Drawing inspiration from nature - a closer look at my bird illustrations
I’ve been updating the portfolio section of my website recently and it has been interesting to note how frequently I choose a bird, or birds, as my subject. I've always loved watching birds, learning their names and their habits - although I'm still a long way off being able to reliably recognise bird song! When I started teaching myself to draw and paint as part of my mid-life career change, I seemed to unconsciously gravitate towards wildlife and nature subjects and then came to a gradual focus on illustrating birds - specifically British birds - in all their variety.
Learning the Art of Bird Illustration
I am, of course, far from being the first artist to enjoy depicting birds. Humans have long had a fascination with birds - jealous or admiring - of their freedom in flight. Birds are even present in the earliest known art at the Lascaux Caves and continue to be a favourite subject for many artists to this day. Search the internet for 'bird symbolism in art' and you'll find that birds have long been used as symbols (of peace, freedom, love, spirituality, wealth, power, colonialism - the list goes on).
However, I think artists are primarily drawn to birds as subjects because they can be seen in a wide range of environments and their form, line, colour and movement are all fascinating to observe and attempt to recreate.
One of the nicest pieces of feedback I’ve ever had on my art was a lovely lady who told me “It's hard to paint birds, technically and with soul and you do it.” I’ve spent quite a lot of time looking at bird anatomy to better understand what I’m seeing when I look at a bird in real life, as well as countless hours sketching birds to improve my ability to create a more realistic drawing or painting. (This photo shows just a tiny few pages from sketchbooks or loose studies devoted to birds!) I’m prepared to accept that there will always be room for improvement and I continue to practice, and participate in workshops and draw-along sessions, because I really do love the subject matter!
Those who follow my work will know that I’ve started to explore coloured pencil in my illustration, after a few years of focusing solely on pen, pen-and-ink and watercolour. It is exciting to think that there are more media and approaches that I could consider - I even had a brief (and tiny at 4cmx4cm) experiment with linocut printing this summer and - of course - the subject I chose was a Swift.
Spotlight on
I thought I’d share my current ‘top 3’ bird illustrations here - although it was quite difficult to decide what to include! I’ve tried to showcase different media/approaches across the three pieces to highlight specific challenges or opportunities that arose in the making.
Puffins in watercolour
Puffins are special to me as we live quite close to one of their largest breeding colonies in the UK on Lindisfarne.
This was actually one of the first full illustrations of birds that I painted in just watercolour and it taught me a lot about the need to stay loose in the medium and not get too hung up on detail. I was ultimately pleased with my attempt to capture the form of the birds, as well as the movement in the composition.
Wren in coloured pencil
In contrast to watercolour, illustrating in coloured pencil allows for significantly more detail - but does require an exceptional amount of patience. I worked on this piece over quite a few weeks - doing perhaps 15 to 30 minutes at a time to build up the layers of feather texture.
In spite of how long it took me to complete, I so enjoyed the process that I’ve started to develop more work in coloured pencil - I think it works beautifully as a medium for hyper-realistic wildlife illustration.
Mixed media - Curlew in the Cheviots
This was a very dramatic experiment for me in a totally different style that married a range of mixed media (coloured pencil, watercolour, pen) and digital techniques to create this representation of curlew within a landscape.
We often walk in the Cheviot Hills, which span the border between North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and we always see a wealth of wildlife - so this piece stemmed from wanting to celebrate a place that I enjoy being in, as well as the wildlife we see.
I was aiming for a sort of over-saturated and textured illustrations you used to find in old-fashioned walking or natural history books, whilst still making the curlew (and the landscape) recognisable.
Explore more
If you’ve enjoyed this blog post, you can see more of my bird illustrations in the portfolio section of my website and I also have a range of bird-themed collections as part of my art prints and gifts range, including:
Birds of the Tweed Estuary A6 Card and A4 Art Print
British Songbirds A4 Art Print, Wooden Coasters, Square Note Cards, Tea Towel
Coastal Birds of North Northumberland A3 Art Map Print, A4 Art Map Print, A4 Art Print, Wooden Coasters, Square Note Cards, Tea Towel
Coloured Pencil Wren Note Cards and Coloured Pencil Song Thrush Note Cards
If you would be interested in commissioning me to create a bespoke bird (or other wildlife) illustration - to gift to a loved one, for your own home, or for editorial/publishing/business use, please have a look at the Commissions section of my website and then get in touch - I’d love to hear about your project!