after you've created and illustrated your first bird in post-production. The fun part of drawing them is that there are so many ways to do them. I still draw it and learn a lot every time I draw a new bird. A simple illustration of a bird can turn out to be a very realistic one. For your project. Using what you've learned in this class, you can share the illustration you've made of your bird. It could be a sketch, a watercolor, or a mixed media bird. I will be giving you resources for this class, a procreate brush set to paint and add details to your bird, as well as proper texture to add a little drama to your final drawing. So if you want to learn how to sketch birds and procreate, add color, details, shadows, and highlights. Well, you've come to the right place. Let's get started. 2. What You Need for This Class: For this class, you will need an iPad, which is compatible with an Apple pencil. For this class, I'll be using the Procreate app. But these principles can be applied to any other digital medium of drawing, Photoshop, fresco, sketches. The essential thing you need for this class are a good set of blending and feathering brushes. Feather brushes are fine for brushes are nice to have to give a little character to your final bird. Agreed, blending brush works very well to blend the colors. Essentially having a good texture blending tool and a good feathering brush is all you need. I know everyone has their favorites in procreate. But if you don't have brushes, you're welcome to download the procreate brushes I've created, especially for this class. Cornea browser and click on Skillshare and you'll be, you'll find yourself in the class and go to Projects and Resources. And then I've written a little bit about what you can do. You can also have access to the full drawing birds in Procreate kit, which is free for Skillshare. You can download the Procreate files. And I've given project prompt, which is a peacock. I did most of my bird illustrations on the small iPad. And I needed only five layers for my process. For a smaller iPad, or 2500 by 2500 pixel is good enough. It also gives you a lot more layers to work with. And for the iPad Pro, I stick to a 5 thousand by 5 thousand pixel, and that gives me a high-quality illustration. So whichever iPad you have, you can use these settings for creating your canvas to procreate files. One for a smaller iPad and one for a larger iPad. Jpegs draw birds and procreate peacock and help support file for that. And then a brush set drop bird sang, which I'm going to open right now. And read before you. Draw birds in Procreate, which is kind of a document. And here I've given Lisa, are linked to Lisa's brushes, which I talked about in the class. But let's go back here. So all the files will be downloaded here. You get this. Okay, so I'm gonna double-click on the Dropbox procreate and immediately imports the file on Procreate. So this is what the file looks like. Up here is the sketch layer, which is, I've already made it. M. M is multiply. It means that when you're drawing underneath, the colors show up. If I didn't put em, it would, it would just be white. So then I've labeled it sketch, color, details, highlight and shadow, which is each lesson will be that drop birds, sang brush set. So let's install that. Okay, so now I have the job birds sang brush set. Now in this, I've also given you some brush stamps. Alright, so these are the stamps. So if you stamp this than the sketch will come, you have different sketches that I've done for this class. And the harder you press, the larger it becomes. If you're crested soft, if you make it small. So these are different, different birds. There are about ten sketches. If that is, if you don't want to use these, these ones here, how, if you'd like to use this, what I would recommend is getting freehand. So when I've copied it and make sure this is selected otherwise it won't copy. Select this on the layer. Three finger swipe. Copy, not Copy All. And then go here. And three-finger swipe down and say paste. So as you see this color and suddenly become more vivid, It's because this has come in, then you can just resize this to your liking. Make sure you make the sketch layer multiply. Otherwise the color inside here will not show. Okay? So then these are the stamps and these also the sketches that we have here. The sketches will be here, like, as you see, they're still here. So you can choose made it on m multiply. So I can draw under that. So for example, this is, let's see, let's make this a light blue bird. It's not, but I'm just for fun doing this. So under this layer for coloring, you can color this like this. This is one brush, brush, nice. Then this is mono line tapering primarily, therefore, linework if you want. A slightly thicker and so basically the texture taper monoline has a little texture in it and the monoline taper is smooth. The texture blog is for blending, or it basically draws the color from the top into it and kind of gives it a nice textured look. For a little variation, creative variation. Then if there's some green brushes, There's some variation of green, then this is my favorite. I have given three feather brushes, one, smudge, buildable and feather. What is feathered brush does is, for example, if you use it as a smudge, then whatever you made, you can just pull the color out. Okay. Now I'm going to remove the sketch and show you because it's hard to see. So I've basically made a feathered brush that makes feathers. This is very, very important, at least in this class, for when you want to make birds and give them a more realistic look. It's just an added brush set. So I've given you three versions of this. This is a very nice smudge. This variation is nicer as you can see. So this helps with that. Okay, coming back to the sketch, then, we have tapered gouache. So this has this