Gestural Sketches

These gestural sketches are great for warm-up and show that a good sketch doesn’t have to have many lines. Don’t be afraid to make bold strokes in this step, and - very important - don’t be mad at yourself when a sketch doesn’t end up good. Simply make another one. This exercise is for warming up.

 

Robin
I followed my step-by-step process for drawing and painting this robin (sketches, basic shapes, lines and angles, color, details):

 

Blackbird
Using a slightly looser approach, you can get interesting sketchbook pages where drawing and painting complement each other:

 

Great Tit
Drawing the same species in several positions and from different angles helps to understand how they sit and move. You can draw and paint as loose or detailed as you like.