🦊 Birdtober: Part I
A marathon month of bird sketches
I went on a bird drawing binge in October. Lately, drawing feels a lot easier than writing. In the throes of grief, where I often cannot find the words, drawing is an outlet I’m grateful to have.
I took a short online course on watercolor bird sketching led by Sofia Garzaran. I was tempted by Sofia’s invitation to approach sketches with the goal of letting go of perfection, keeping the sketch time short (15-30 mins), and using only a pen and water brush. I really liked that last constraint, because for a while I’ve felt overwhelmed by my own art supplies. This course was liberating.
Today I’ll share some of my favorite watercolor sketches I did for the course. In my next newsletter, I’ll share sketches with a different medium, which I did as part in the online Birdtober sketch-a-day challenge. If you enjoy these sketches, stay tuned for more!
I began with this pigeon, and was happily surprised with how well it turned out. I don’t normally like the look of pen outlines with watercolor—they can detract from the loose fade of the water effects. But for sketches like this, if you leave gaps in the lines and whitespace in the colors, it can have a really nice effect. Whitespace (or negative space) is such a simple yet powerful tool that can totally change the impact of drawings.
Here’s a little process video too! (I’ve been sharing a lot of behind the scenes on drawing process lately on my Instagram @salmanscribbles.)
Next up: A song sparrow, singin his heart out. While taking a photo of my sketch, I loved the little rainbow and strong shadow the sunlight was casting on it. I thought it was so neat how I could use the light as part of the composition itself. This is the kind of fun stuff you can do with traditional media, playing with the physicality of the piece itself:
When I drew this crow, at first I didn’t love how loose I got with my pen lines, but once it was done, it really added to the ‘sketchy’ feel along with the watercolor. I think this one’s my favorite of the bunch:
A very serious woodpecker (irritated by his extremely loud cousin, Woody.)
A barn swallow: (Or, perhaps, Batman in disguise?)
Last but most certainly not least, a pheasant. This bird is the life of every party, they have all the audacity, and yes, they did that.
By the end of the course, I had finished my first watercolor sketchbook! I’m really proud of this milestone, and hope to slowly use up all the sketchbooks I have lying around (a man can dream.)
There’s something really special about a physical sketchbook (or journal, diary, planner, etc.) I really like looking at it, holding it, flipping through it. It’s something I never did with my art on Procreate, despite having drawing hundreds of sketches on my iPad. I’m really glad I tried traditional art after starting with digital—it’s been a real game-changer for me in terms of enjoying my art.
I made a little sketchbook tour video, alongside some views of my backyard birds, which I take care of in memory of my mom:
Until next time,
—Salman Ansari