has like, similar to that but it has more of a gouache look. Bird is a very unique bird. What I've done with this, I don't know if you can see the bot. There's a gouache line work that can be seen. Now if I use the same brush to blend it in, blended really well. So if you wanna do line work, which is very subtle, lewd in the direction of the bud. And that would be really cool. This is the scatter brush. So when you're, when you're sketching, you can choose like a black and use this for sketching yogurt. Then texture filler. Again, a nice texture brush you'd like. I really like texture. So everything I've made actually is a very good smudging with along with texture. So this is very nice because it draws the color from each other. And it helps when you're sketching and coloring the birds. Like, I really like this texture on the bird is quite nice. Alright, Next, this is an opaque liner, which is basically again for line work and detail work. Most of the liner brushes are for detail work. Then this is basically watercolor. Bird is not blue. This is a nice watercolor if you want to fill it quickly here. So what I do generally with this opaque liner is that I long press and make this eraser. Okay. And then I use this to erase the mortar of the like when I go over it. This is a little wider. So everything is billable that way. This is more transparent. Finally, this is a gouache, opaque, very subtle lines that give it a nice border. Then you can use the fine liner or the taper. Them online tapers, nice. But how I do it generally isn't. I would use the feathering brush to smudge it. So even like for example, if I'm gonna do like a white here. And if I want to smudge that into this, it gives a very nice and it's both with smudging it. If I want to put the dark into this, I go from dark to light. And if I want to go from light to dark and I do that, the more you pull down, the more it extends itself, you can make it bigger. If you want to paint it fast. That's it. Overview of the brushes that you can use for this class. You can just drag this up with you and you get a double window. Now for example, for your project work, you'd want to use the pKa credit. So you just drag the peacock onto the procreate file and import that. I've taken you through. Let's close this right now. I've taken you through the basics of okey colors and pilots. You can copy all and add this element to your final peacock if you want to. If you wanted to, valid and all it. If you want, you don't need to. Again make this M before you're going to color it. And then start. This is from the Projects and Resources Project. If you want more sketches, what you can do is come to the class resources. And that will give you a little more. So it will be about dense sketches. So you can just say, I want this. You can put your email address and you pay 0 and you just view content. Now in this you will get much, much more. You will get a robin peacock parrot, oriental dwarf king fisher, northern cardinal, hummingbird, peacock feathers, Eurasian golden RIO. I think I'm saying that right? The oldest. So if you want a little more intensive downloads, you're most welcome to come to the camera one and take it. It is free for the Skillshare students. So that is available for you as well. So that's a look at the projects and resources section. When you want to create a project, just say Create a Project. Prompt you to upload the image, right? The project title, project description. You can add a video like if you want to send your time-lapse, you can do that. You can even add an image or a link. So that's a look at the resources that you will get free for this class. 3. Project: There are two ways you can do your project. First, you can find a bird you'd like to draw and use what you've learned in the class to create your project. You can voice your sketch or even your final. But the second is that you will find some rough sketches of birds in the resources section. And even in your procreate file, you're welcome to use these as your starting point to block colors and add details to any posts should be encouraging. And I know others too, we love to see your progress. 4. What To Draw: I normally use Pinterest to find source materials to draw from. I come from a school of thought where tracing, copying are great ways to learn skills. Over time as drawing birds became a part of my muscle memory, I started using references, procreate artists. Richie says, do whatever floats your boat. Just be careful not to sell your traced artwork. I love the line from honest designers were in Bernard says, Copy to learn and not earn. So don't be afraid to find inspiration and make it your own. I read somewhere that any device that improves your ability is acceptable to use. There also templates to help you with the shape of birds as well. Lisa glands has a nice bird template on Procreate as well. I'll leave you a link in the description box to her guides. But like I said, the more you practice, the more familiar you get to drawing birds. I may have begun tracing the lines, are trying to figure out where the DJs would sit. But now I just have to look at a bird and I understand the shapes. So to get to that point, of course, add to draw more than 20 birds, but stick with it and it will become muscle memory. But because you're learning, it's okay to use the sketches that have been provided for you to work on as you learn from this class. And when you find the bird that you really love, feel free to copy it or trace it, at least the sheep. Another thing I do when I get a reference, I source the colors from the bird. Now what I've realized and this is a quick tip also, photographs give very unsaturated version of the bird. What I do is I create a small palette in the site. And then eventually I start brightening that pallet up as I'm painting. Let's begin with the