How to draw feathers

1. Intro | How to draw feathers: Hi there. I'm Kate Coverdale, and welcome to my glass drawing fathers and graphite pencil. In this class, I will show you how to draw for different colors. We will be drawing a father with ornaments. Then we will go through darks and into the light. So we'll be drawing a black and the white feather as well as a realistic pigeon feather combining all the material that we've learned in the 1st 3 feathers. We will talk not only about how to shape according to shape, but I will show you how to create those beautiful soft textures off the off that you find on feathers. By the end of this class, you will have four wonderful fathers that you draw yourself and I will guide you through all the process. So don't worry. If you're just a beginner, I am very happy too. Help you. And if you do have any questions, do you post them along the way? I will be answering them soon. You can. After this class, you will be able to draw any kind of feathers and understand the value and how to actually build those layers in graphite, which is a very useful thing to know how to do not only graphite, but in all different kinds of medium. And for now, this is three introduction and I am really eager to see in my class. 2. Art Supplies & Materials: the O first thing that we will dio is we will discuss the materials that we will need for this glass. So I have prepared here a couple of things that we will need. And the first thing, of course, this paper and the paper that I'm using is acid free. This is a pink big sketchbook, so it has, like, texture to it. I'll show you so you can see this texture that shows through when you're applying your until Mike's. If you take printer paper, which first was not acid free, which means that it can yellow over time and you apply the texture. Let's one sketch book out of the way and you apply the texture. You can see how much smoother the texture of this paper is compared to the one in the sketchbook. So I prefer my paper to be slightly textured, so we will need white paper, and then we will need some fun cells. So I have a different set of pencils here, So this is a to H, and you can see this is quite a used pencil. I used to h two actually sketch my drawings, and you can see how like this pencil is compared to my darkest felony. So let's go through. This is to H next is HB so applying quite a bit of pressure here so you can see the darkness This is to be and this one is five b. So this is basically the value scale that I will be using to create my different feathers. Here is the thing you call a pencil extender so you can get those in art supply shops are online and is just handy When you have those very short pencils, you don't have to have one, but just the thing. Then we will need, uh, craft knife. And it's useful to sharpen your pencils or it's useful to actually got your eraser. So to get send marks, what we will do, we will take a new your racer or used link, and we will cut the eraser at an angle. So with this, you will be able to create those. It's in line if you need Teoh, take away the big men somewhere. If you have, there's also an eraser by Tom Bo. This is mono zero racer and they come in different thicknesses, so there are thicker ones. They're thinner ones. I find that this one is pretty nice for the thing for my work. So you cut this one, too, if it's dull, so you create that sharp edge and you can erase the same way as you would do with the edge of the eraser. So this goes for pencils and the research and the last thing. You can also use a neither racer. So if you need to late on a tone somewhere, you can just dab and you can see how much that lifts out pigment the color where you can also create a very sharp point and actually left out those lines so you can use different traitors. If you do not want to sharpen your pencil with a craft, you can use a pencil sharpener. I'm using a sort fish. This is a manual pencil sharpener, which is amazing. It gives you very sharp points, and especially when you're drawing feathers, it's very handy to have a sharp point on your pencil at all times so you can grade that beautiful texture. And then I will be using just a sheet of office paper. So do but under my arm, so I don't smudge drawing that I do 3. All about Feathers: e Now I wanted to talk a bit about the anatomy of the feather. How is our feather made? So if you look at that were feathers, they always have this narrower bit and then the wider part. So there is a central line running through the feather that is wider at the bottom where the father actually starts from, and then this bit it actually enters the body off the bird, and then it narrows down into the tip of the feather and runs old away through the feather and divides the feather condiment. You unequal part. If you look on one side, it's flatter and it doesn't protrude as much. But on the other side, if you put your father upside down, you can see that now. It's casting a shadow here, and it quite protrudes from the father itself. Then another thing that I wanted to talk about is that if we look at that word further straight on, you will see the shape how our father folds. So this side here it folds in a way like so, and then the other side folds in the opposite direction. So that's an important thing to remember when you're adding dimension to the father you're drawing, so it's always going to be this movement. Of course, there are feathers, for example, like Donny fathers of swans that fold in this way. But we will get to that. So for now, for the fathers that will be drawing as these are pigeon feathers and I think the there from the wings. So these they fold in this way. So also this one, you can see that this unfolds out on this one holds in. Another thing to remember is that feathers They have these hairs that have hooks on them and these hooks, they actually cling onto each other and create this texture that it seems. Even so, it doesn't even look as if it's consisting of these little hairs. But when we start pulling them apart, you can see that you can feel how the feather kind of separates into these segments. And these are the little hooks that are unhooking and creating this beautiful, fuzzy further appearance. So we will be drawing also these kind of feathers general fuzzed up and then another thing to pay attention to is off course the color. But that comes at the very end when we are happy with the form and the volume that we added to our father. And we will talk about that when we will see how to actually add the ornament on our feathers. And one more thing before I forget is this little fuzzy part here at the bottom. So some feathers, we will have more of it. So I have a whole collection of others that I prepared for this class. So, for example, this one, this is also I think, but pigeon feather. But it's a white one, and you can see how much more fuzzy um uh, hairs it has at the bottom here. So depending on we had the further is positioned on the bird, it's going to have more fuss or less fuss. So this keeps the bird warm. Actually, we can go on to the next listen and we can start to draw our first father 4. Simple Feather | Sketch: So for the first, further, I will use this pigeon feather as my reference, and I will actually place it next to my drawing on the paper so I can see and reference it . And the first thing that I want to do is I want to observe how the feather curves So this side