Bright-eyed and alert, this plump Snow Bunting with its cozy collar seems unconcerned by a snowy squall. He and his cohorts only “laugh” as they rise in a cloud, swooping and landing on another feeding spot among the weeds to peck out seeds. And when night comes, why, where could a cozier bed be found than all huddled together in a soft, fluffy snowbank?
You will need:
- Sketch paper
- Card stock
- Pencil
- Black fine-tip marker
- White gel pen or 10/0 fine brush
- Foam sheet
- #20 fat brush
- Soft-lead pencil colors:
Burnt ochre
Dark umber
Gray
Black
Goldenrod or yellow ochre - Acrylic paints:
Black
White
Gray
Yellow ochre
- On regular paper, lightly draw 1” grid lines and sketch your bunting scene block by block as the guide picture shows. When you like what you see, trace over your drawing with a fine-tip black marker. Place that under cardstock and trace your bird scene with your pencil.
- Your scene is ready for color. Do the eye first, using a black fine-tip marker, leaving a highlight. Holding a burnt ochre pencil color on its side, sweep along the sides of the head and on to the “collar.” Over that, layer yellow ochre or goldenrod. Add a bit of dark umber where you see more darkness. Press hard with goldenrod over the back area where shown.
- Now use pencil or paint to add the small Vs over the goldenrod. Continue with black for feathers with white thin-line divisions on the wings and tail. A white gel pen is great here. Use a bit of gray for white feather divisions. Use black for the feet.
- Use goldenrod and dark umber for spent leaves. The rock is gray and black. Dab in snow over the rock with a scruffy brush or foam “thimble.” Add more snow linings to twigs with a white gel pen or a 10/0 fine brush.
- Using your fat #20 brush, brush in a blue and dark blue haze with chalks. It must be dark enough for snowflakes to stand out. I made a small cover-up stencil by tracing part of the bird, then cutting out the shape. Place this over the drawing; then brush off of this with your chalked brush without getting any blue on the bird’s belly. Then with a small flat shader brush and chalks, brush in a few hazy evergreen trees in the background.
- Now for more fun…dab in many snowflakes to illustrate the snow squall, even the flurry of the wind blowing the flakes along. (If you have a definite flaw you wish weren’t there, you could simply dot in more snowflakes!) When your snowy scene is beautiful, YOU ARE DONE. Good job!