first step to create a Canvas. If you have a smaller iPad, use the 2500 by 2500 pixels, 300 DPI. You can record a time-lapse if you'd like. That's up to you. For larger iPads. Or 5 thousand by 5 thousand gives you enough layers to work with. Again, this would be 5 thousand by 5 thousand with 300 DPI. And again, you have all the options of choosing a time-lapse if you'd like to record what your processes. Also feel free to post the time-lapse on social media and as well as your project, I would love to see that as well. 5. Sketching: I first begin with a rough sketch, which gives me an idea about the shape of the bird. Then I lower the opacity of what I have just drawn, the rough shape. On a layer below. I sketch on a little neater version of the rough sketch. A few tips to sketch is keep a light hand. And some people like to add details in the start. I sometimes do it like maybe give a rough idea, but I generally tend to add details with paint and shadows. So that's where my details gum. And once I'm done with all of that, my final step is to clean up the lines and give more definition, but we'll get into that later. But the sketch work is your foundation work to define a shape and the contouring. What I focus on in the shape of the bird is the wings, The Dummy of the bird, the eye, the beak. And if there's any flourish that goes around it. For example, drawing a sparrow and drawing a peacock is completely different because for a peacock, the flourishes aren't as important as though when my approach with every bird is different. But essentially the wing, the tummy, the deal, the eye, the beak. Those are the components which I focus on. Once this is done, you can begin with the color blocks. 6. Coloring Your Bird: When I started, I never used to understand color blocking. But now that I'm drawing more and more, I realized the importance of layering of base color. Just like the rough sketch. Color blocking gives you an idea of the colors that are coming together. If you're sticking to a minimal palette, that makes things easier, you can color pick your bird according to the colors that you're burdened hats. But remember that a photograph may give a less saturated color. So what I do generally, if I get a saturated color which is not matching my eye on my screen, I just bump up the saturation to make it slightly more brighter. Many times in watercolor and gouache paint, the colors look transparent. So having a color block layer or a base layer to create removes that transparency issue. Remember that sometimes if you don't like the colors that you've chosen, you can always change the color later in digital. That's the beauty of it. Whatever you do is editable. One tip. Don't use pure black or pure white because you can change any Saturation. Black will always be black and white will always be, always take a little off white and off black. It'll still look black or white to the eye. You will be able to tweak it if you choose to. Color blocking also comes in handy when you're shading. But I'll tell you more about that in the shading and lighting section. For now, let's look at laying the base layer. You can lay your base color. In the next lesson, we'll be looking at finer details. 7. Fine Lines and Details : Finer details to your bird, give you a bird, a shape and a definition. This is when you add strokes. This detailing can happen through a Procreate brush, the feather brush, the one that I made you, comes in handy in this one, fine lines and details help define the shape of the bird. It also enhances the colors and the detailing really adds to the beauty of the bud. A great example of this kind of detailing is a peacock. Without the detailing, the bird would probably look much more abstract with just the beans. The peacock is a great example of detailing and lines. The peacock feather is a great example of fine lines because it's not just a stroke or a line or feathering in the feather, there are so many elements like solid colors within solid colors in a layer. But it's not just the feathers. Even the body of the peacock has different elements to it. The element connecting the feathers to the body is also a different shape and needs to be defined by lines and details. Even the peacocks body and its face, as well as the elements around it. Looking at the peacock, you can tell that it needs a lot of detailing, but the same can be said about any bird. Every single bird has its own definition. A flamingo is very different from a peacock. A pigeon is very different from a flamingo. So every bird has its own markings and detailing. I would advise to go through references and see each buds markings and take what you love from those markings. Like this peacock I've illustrated is based from several different peacock references and brought together to make one. This one is completely different from another illustration. Make sure you look and observe the bird references very carefully. And pick and choose what you'd like. Because it isn't necessary to always use every single detail. Adding details and not adding details is really up to you. The more detailed you go, the more realistic your bird looks. But don't be afraid to add only a few details. It all depends on what you're trying to communicate and what you're trying to draw. So don't be afraid when it comes to fine lines and details. To do more or less. It all depends on what you want to do. There are no rules when it comes to illustrating birds. Especially when it comes to fine lines and details. Stage of adding fine lines and details will help you define where the shadows and the highlights come. And that's the next lesson. 