of the feather grooves towards us and this one kind of curves inwards. And I'm saying that this central bit of the father, the central line that runs through the feather, is protruding here. So it's going to guest a shadow of itself onto the feather. And now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take my do h pencil. This is quite a hard pencil. It's gonna allow me to create those marks that are quite light and will be easy to erase or cover with another layer of graphite later on so that I don't have to worry about ruining the paper or erasing too much if the pencil is just too soft and creates very dark lines. So the first thing that I'm gonna do is I'm going to sketch in the central bit of my father . So I'm looking at my father and I see that it curves. We don't have to draw exactly. Identical to what we see in the further we're just using it as a reference. And I'm seeing this beautiful curve off the central line. Next, I'm gonna add some of all you to the central bit and I'm adding a sicker part at the bottom here, and I will be narrowing it down as it comes towards the tip off My father So very likely just sketching in about the father, that central pit of the feather. This is gonna be the spine of our father. Basically. Next I can see that the tip is quite pointy. It's not sharp, but point enough so that we can see it. And then here we draw the narrow part in once and our father approximately here, and the narrow part is almost the same words. It becomes bed wider here towards the bottom, just a tiny bit. Whether like so and then we're going to be adding this other side. And I'm going to have these little gaps that I really like how they look here as I'm going , it's just going through that other side and then I see that there's a beautiful gap here also, that we can hand so we can sketch that and already so that we remember that it's dear. Okay, so we don't need any more to are enough. And then we will have the fuzz happening here. But we will get to that. So now we can continue with our tonal drawing. 5. Simple Feather | Part 1: So now we will start adding the tone to our father, and I am going to be using neither racer just to take away that line. So it's not that strong, and it doesn't shine through our finished drawing. Just gonna dab it a bit just to take away a bit of the graphite. So it's like her, and I'm going to start by applying the first layer off tone. So I'm using the two H again. If you start with a very dark, for example, if I were to start with a five bean, it would give me a lot of contrast and give me the darkest value immediately, which I don't need. So basically, this is a great exercise of practicing the applying the tone and going from lights into the darks and working in multiple layers. So I'm going to take my two h pencil. And one of the most important things to remember is that we are always applying the tone in the direction off these hairs. So depending on how these hairs grow, we will be applying the tone Onley in that direction, and I'm going to start and apply the tone to this wider part first. So what I'm doing is I'm going to create the hairs. But I see on my father reaching towards the central bit off the feather don't going through the outside and I'm curving them very, very likely. And I'm carving them in a way like so. So I show with the curve off this off these hairs that this part of the feather is actually folding towards us. So I'm gonna pass through all of my father and I'm applying slightly more pressure in the beginning, off the stroke. And then I'm loosening it up when I get to the center, always in the same direction. So now we won't pay particular attention to the color of this feather we're going to just shaded in everywhere. And now I'm going to go from the central bit here that runs through our feather from the spine of the federal Call it like that, and I'm going to do the same thing. But I'm going to press again in the beginning of the mark and then gently let it go. I'm gonna treat these, um, short term marks that run toward the other side. So if you see this already gives us the illusion that the father is kind of protruding slightly towards us and catches more light here 6. Simple Feather | Part 2: next, I'm gonna do the same thing on the other side. So let's intensify this line that runs through our father. Like so. And remember, the best practice you can do here is not to press hard on your pencil. That way you will be able to lift out the color. For example, if I want to add this highlight on this central bit, I can always take my racer and erase the bit that I need lighter. And if I use very light, pressure on my pencil is going to allow me to raise that part. If I were to use too much pressure, I first of all would ruin my paper, create indentations, and it wouldn't allow me to lift out. Pigment is easily. And now let's start doing the same thing. And here again, we're thinking about how this part actually folds in our feather and it goes towards inside , right? We were saying about that curve shape. So here, um, doing these curvy lines in shading in this part again, more pressure where the I start to Mark and I loosen up on the pressure. As I get closer to the center here we see that turns the directions likely and faces more upwards. If you're more comfortable, turning the paper might help to make your hand more comfortable. I'm not turning the paper so that I just want you to see well what I'm doing. Okay, so now we have the first total value in place. Next, we can start adding the value, Um, the second layer of our value. What we're gonna do is we're going to pass over the same areas again. But this time we will try to connect the two as well. So in passing again over the same values that we did over the same marks that we made already. But I'm making slightly longer lines. It's kind of connect the two and again paying attention to how our feather curves. So I'm connecting these to just off our father, always in the same direction 7. Simple Feather | Part 3: okay. And I'm going to intensify the tone of this side as well. And I'm gonna go from the edge this time so that we treat that beautiful, sharp bitch of our father. So you see, I'm not drawing the line, creating the edge of the feather with perpendicular line to our hairs of the feather That's going to take away all the illusion off realistic, further always in the direction of the growth off our Here's off the feather. Okay, now I'm still using the same pencil because it still allows me to add that value. And I'm going to pass through this area that we already shaded. And I'm trying to make those marks very close to each other so that we automatically create this cast shadow on the site of our central bit of the feather from that line that passes through our center. So I'm just slowly. This is quite a nice, um, meditative. Think to dio shading. I really like drawing fathers. It's kind of making you relax on this shading. You're repeating these lines and at the same time, you're bring kind of works and analyzes the shape in front of you. It's very calm thing to do. Okay, You can see that as here, it gets narrower this central big it guests less shadow on two. The this narrower part off the feather. So we have to take that into consideration. Now we can pass on to the next hardness. And this is an age bean. And what I'm gonna do is I'm going to start again, adding value the same way I did with my h pencil. So I'm building up those layers. And again, I'm pressing more where I start my line and I'm letting it go towards the center, also on the other side. So intensifying that edge like so and this actually teaches your hand how to shade in those equal intervals. 