1. I am a beginner and super detail-oriented. Drawing from a photo helps me to see details I would miss if the bird was moving outdoors. On the website there is a game to test your knowledge of bird anatomy.  I found that my brief exploration improved drawing the bird in proper proportion, relatively speaking. I wish I knew how to better illustrate the fluffy/downy feathers from say, tail feathers.

Drawing from the photo felt easier than trying to sketch a bird in the field. There is the luxury of everything sitting still. Using colour - in this case watercolour - is new to me, so I find it challenging and I hope to improve this. I want to learn how to use the colours for reference without losing details that my pencil and pen create. I might have overlooked the feather groupings and the colour of the legs as well as the shape of the leaves if I had not stopped to draw it. -Laurna, Toronto Canada

Comfortable.  I have done drawings before and pencil is my favorite.  Pretty much all of it was pretty easy.  I took the course to learn some new things I hope.  I do birding with friends for some years now.  Drawing will help me remember them better.  The bird likes berries so my guess is that it is in a berry type bush or a birch tree of some sort by the leaves. Paper makes a big difference in what you want to do.  Nature is one of my favorite things to watch.  I learned that the color of beaks and legs also help identify the bird in some cases. 

Getting the dimensions/proportions and details were challenging. But taking note of the warbler's position in relation to the leaves and the branches helped a lot. Through a photo, I noticed more of the details and the richness of the colors that I likely wouldn't have picked up from a drawing. I suspect I'll need to take photos first when I begin field sketching. My eyesight is not great and I feel like I'd miss a lot of the birds' details along with their environment.

Drawing really made me look at the details. It imprinted them in a way that the photograph did not. The drawing tests my patience. The photo is instant gratification.

The advantages of the photos over the drawings and vice versa? The photograph has great detail and color information that a drawing done on a smaller format using only graphite lacks. Nevertheless it makes the subject look flat. Although the photograph is focused on the bird a draftsperson has more control over which part of the picture he can add detail to as well as what to omit. 1. I felt comfortable drawing from the photograph because the subject wasn’t moving. Getting the proportions and the main pose of the bird was easy, however it was difficult to capture all the detail that I saw in the photograph. I think I should have drawn the bird at least twice as big. Also it was a challenge to capture the brightness of the bird's feathers. I think I would have been more comfortable had I been working on toned paper or if I had added a tone to the entire background (the photograph background is a medium tone and green in contrast to the yellow of the bird so that it really stands out). 2. Drawing from this photograph made me observe each part of the bird for a longer period of time than I would have just casually looking at it. This allowed me to notice the detail of the feathers around the eyes, the subtle color difference between the birds above and below feathers and the peculiar shape of the top part of the beak. I think that observing the subject for longer periods of time certainly makes a difference and it would do so in nature journaling as well.

1) A bit nervous, but tried tom look closely and draw what I see.  Once I looked at how the bird is located on the branch and how the different body parts are in relation to each other it was a bit easier to get the dimensions.  Found it difficult to get the lichen and the shading on the leaves.   2) Probably wouldn't have noticed the fringed feathers, and the different shadings - just see more of the whole and register that without looking specifically at each part.  Yes I think it is easy to just register the image rather than looking at how all the subparts of the image are in relation to each other and how they overlap - it is more likely that a phot is seen as one or two dimensional.

This was interesting. I have always been intimidated about drawing birds. I realize now that careful observations will help me improve. I did love having a subject that didn't jump around.  I will need to improve my computer skills, however. Taking the photo was the most challenging part.

This was a very fun exercise.  I'm new to drawing so the most difficult aspects of this are getting the proportions right as well as learning how to show shadows and negative space.  But I'm overall pleased with this drawing.  I'm impressed at how some people can whip their drawings together in just a few minutes!  This took me over an hour.  It's so easy to get lost in time when drawing.

I enjoyed drawing from the photo. However, I've always been better at drawing inanimate objects.  :)  I want to get more life into my drawings, eyes are my nemesis. I believe that becoming intimate with your subject always draws your attention to the finer details.   I've included my lowly attempt.  :)  

I'm so used to my subjects moving so fast when I am sketching birds. It was nice to draw from a photo! I feel like I may have made it more wooden feeling, though, because there was no movement to capture. But I was able to see details I wouldn't otherwise have been able to see. The stripes on the bird's breast I probably wouldn't have seen if it were in real life. I did a very quick sketch, in ink, because that's how I usually sketch when I am nature journaling. The hardest part for me was judging my work. I am not very talented or good at drawing.

Loved the exercise. The photo made it easy to observe, sketch, observe, sketch, observe some more and sketched and then try to get the main colours right. In nature the little fellow would have been long gone before I even finished typing these three sentences. The annotations made me think more about the details as well, notably the difference between the  finer dark grey stripping on wings compared to orangish brown coarse stripping on lower body.  Tried to complete my sketch in under 5 minutes since figured that would be well in excess of what a real nature venue would allow. Will have to try water colour paints... the colouring pencils were not capturing the shades or hues very well. Great sketches by all the other participants... congratulations to everyone. Not ready to share my attempt yet, my grandkids may see them and may be merciless in their critique.