8. Shading and Lighting: After your bird is done and you're happy with the colors and the design, fix a point of sunlight. A simple thing about shadows and highlights is where the direction of the light is. Whether you're light is the sun, whether it's a candle, whether it's a window. There needs to be light coming in from somewhere. It's always safe to either choose a left or right. When you wanna be adventurous, you can choose top or bottom. But essentially to be safe, I stick to left or right. The key about shadows and highlights is to be consistent. You can decide that the light is going to come from the left and then keep the shadows on the left. Because logically, light diffuses shadows. So if the light is coming from the left, the highlights will be on the left and the shadows will be on the right. Similarly, if the light source is on the right, the highlights will be on the right and the shadows will be on the left. You can also change the angles of the light. It can be far up side, bottom. All of that changes the area of your highlights and shadows. Sometimes it helps drawing an arrow and figuring out where your points are. Because I dropped from references, I generally look at the photographs and I choose my point of light. Shading and highlighting is important because it really brings life into your blood. It changes a flat colored bird into a more 3D looking bird. Shading and highlighting is often the last thing I do when I'm doing the bird. Because I finished defining the colors. I finished defining the shape. I add two layers on top, black and one is white. I change the blending mode to overlay. When you draw overly on black, it makes whatever color you're drawing darker. And whenever you color on white, it makes it a little lighter. So this way, you're not being dramatic in your shadows and light, and it's in sync with your illustration when it comes to shadows and light, I would recommend experimenting with blending modes. Add light, Multiply, Lighten, and overly our blending modes that really worked well when it comes to lighting and shadows. In the next lesson, we will look at what more you can do with your illustration. 9. Post Production: After you've completed your bird, export it as a transparent PNG. You can also add a background. You can add stamps and washes and status. You can add a photo. And you can even add texture people. Everything is content. You may have heard or seen this viral video where a mother is seeking. Everything is content, everything is gone too. Don't forget to film it. Don't forget to film it. It's a very true statement because everything you do is content. Make sure you're sharing things on social media. And make sure you always have a transparent PNG file. So it's easier to upload on websites. 10. 10 Draw Birds in Procreate | Ending Thoughts: What are the things I want to talk about is not feeling overwhelmed too, when you're doing your drawing. Sometimes when we begin our drawing, it doesn't look very great and we tend to get discouraged. So as I end this course, I want to leave you with these thoughts that if you're doing a bird and it's looking like a big mess, you're probably on the right track. And a way to counter that if it's really making uncomfortable that there's a mess. Number one node that it's going to get better with the feathering and with the combination of shading and highlighting, you're gonna get a beautiful form. But something that helps me is I begin my illustration with the eye, the eye of the book. Because then I know what I'm drawing and I know that there's a shape and I know there's a focal point. So the eye is actually quite simple. It's just one black fill of the eye of the bird and one white dot, which is like a catch light. This I have found is so simple. And it gives you a bird a form almost instantly, so you feel a little better about it. So that's, that's a tip and encouragement and leave for you because it is very overwhelming sometimes when your drawings don't look the way you'd like them to, but be patient because eventually it probably would be better than your imagination. How I do it is, for example, if you want have a very fixed line, then I just select the circle and then I color the light. Okay? So it's a solid black line, right? Of course, if you want to give you a bird light eyes, that's also fine. Then you take like not too much texture, but like I am using the sketching pencil. And you do a dot, which is a reflective light. And as you can see, I've got a light. It's very simple. It's just an I and a white dot. Now, if you want to be super adventurous and create more catch light, then you can even follow, can even do like, right? So that's very, very simple. It's a line, a black circle with a dot and a line if you'd like. But actually this is more than enough. You don't actually need to do that. Now if you want to be adventurous and you say, Oh, I want to do more than you can create. A line width around line to give the shape if you want to be like extra creative. But like you, like you see it actually doesn't. It's perfectly fine. Now if you want to be breakaway, then you can do that. But that will become way too cute for your bird. Yeah, 11 little dot is enough. So that's something I wanted to just share. When you do the eye, the shape of the bird automatically starts coming into motion. You also sad, feeling better because, you know, you're drawing a bird. Birds are my favorite warm-up exercise. Whenever I don't know what to draw, I always go back to my references and draw a new bird. The sky literally is the limit. I hope you enjoyed this class. I hope you enjoyed learning how to sketch birds, calibers, add details and highlights and shadows. I really encourage you to do the project. I think it will help you in terms of practice as well. Great teachers and great artists see practice, practice, practice. I wouldn't say practice makes perfect, but practice does improve your art and your skin. So again, I hope you enjoyed this class and I wish you all the best for your journey in drawing birds in probate.