8. Simple Feather | Part 4: so you can already see how our shape is created. So here, where we have the hairs growing out from our central bit of the father, I will use these circular movements physically movements that go tiny little circles. So few enlarged. Um, they would look like so. But I'm going in tiny, tiny circles has to keep our texture that we created without one marks but at the same time closed those little white caps and actually dark in this area very gently again, not pressing, just darkening up that area. And we can also have just but more texture. If we lost, it passed the second time over. So instead of creating marks in this direction, which would immediately take away from our texture of the father. So these here's they only grow like. So we are creating those tiny, tiny little marks and closing up those gaps with the circular movements. Sure, I see that I don't have enough tone, so if you see those gaps, you can always come back and cover them up more. And now I'm just gently going to pass over the middle section. Very likely. So it's to kind of connect to like we were doing with the eight do h pencil. We don't have those white marks anywhere. So now we're greeting, uh, further. That has the same tonal value. So we're not looking at that one reference. We just want to learn how to create that, um shape to actually make our father look not flat, But you actually have formed to it that curves. So I'm going until the very end of my father here song decide. Take your time. You don't have to rush anywhere again. What? I see those caps. We can close them up with the little circular movement where you can also go back and add more lines the same way that you were doing. I preferred the circular movements. They really help you close up those gaps. If you have, for example, here I have quite a dark dark here. I can take my kneaded eraser, shape it into a point, and just lift that dot out and that's what we don't have. That total exaggeration there would say, very gently connecting the two parts that we created. And you can see that graphite lets us work in layers. It's translucent enough so that we can see the previous layers underneath, and it just gives us the feel off the feather actually having those tiny here's 9. Simple Feather | Part 5: and here, as the father narrows towards the tepid, becomes flatter, doesn't have that curve is accentuated. So we're gonna also cover it more with the graphite here and not create such a dramatic curved shape as we did here with this highlight. Tell you the movements, I'm just covering up this area here. I have it almost done. Now we need to do the same thing with the other side and hear any intensify that shadow. Actually, we're going to take the next tone. So it's going to be the to be that I chose actually at that depth on to create that beautiful shadow. So for now, I'm just passing again with my HB pencil. This is why I said that your pencil needs to be sharp to create those beautiful, thin lines. If it's too blunt, I'm also constantly switching the side of my pencil. So is to find the point on the tip of my pencil to create those sharper lines. And here, if I want to make this edge straighter, I'm not so fuzzy. I'm going to create those tiny, tiny marks that go in the same direction and create that edge and make it look into her just with the tiny legs Still the same value. Just adding another layer to create a neater shape like so. And I'm passing all the way down towards the bottom of my father paying attention again, remembering how'd off other curves. So if we're constantly thinking about it in our mind, we will always create marks that go according to this shape here, just going dark in up to areas to light so we don't have that huge contrast. Okay. And next, we're going to take the next value, and that is to be and again, I have a sharp point. I'm going to sharpen it just a bit more. The software depends home. The sooner it becomes blunt. So with softer pencils, you need to sharpen the more often to get that fine point. And here I'm going to pass on the edge here where we see that cast shadow, and I'm going to turn this cast shadow with the to be I'm making these marks quite close to each other. And here I'm gonna intensify that edge of our central bit of the further. You are making his mark quite close to each other. So that our shadows seems as a shadow seem solid. We don't have any whites showing through there again, just sharpening the edge of the central bit. And here is again. I see that I added slightly too much pigment. I'm gonna take that very gentle way with my new eraser. 10. Simple Feather | Part 6: so it helps you lift out those imperfections. And as we get closer to the tip, the cast shadows going to become There were because this central shaft, it's not protruding as much. And it doesn't create that much of a cast shadow as it does here in the beginning part off the father. Okay, we go all the way until the tip, and here I see that it's quite dark, this line. So the only places where I allow myself to go perpendicular to the growth off the here's on the father is the central bit that friends all the way through our feather like so. So now you can see that we already have this shape off the further forming. We can tidy up the edge here with this to be going slightly darken it up to even more, exaggerate the shape like so we went just a bit too far. Here, for example, can always a phrase it, and because I'm using very light pressure when I raise it, adults much to pencil and here is he that there is just too much. It's too late this area. I want to darken it up even more. Just pressing a second time, making that edge neater. And usually you will see that on feathers that are not weight towards the tip, the tip is gonna become darker. So we can and some more darkness to tip of the father again, always moving in the direction of the growth of the here's like so. 11. Simple Feather | Part 7: next, I'm gonna switch back to my DuPage and I'm going to add a bit of tone to this central area off the father, and I'm going to add also a form shadow to it as well. That doesn't seem so flat, like so I just got a tone. A 10 here. We can use those circular movements. We don't need to use directional movements here because it's very narrow this bit So it's like a cylinder, but very narrow and law. Here we have it. Now, what we lack is some cats chattel if you would like to add the cast channel. So I'm going to use this scenario off the father lying and the sun hitting it on the top left. Andi, basically, what we will see is this is the example of this lighting. So I have the window shining light, and what we see here is that our father is going to have the shadow very now shadow cast from it towards our bottom right here and then this bit it kind of lifts off off the table . So it's going to greet the shadow over here. And one thing to remember is that the closer the shadow gets to our subject, the dark it's going to be and the further way to gets, the more diffuse it becomes. So I'm gonna use to age. And so I'm going to add a bit of tone to this shadow, and I'm using vertical movements. You can use vertical or