Birds of Prey sketches

Knowledge of anatomy plays a big part in sketching people and other mammals. It is often underestimated how much studying artists do to perfect this craft. If you understand the bone structure and the muscle function and location, you can sketch a hose galloping or a model lifting on her toes in a ballet pose. Three great helps in sketching are the muscle tones under the skin, flowing hair in the case of female models and horses and wrinkles in the case of portraits of older subjects. All this is of little help when sketching birds of prey…

The feathers hide all of the

definition of the muscles under the skin. The feathers of falcons are typically grey and spotted, making it more suitable for watercolour than black and white ink drawing. Last weekend, as I was setting up the easel to do a few birds of prey drawings and getting out the pot of Winsor and Newton Indian ink, I was asking myself: what are the redeeming qualities of sketching birds of prey? Where do I start?

Hawks, Eagles, Ospreys and Falcons are striking in flight. The tips of the wings of osprey are especially lovely when gliding. Eagles and Falcons grab their prey in flight with stretched out claws while spreading their wings and tail feathers to stabilize their movement, making for very dynamic drawings. Vultures tuck in their necks in flight, and have enormous wingspans, making the drawings feel heavy- almost as if the vultures are just experimenting with flight, but does not really belong in the sky. When a vulture try and keep his fellow birds from a carcass, his wings bend down in a peculiar pose hard to capture on canvas.

I grew up with secretary birds in the countryside. Secretary birds have beautiful crown feathers and when spread makes for good subjects for portrait drawing. The aim is to capture the stately character and back and forth swagger of the neck in a still drawing. The yellows and oranges around their eyes in contrast with the white feathers invites the artist to di-tone the sketches. Sketching in white ink or pastels on dark paper works well when sketching secretary birds, given the chaos of the black and white feathers in their crowns.

I am attaching a few drawings with this post as to illustrate some of the thoughts above. For now I am returning to sketching those creatures whose anatomy makes sense to me… hopefully getting to the Al Ruwayyah Stables next weekend for inspiration.

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