It's a little bit hard to depict the feather of this bird but I think the part of general outline is OK. There are much more layers of birds' feather on their wings and that's a difficulty for me to draw them.

A little intimidating. More comfortable starting with the branches. A bit of a struggle to get the bird’s ratio and perspective correct.  The fine feathering structure was more varied than I realized and fell there will be a rather larger learning curve to get it accurately.  

I enjoyed this… it was a good feeling to “jump in.” It helped to format my drawing area to approximate the dimensions of the image on my iPad screen. Then, blocking in the branches provided a foundation for me to have some success with my goal of placing the warbler in relative size with its surroundings. Drawing from a photo is great! Everything is locked in place. Drawing most definitely inspired me to look closely at details and their relationships with each other. I am an amateur photo-naturalist and believe this skill (photo to drawing) will greatly enhance my observation skills and understanding of Nature’s intricacies. It seemed logical to begin labeling and jotting down questions.

I’m so rusty with drawing that I felt a little intimidated. 1. I feel like my proportions are off with the bird. It will be interesting to see if there are improvements over the course of time. Drawing from a photo is a bit easier for things like birds and animals since they are captured in the moment, and for seeing some detail. The challenge is the lighting made it a little difficult to see the detail of leaves on the tree, but I also just roughed those in. 2. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the nuanced coloring on the head and wings. 3. Making notations of those differences and nuances might trigger my memory when doing field sketches.

My first pencildrawing of the yellow bird. I am going to color it with colorpencils. Can't decide wether to go over it with a black pen first. I know that will give the drawing a harder impression than if I dont. And I dont nessecarily want that. On the other hand I will be more in control of the drawing.  /Eva

Trying to the get proportions on the beak just right really made me look at the shape of the beak. A detail I wouldn't have thought about while taking a photo. Drawing lets me pick what stands out to me.

Liz didn’t say to paint, only to draw — so that’s exactly what I did. I worked quickly and tried to capture some dimension in B&W. 1. I loved drawing from the photo … it helped see details & proportions more easily. The feathers individually were challenging - so I just blocked them in -  and the basic shape was fairly easy. 2. The little circle around the eye is never seen unless I draw a bird. The nuanced feathers and markings would not be noticed in detail except for drawing. The beak is very different when drawing from photos than seeing on the wing. All those details would slow me down and possibly cause me to ask WHY/purpose  (form follows function) questions in my journal.

1. Drawing the basic shape of the bird was easy, but adding the details of feathers/shading was more difficult. Drawing from the photo was much easier than drawing in person, since the bird doesn't move or leave. But it was difficult to make the bird look "alive" since it's so static in the photo.   2. I wouldn't have noticed the minor color differences or how the talons curled around the branch without the photo. I would have been too focused on trying to draw the shape and get the base colors for the bird before it left. With creatures, I would have to draw quickly to catch them, which may leave me without the chance to study them closely. With plants and landscapes I should be able to slow down and get the minor details.  

I'm usually more comfortable drawing from a photo than from real life or memory, probably because the photo allows me lots of time and something 2-D to work from. I only saw all of the beautiful coloured birds posted by others after I had finished mine (and my son his). My 11-year-old son thinks that drawing is more fun than photography and can be more impressive.

when you love to draw and enjoy it, all the sensations are really satisfactory and gratifying, was not exactly dificult because usually i make drawings taking a photo as reference, but using few colours with pencils, ballpens and maker pens, so with this course, i hope to learn and test new techniques and materials as watercolor and improve it, more specific i think to emphasize some details in a few brushstrokes,  influencing of course, in a more sensitive final result too.

1. It felt intimidating in one sense to try to draw that beautiful bird from such an expert photo. What came easily was the basic bird shape inside the brain already but trying to actually translate what was being seen in the photo to the paper was challenging. The finer details of the feather lines and the fluffy feathers along the tops of the legs and the exact sillouette was challenging. 2. Yes, I would not have noticed the finer details of the feather lines and the fluffy feathers along the tops of the legs and the exact sillouette if I had not been asked to draw it. Yes, it will make a difference in nature journaling, to take something that you observe and notice and ensure you capture it in the journal (but it would not have to be excat replication, you could add a note about what that part of your drawing was meant to show).

I got very happily involved in this activity! I can get really precious with my drawings and overwork them, and was stymied at first putting down the first few marks & reworking proportions.  I work from photos I've taken frequently because I draw slowly. When out hiking, I usually just take a few notes & then photograph or do a scribbly minimal sketch. Here I decided to play with a mix of pen, watercolor pencil and brush, and pencil. Messing about with media where I'm less comfortable ended up being really satisfying. I know I didn't get the feathers as exact as a photograph, but I don't mind--as long as the significant markers are accurately depicted. (Plus I'm not sure I would ever have the patience.) I did like thinking through how to create an impression of the different textures of the feathers and lichens/mosses and how they moved. Without the photo I certainly wouldn't have picked up on the depth of detail.  I do find that I remember more about my observations when I draw and write.

When I draw the birds I feel like I remember them better. I. Enjoy the drawing....but wish I was better at it! Promotion is tough....and the legs and feet are impossible haha!