horizontal movements to show the surface. A flat surface is in this case. It's lying on the on my sketchbook, some adding the first layer to my shadow vertically. And then I'm adding the second go and dark in in Europe, closer to the father and soul. 12. Simple Feather | Part 8: So now we're missing Is this fluffy bit? So how do we create that? I'm gonna take the two age and I'm going to start drawing those lines that are quite chaotic. So let's think adjectives. So if this father is quite neat, then these areas are quite chaotic. Also, we will have a shadow over here. Oh, queen, that absurd with Marissa. So here we have that fluffy bit on work further. So with a sharp Jewish pencil, we're creating those little here's like so and now within the research, I cannot some of those white orbits. Okay, so no, um, I see that we are missing this highlight here. So I'm gonna clean off my racer where you can also use on the racer that you cut to a sharp point. And what we can do is we can add those marks the highlight on the central bit of our father to make it more interesting to make it more realistic. Our further like so and what I would I'd like to add to this further forgot to clean up these areas here. So here we have to be very careful and very neatly cleanup the air. Yet over here, So there's a bit of cast shadow, dear, and then this part squared clean. Also here we're cleaning it up, create more defined edge of the separation of intersections. So how do we add on ornament our fathers To do that, we will take our darkest. This is a five B and this is the darkest pencil. And let's invent a beautiful ornament to our feather. So I want my tip to be dark. So in my mind, I'm kind of separating this year yet here, and I'm going in that movement up and down. So just adding a bit of a line just to remember where I want my ornament to end. What I'm gonna do is I'm going to move in the same direction off my hairs on the feather, and I'm going to create the ornament with a darker value 13. Simple Feather | Part 9: So I'm stopping at this line here that I have created in my mind, so cross to curve according to the shape of the feather I'm creating darker tip again. You don't need to cover all the area stronger in the beginning and let go towards the insight That's just gonna intensify the form of our further hold curves. So here, I'm gonna leave this highlight, do the same thing from the central bit. And we need to show with this ornament also the shape of how our feather folds. So we're doing the same thing on the other side, but paying attention to the curvature of our father. Just find this line because going to be quite dark there to the curvature of our feather. So in the opposite direction goes, you can see how immediately help. Soon the soft pencil becomes don't. So now we have the tip of our feather that is darker. And I see that this cast shadow needs to be just a little bit their conduct because it doesn't have enough value for me. So it really has to look like a cast show from this line that runs through our feather. So all the time when you're working on your drawing, you're kind of evaluating those values. If they are dark enough or not, I'm gonna use a to age to kind of and more value into this middle part that curves away from us. Because I see it too late. Okay, Don't just slightly intensified this cast shadow so that it actually does look like a gas shadow. So tiny details like this gas chatto are going to make old difference in your drawing. That's what's gonna create the shape. 14. Simple Feather | Part 10: Okay, So if I want to add more ornaments, let's say that I want to add kind of a circular ornament over here. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to draw a circle and then I'm thinking about the shape, how it fold across my father like so? And then here, if our circle goes like so, the shape of the father itself is going to slightly distort it like so and then stroll sort of central bet that we will leave out just to give them more interesting part. Two hour more interesting appearance, job or further. And let's do a couple more lines. Something over here, maybe over she here? No, no one. And then it's going to run also over here. So again, I'm doing the same thing I'm going to use gonna sharpen my pencil, Purcell. And I'm going to move in the same direction of the growth of the hairs on the feather in Crete. That ornament the sharper your pencil, the sinner, the marks on more realistic. It's going to look darkening up at the edges so that we keep the form, then here and just want to faded out more. Joe or further. So we don't see that line. And you could see how beautiful that ornament looks on our feather. At the same time, we didn't lose the shape. 15. Simple Feather | Part 11: off the car, Pictures of the feather. So here I have another marking that I marked out for myself. And I'm going to press harder where it's closer to the edge and lighten up on the pressure towards the central bit where we have that highlight and again darken it up by the central , the backbone of our further. So this again accentuates the shape of our feather, the curvature of our feather. So we press harder on these to adjust. So think of it as a cylinder, a part of a cylinder where the highlight catches here in the middle. Same thing goes here, less pressure where we have the highlight and more pressure where we have a darker area. So what curves more away from the light. So now, with our father shape, we showed not only the ornament but also accentuated that kind of curvature off the father itself towards out. So we cannot Maybe some of these lines here in the same direction we're moving as the Here's on no further are growing and again here the ornament has to can fold along the curvature off our feather. So it just in this movement towards the inside. Let's up. Maybe another one here and another light here and there we go. We have a beautiful ornament on our work, brother, which actually shows us the volume of the father itself. So this is quite easy to dio as long as you're thinking about the shape off the father itself. So in the next lesson, we will continue with a dark further on, we will see how to greet a beautiful highlight in it. 16. Dark Feather | Sketch: So in this lesson, we will talk about how do we achieve the darkness in our feather and at the same time, how do we maintain that highlight? So we're going to be basically drawing a similar further to desk win, but it's going to be old dark. So if you imagine, uh, Blackbird losing one of its feathers. So I'm going to go through my father's here and let's choose something else as a reference . So may be a father like this. This is quite nice, so it's going to be shorter. Andi think it's going to be interesting to drop this one as well. So now we have to decide which side do we want to draw it from. We can draw it from the site where we have one, the wider part curving inwards on the narrower part, carving outwards, or we can put it upside down. So let's just switch things up and let's take it from the right side where this central but that's running from my work through our wear feather is gonna flatter. And let's try to create a black feather similar to this one. So we're not gonna look at color of this, father. We're just going to take it as a reference. Actually, I'm gonna modify the shape a bit because everyone like this, But Howard kind of detached from our father. So