Lately, whenever I drew a cardinal, it seemed "off," but I didn't know why.
So I drew lines on my reference photo to see what lined up with what ... and discovered that I'd been putting the eye in the wrong place, as well as not making the head wide enough.
In sparrows, for example, the eye sits on top of a line drawn from the middle of the beak; on the cardinal the top of the eye aligns with the top of the beak.
5 comments:
I love your watercolors, they stay so fresh. My tendency is to overwork, so I love seeing your examples. I'm also impressed with how you paint and post almost every day. I need a 30 day challenge to do that!
Thank you, Janet. I am getting better at stopping, but I still overwork--usually when I'm frustrated!
I have been trying to paint--even a little--everyday and post frequently, as I did when I first started blogging. In recent years I've stopped and started blogging in fits, but being more intenional about it 1) helps my painting and, 2) brings more people to the blog, which then inspires me to see more art!
I just admired your cardinal, when I saw you commented on my robin. Great observation about the placement of the eye. It sometimes is so hard to find what is 'off'. I love your snowy background!
Laura , this is what's so helpful to artists. I can't tell about the lineup on mine if it's off.. but now that you've pointed that out I'll be aware of it when I do my cardinals... Yours did turn out so well on this ...
Thank you, Judy and Barbara Joan.
I didnt consult it for this drawing (lazy!) but I have John Muir Laws's terrific book on drawing birds; there's also a tremendous amount of helpful info on his website, johnmuirlaws.com
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