KristynJanelle on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/kristynjanelle/art/Drawing-Birds-Beak-Walkthrough-Tutorial-350805483KristynJanelle

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Drawing Birds - Beak Walkthrough/Tutorial

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As promised, another tutorial is up! This is for how I draw beaks. In particular, parrot beaks, although this can be applied to beaks and bills in general, with a little adjustment. As before, it is by no means a foolproof method, it's just how I go about it.

Also, drawing beaks is a LOT more tedious than feathers by my method, so I'm sorry if this is incredibly boring. Hopefully it helps someone!

STEPS :

1. Work out the line-art. The size and shape of the beak can be very important to keeping the anatomy correct and keeping it looking like the species it's supposed to, especially the positioning of the beak on the face. If it's too inset, up high, too small, etc. it will drastically change the image. I myself have been guilty of this on many occasions, it's definitely a big one to watch out for.

2. Determine where the cracks, scrapes, and chips on the beak are that catch the light. These may criss-cross (often times they do), be jagged and irregular, or be pretty straight across. There's usually a variety. Depending on what kind of bird you're drawing, they may be more or less noticeable. Use a sharp white pencil to give yourself some guidelines.

3. Now, for the darkest of the shadows. Usually there will be a shadow where the beak meets the face, as well as where the lower mandible rests in the upper one. You may also have some dark scrapes and cracks. Be sure to add those with a sharpened black pencil at this point.

4. I accidentally put the same picture twice and I am too lazy to take it out.

5 & 6. Start focusing on the general color of the beak. In this case, grey-ish black. I took some light grey to add highlights, which are usually along the top of the beak, and then I used dark grey to fill in more of the general color, still leaving some room to work. Sharpness of the pencil isn't too important at this point, and you can even lightly go over scratches and marks to made to start off with.

7. It is still lacking in detail. So I begin more layering at this point, going back to black. Making sure it is very sharp, I start to draw more shadows an scrapes in. Remember not to go too overboard at this point, however, as it is important to still have white and highlights, and if you use too much black it'll be difficult to add those back in.

8. More grey! Even though the beak is what we would perceive as black, the light hitting it causes most of it to appear lighter than we actually think of it as being. It is important to pay attention to this when drawing. Black is rarely truly solid black, and white is rarely pure.

9. At this point I just keep alternating between white and black scratches. A bit difficult to narrate because it gets a little hectic here, I just add whatever looks right. A lot of the time it helps define the crackles better to draw a white and black line side by side, for contrast.

10. Finally, I fill in any blank spaces with more grey, just to give the beak a solid and finished look overall.

11, 12, & 13. Annnddd we're done! I often times am sure to draw the beak first, because it's one of the more boring parts, at least for me. I want to get it out of the way so I don't rush it later.

Like I said, I hope someone finds this helpful! It's not as organized as my previous one, but I tried my best to make it comprehensive. Let me know if you try it out :)
Image size
500x6470px 4.12 MB
© 2013 - 2024 KristynJanelle
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