we're going to create this little dent here, like so? Oh, don't fly away. So now we're going to again create the central bit, drawing that spine of our father. We call that. So I'm thinking about were my father is going to end, and he has he that very interesting about fold. So I want to eccentric that a bit so you can exaggerate some elements just to create a more interesting drawing. So this fold here that I see is really interesting. That's where I'm going to keep. And I have to remember that this part is wider in the tens here. And this part is narrow Where? So here we have that indentation the division into sections. And remember that win a section one section ends Theater one begins from the same point. If unless there are some hairs torn out, if you begin it from here, it will look as if there's a dent in the hairs that were turned on and that those hairs. It will appear to have been torn out. This part here and I'm constantly keeping in mind which part is wider. Which part doesn't matter where, Okay. 17. Dark Feather | Part 1: I'm going to immediately outline this central that that's running for our it's other so that we don't cover it. Okay on. And I think I have it slightly more exaggerated the curve, but I really like it that way. So, as I said, if you like some particular bits about your subject, you can always exaggerate them just a little bit just to make it more interesting. And now I'm gonna take my two H again, even though this is a black feather, went to take my two h pencil and I'm going to start adding that volume. So here I need to pay attention to how my father curves inwards so it doesn't curve outwards like we did with this one did curves inwards and towards the top it becomes flatter again, passing on the other side and connecting the two. So we apply that tone over whether it's the first layer. So why didn't we start with to be, or even a five B immediately? We didn't start with the to the or five feet because it would create too much contrast with the white of the paper, and we will not be able to build up those layers from such a dark layer off pencil. So even if we're drawing a dark subject is always a good idea to start trading with the lightest valued that you have just so that you can build up on those values. So now we have to think about it, so I'm gonna turn it towards the light. Does I want to see it? If the light is hitting our feather from the top here, it's going to have a later edge on the father itself. And then it's going to get darker here. So as the form curves away from light, it's going to become darker. So this is what I want to portray some passing the second time over here, creating the illusion of that curvature away from us in the father. No, I'm gonna a lighter layer here at the edge so that it doesn't look so dramatic, and here it's going to catch more light. So this is the part that's going to be raised. So we're looking at the cylinder that's curves of waste from us. Here is the part that's going to catch the most light. We're darkening this side more always moving in the direction of the growth of the here's 18. Dark Feather | Part 2: and this bit is going to be like her. And then if you look at this father, we have the light shining. There's gonna be just a tiny bit of that cast shadow here to remember that. So I'm gonna market in just a bit, so it's not gonna be exaggerated is here, but it's still going to be present. And then this whole area is going to curve away from the lights on bright blazing. This this feather like so So that you can see the light actually hitting it from that direction because he all this area, this area here is going to catch more light the same way as this part on this father. That kind of court was upwards and this part as the cylinder it curves away from the late. So I'm going to start tolling it from the edge here, and that's gonna be the darkest area on this side of my father and again thinking about the curvature off the feather itself that this part curves outwards, not inwards. So another thing why it's good to use a light. Oh, well, you to actually create your first layers is that if you make a mistake. You can always rework it. So you don't have to worry about that too much. Start getting that tone a bit on the edge here so that I can see it more clearly and adding that cast shadow from the central line. Very tiny cast. Okay. And the same thing goes here, you're just going to be darker, and then is it curves towards the center is going to become lighter. Still, we need to apply this, um, tone Joe, our father. We can't leave it just stark white. Because if you look at any object, even if it's not dark, the highlight is going to still have some color. And that's not going to be exactly white. And taking into consideration the fact that our feather is dark. In this case, the highlight will be quite dark as well. I'm gonna taken HB, and I'm gonna outline this central, but that runs from through our father just so that I don't lose it very carefully, like so just very likely on this side as well, because it is going to catch some light on it. We do it likely 19. Dark Feather | Part 3: Okay, so now this is the H B. And I'm going to on another layer of tone with the HB. No. So I'm not switching still to my darkest values. I still have two more values in my arsenal actually use when I feel like I need that bunch and value. So I'm going through the edge, intensifying that value here. And we can just slightly even dark in this highlight even more because I feel that's chew. Right? And here still, it's going Teoh curve upwards towards the central bit. And I want to dark in this area a puppet just to kind of show that it's slightly carves in a swell after it does this inwards curve that it covered in towards our central line of the further. But this to eight here. So that's not too Doug. Little circular movements are pretty No. Okay, so I'm gonna add this. I'm gonna sharpen the pencil for scale and have this HB pencil on the other side as well, again pressing more where the edges and then letting go towards the center so you can see that gradually were darkening up our feather. - Third , coming up the shadow even if it's a tiny shadow, still test to be here, making the edge more tidy crazy that I missed some spots, they look with too many gaps. I can always go back. 20. Dark Feather | Part 4: So now we can see that we're starting to kind of create that volume two hour feather. You need you just of a dark in of that highlight because you will see now it looks dark. Doesn't look much like a highlight. But when we start adding even darker values like to be in five b, this highlight is going to look a lot brighter. Okay, so we can skip even to be and we can go straight to our five beam and we can create that next total value that's going to give us more definition to the shape of our father. So getting passing over the areas where I already covered thumb with the previous marks that we did with softer bed with harder pencils, look pressing too hard and here not at the very edge but towards slightly towards the center is going to be the darkest area where this part of the feather is actually casting a shadow onto the father itself. So you can see that here it's casting a shadow on itself. It's car was away from the light. That's what we're going to show So again, I'm moving very lightly now, not pressing very hard because if I were to press too hard, I would run out of values that would need to have another value. Pencil like something even darker than five b To actually get the depth that I need. I'm showing that curbs and you can see how much lighter this highlight looks. Now the same thing goes here formatting that next layer of tone over the previous ones. And here I am, curving it into the opposite direction like we were doing with previous father, Very likely so. 21. Dark Feather | Part 5: And now the thing that I'm noticing is that my highlights are too light for darkness of this feather. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna switch to my to be and I'm going to gradually, full of this value into the highlight here and also slightly from this side. The same thing goes here, so I need to dark in that value of the highlight. Especially here we have that line going through. So this father needs to look black passing a second time. If I feel that my values not dark enough and I'm gonna return to my five beam a nod just a bit more darkness here, very gently. Kind of blending the dark into the light so it creates that grounded shape that helps us understand that it's curving so you can see how many layers were putting into this feather . So we didn't start with the darkest pencil immediately. Now I noticed that this line here it kind of separates our feather into two is darker to it's going to be darker because if it's a black father, it's not going to be white. I'm just gonna likely with the same five being I'm going to just likely indicate it. And here I'm going to intensified this edge as well. And it's going to well, so intensified the form. So this curvature off our father folds away from the light and intensifying the gas shadow here, right, so 22. Dark Feather | Part 6: so even black birds. They will have that fluff happening here. The bottom you can see here it's white because it's a pigeon's feather. But if it's ah, dark colored bird, it's going to be dark as well. So matting those markings with on HB pencil and kind of chaotically some will go over here , for example, also this side here, sambal clump slightly more together. Some will be more fluffy. Some will catch more light. Some will be darker, so applying but more pressure but less in places. And now with the HB, I need to darken up this central element that we have running through our brother and give it a appearance off a cylinder like so. So we can also add light and shadow, um, to the shadow of our father. And if we look at the light shining from above left, we will see that I'm gonna take a to H. We will see that year there's going to be that shadow forming on ah, work for answer. And here, this bit as it's curving towards the paper, is going to touch the paper. Actually, like so again with vertical or horizontal lines were indicating that plane and the closer to our subject, the darker the shadow is going to be so here, for example, we have to indicate that darkness as it's leaning towards the paper and then closer to the edge as well. And there we go. Our dark feather is all ready. So you see that most important thing here Is that just gonna tell him down this here, you here's well, I think it's July 8. But the most important thing to take away from this listeners that even we were working on dark objects. It's always a good idea to start with, like, values and then passed on to, um, shuttle. So here's going to be fluffy. So the more I look at it, the more stuff I kind of come up with. But anyway, the more, um the darker your object. Still, you have to start with something light in the beginning so that if you get it wrong, you can always go back, and you can adjust the values and you always have a step ahead or a step, um, back actually created darker or lighter, covering up those some of those areas where issue too much weight. Okay, so now we can pass on to the next lesson 23. White Feather | Sketch: What do we do if we have a very light feather? Let's pretend that it's completely white. I didn't manage to find any completely white feathers that would look appealing. So this one is close, but at the same time, it's a bit s. So we decided we will draw this one and think of it as a white feather and you can see that it's has a lot of fluff here and the shape of it. It's likely different. So it comes from a different place on the bird, obviously. And it has these two sides that even the one seems just too funny, but maybe whiter than the other. But they both curve inwards, so they create this kind of a shape here, curving that like that in words, not towards us. So this would be towards us. I hear they're kind of curving inwards of work, looking at it from this side. So how do we portray, uh, light feather on white background? So for that, we're going to be drawing our father with a to H pencil, and the darkest value that we will go to is on HB. So let's start again by drawing out I worked with her. Let's change about the position. And you can see that this feather of itself also is slightly curvy here. So we have to remember about that. Curvature would shape as well. Here is the tip off, but wide orbit Andi, the tapers off into this narrow part here. So now, before we start drawing each and every section I want to outline, we're that, um, further, actually, how I see the whole shape around here, so I'm just shaping it out. Like so. So this is the whole shape without going into these sections yet I'm just drawing out the shape the width of the father there actually See goes. So we're like so And now that I have this whole shape, I can start working on those individual sections. So is he that there's section folding here? There's another one over here on another one. So we're here, and each and every section begins where the other one ends. So hear, hear. So now I'm just thinking about those sections. I'm not thinking about anything else. And then here there are more fuzzy. Here's we will see about how we draw them. So I think I need to make it just a tad longer. This ending here, there's the fuzz here. So here I see it kind of is narrow her because the here's they fold in on themselves. Here on there's another section over here. Then there's this beautiful gap between two sections, like so another one overlapping this section. Once again, it starts where this one ends. We don't do make our father lucky, so lacking any years. Well, you want to keep it consistent. I think so. And then here we have the fluff. 24. White Feather | Part 1: So let's start the first stone again. Using two to h. So this is the hardest pencil that I have in my well, you scale. I'm going. Tried those initial hairs. Friends always thinking about the shape of my father. So this section curves towards me. And when I'm shading this section and what I'm thinking about is smooth. So I wanted to look quite smooth and thinking about these adjectives is going to help me actually, or try it that way. Nearly go. So this is the first layer. Then we go on this side, and here we're creating the texture but curving it away from us. If you draw a further a day, your shading skills will improve a lot. Because by shading feathers you learn to create those markings that run in a precise direction and that have, uh, an Inter kel, that is the same all throughout. Okay, so this is the first layer. Now we can pass on to the next layer again. I'm not changing my pencil yet. It's gonna clean up those lines just but here so that they don't distract me. So we're always keeping our work clean and we can start adding the second layer. Again, We're working on the same principle as in the previous fathers, from light to dark. And here I am darkening up slightly this section because this part of the father is quite dark. So this is going to be my lightest value, This central it here. So now, already, as I'm applying the tone, I'm thinking about the value of the object itself. The local value of the object, not only lights and darks off the shadows here we can use the little circular movements that we talked about in the previous examples. Just cover up that here you 25. White Feather | Part 2: and this step here is going to be later because the local value of the object is later. So I'm gonna leave it later, but darkening of the value even of the highlight. Because here this area is darker. Then this area in the middle here. So here I'm just kind of creating that line, thinking about the ornament that we have on the professor here, always moving in the direction off the hairs, how they grow. Okay, so we don't think this here, you up. Now we can move on to the other side so that we don't lose the ornament and you can clearly see help. This kind of folds on the shape off the curvature of our feather, so want to portray that as well? Still not switching to a darker pencil. We will get to that just increasing the value, but at the same time thinking about the shape, how our further curves here, I feel that it lacks about the value if I see that my drawing lacks something in any anywhere. So I can always go back and forth and kind of keep my drawing at the same state of readiness. So at the same point off finishing finish here. Not dark enough, this area, because there's gonna be the cast shadow. And then here I see that this value slightly lightens up, so I'm going to keep that lighter as well. I don't want to lose that central bit. I'm gonna outline. That just meant like so here. I see that my ornaments starts from around here and I'm adding it accordingly and darkening up this area here. I'm applying quite a lot of pressure, to be honest, like not strong enough to break a pencil. But from applying, have your pressure so that I immediately darken up this part of the father here. There are some hairs that are kind of overlapping each other. There's a chaotic movement of here's which I want to keep. I really like how it looks. It's going to just make our feather look more alive 26. White Feather | Part 3: Okay, so we're going. We're here then on this side, I see that by the central. But we have that shadow on it curves inwards. And it's a lot darker than this out orbit. So I need to keep that in mind in the morning, that value. And here it curves. In this way, the ornament on our father always think about how your father curves inwards or outwards, How that particular part of section of the feather curves Okay, so now we can switch on to the next value. And this is my HB. So still not going to dark. I'm going to start with these darkest areas. First. I'm intensifying those. The judge is very important to keep it tidy, the creating a bit of chaos here. The tip and over here against it's quite dark and huge is just a bit of overlap happening of this darkness in light. It's part of the father. So you can see what these layers off shading were able to achieve. The appearance of this father actually being consisting of different hairs, darkening this area that is dark thanks to the shadow. And thanks to the shape of how our father is curving, and then this bit also is likely slightly darker, increasing the value off this area and again, um, very important to actually hold off on those darkest values in the beginning. 27. Pigeon Feather | Sketch: So now let's combine what we have learned so far. And let's create realistic feather that will have all the attributes that we talked about in the previous feathers. So we have markings here. This is again a pigeon feather. It has a slightly different shape. Um, so it's rounder at the top here. Then we have the white fuzz. So we have the latest file used and we have Ah, but of those sections happening here as well. So let's start by creating that shape, just gonna clean up here the paper bit. So I am creating that central line here first. Then I'm adding the shape off my father. And again, I'm just looking at the overall shape as it kind of becomes narrower, too. It's the bottom here. And then over here we will have some of those sections poking out, just sketching those out for myself so that I know where to move. Then on this side we will have a narrower bit. And here I can also see how it could have fold so I can see this other side of the father just a minute. So from my point of view, where I see it this edge. I can just of it see it. So it's quite curved this side. So it's very interesting, this shape of the feather. And then, of course, we have the markings which will add and the fluffy event. 28. Pigeon Feather | Part 1: So let's start the first stone again. Using two to h. So this is the hardest pencil that I have in my well, you scale. I'm going. Tried those initial hairs. Friends always thinking about the shape of my father. So this section curves towards me. And when I'm shading this section and what I'm thinking about is smooth. So I wanted to look quite smooth and thinking about these adjectives is going to help me actually, or try it that way. Nearly go. So this is the first layer. Then we go on this side, and here we're creating the texture but curving it away from us. If you draw a further a day, your shading skills will improve a lot. Because by shading feathers you learn to create those markings that run in a precise direction and that have, uh, an Inter kel, that is the same all throughout. Okay, so this is the first layer. Now we can pass on to the next layer again. I'm not changing my pencil yet. It's gonna clean up those lines just but here so that they don't distract me. So we're always keeping our work clean and we can start adding the second layer. Again, We're working on the same principle as in the previous fathers, from light to dark. And here I am darkening up slightly this section because this part of the father is quite dark. So this is going to be my lightest value, This central it here. So now, already, as I'm applying the tone, I'm thinking about the value of the object itself. The local value of the object, not only lights and darks off the shadows here we can use the little circular movements that we talked about in the previous examples. Just cover up that here you 29. Pigeon Feather | Part 2: and this step here is going to be later because the local value of the object is later. So I'm gonna leave it later, but darkening of the value even of the highlight. Because here this area is darker. Then this area in the middle here. So here I'm just kind of creating that line, thinking about the ornament that we have on the professor here, always moving in the direction off the hairs, how they grow. Okay, so we don't think this here, you up. Now we can move on to the other side so that we don't lose the ornament and you can clearly see help. This kind of folds on the shape off the curvature of our feather, so want to portray that as well? Still not switching to a darker pencil. We will get to that just increasing the value, but at the same time thinking about the shape, how our further curves here, I feel that it lacks about the value if I see that my drawing lacks something in any anywhere. So I can always go back and forth and kind of keep my drawing at the same state of readiness. So at the same point off finishing finish here. Not dark enough, this area, because there's gonna be the cast shadow. And then here I see that this value slightly lightens up, so I'm going to keep that lighter as well. I don't want to lose that central bit. I'm gonna outline. That just meant like so here. I see that my ornaments starts from around here and I'm adding it accordingly and darkening up this area here. I'm applying quite a lot of pressure, to be honest, like not strong enough to break a pencil. But from applying, have your pressure so that I immediately darken up this part of the father here. There are some hairs that are kind of overlapping each other. There's a chaotic movement of here's which I want to keep. I really like how it looks. It's going to just make our feather look more alive 30. Pigeon Feather | Part 3: Okay, so we're going. We're here then on this side, I see that by the central. But we have that shadow on it curves inwards. And it's a lot darker than this out orbit. So I need to keep that in mind in the morning, that value. And here it curves. In this way, the ornament on our father always think about how your father curves inwards or outwards, How that particular part of section of the feather curves Okay, so now we can switch on to the next value. And this is my HB. So still not going to dark. I'm going to start with these darkest areas. First. I'm intensifying those. The judge is very important to keep it tidy, the creating a bit of chaos here. The tip and over here against it's quite dark and huge is just a bit of overlap happening of this darkness in light. It's part of the father. So you can see what these layers off shading were able to achieve. The appearance of this father actually being consisting of different hairs, darkening this area that is dark thanks to the shadow. And thanks to the shape of how our father is curving, and then this bit also is likely slightly darker, increasing the value off this area and again, um, very important to actually hold off on those darkest values in the beginning. 31. Pigeon Feather | Part 4: you can always use them over the lightest ones here. I'm gonna go again with this HB and then a bit more value here when I see that there are those beautiful overlaps kind of parts where some of those hairs glink together there are beautiful to portray. And as the form curves away from the light creates that beautiful, um, shadow Here, it's the form shadow. So think of it as a cylinder. Part of a cylinder. Okay, so here, I'm gonna do these tiny movements. Just cover up those whites in the part of the shadow. Very likely. Okay. And now we're missing the shadow on this side, constantly thinking about how the feather is curving, covering up those white gaps that I was here Still to wait just to add more depth shower further, even though that appears to deflect, still has a shape to it. Okay, so during the same thing here. So first I'm adding the tone to this year. Yes, odes darker then this area here. But at the same time, it's light turned on this stop area. The only thing that we need to darken up quite substantially is this shadow. So this side with what? The shadow. And then we have this bit here that's darker. This is the fold of our father that we can see. Then it disappears in here, and I'm leaving. It's like white rim around just to indicate the sickness of the feather itself. So this thickness here off this Harry bit. 32. Pigeon Feather | Part 5: And now I'm going to switch immediately to five. Bean. You can best over the whole drawing with your to be. But I'm gonna go into this darkest value now. And to start adding the tone to this there, you're here. So it has to be darker. And then we have also a cast shadow over here. Like so Okay, so here I can lift out just some bids. Where I see the light actually catches the father just a bit. Just great. More interest and darken it up on this side, closer to the central line. The same thing. I need to dark enough this area. But here I have to remember that I have a highlight. So from the center, it's going to be darker and from the edge. It's great. Just lurking in up the whole section, slightly war. So we have the division between this this and this total value. Okay, I'm going to switch to to be I'm going to start adding those darks to this section that is later and value than the top one. - Okay , so I'm dividing a bit of those sections. That seems likely darker. We have that now we can add the fluffy bit. So I see that here there's but the fluff overlapping. I'm gonna start adding that fluffy bit that is lighter in value than the rest of our father . 33. Pigeon Feather | Part 6: just as we did previously moving chaotically to create that appearance bluff. I'm adding a shadow, too. Our central bit us well, so it's not bright. White will have a shadow running on it. It's also, um, kind of a cylinder, and then we can start adding the shadow to the father itself. But so the closer to the object, the darker the shadow like So now I'm going to switch back to my five b just a bit. Intensify those values where I see that I'm lacking that value intensity. Basically, we need to darken it in places. Just create the drawing. More dramatic need to darken it with places where there are occurring natural shadows, or were the part of the father is naturally darker. There are some areas where some strands are overlapping because this father is not need on the bird. But it's but fuzzy already talking it up that edge so that it looks neater, like so and on this side doing the same thing, constantly, thinking about the shape. If the pencil becomes too, don't you need to sharpen it? So I'm saying that my pencil starting to become quit, though there's gonna be some shadows in between here gonna take a hard on HB home, Just intensified this shadow with a harder pencil. Okay? And you can see how our father starts to become more, um, alive than some places in that like of love. There's gonna be shadows too. So I'm gonna just that here, the father and of clumps Together and Polices, I'm gonna intensify that value of your number closer to the lights just to can have make a bigger contrast here. And that is it. Our father is all ready. So for now, what we can do is just we can look. But along with others, you hear the result. 34. Final Thoughts & Thank you!: our feathers are already we talked through, creating a new ornament on a feather that is the same color. Ah, dark feather, A very light feather. And then we created realistic pigeon's feather. Um, get clean up some of those lines over here, and I think that by now you should be very familiar at how to portray, um, different kinds of feathers. And I think you can have a lot of fun and practice while drawing feathers like this. Do post your projects and do ask any questions. If you have any, I will be very happy to answer. I'm really eager to see different kinds of feathers. For now. I have to say Thank you so much for watching. I really hope to see you in my other glasses. And if it's not that difficult, I would really appreciate you leaving a review of this class and sharing it may be with your friends. That would be amazing for now. Thank you. This is it. Um, my class on father's is already and I will see you in my future classes. Thank you. Bye.