Advantage Drawing: I get a better understanding of the subject’s physiology, overall size and shape. By drawing it I can emphasis and focus on some the “Trade Mark”ings of the subject. Advantage Photo: Stops Movement. Size and Shape are not disputable. 1. Drawing from the photo gave me time to complete my sketch. The angle of the Warbler was the biggest challenge (I felt). 2. The feet and their grip on the branch was interesting and I’m sure I would not have noticed that in the photo alone. Also, the emphasis surrounding the eye would have been lost for sure. Louise

I enjoyed this activity.  I thought the positioning of everything was the most difficult.  I also wish I would have added color.  The shading on the tree and some of the bird is also difficult to capture.  Sorry if this shows up twice I submitted an answer previous but didn't see the submission. I would not have noticed the nostril or the membrane on the beak if I wasn't asked to draw it.  Additionally, I would have missed all the Lichens.  

1) I have not drawn anything since high school--about 50 years ago. I enjoyed my art classes then. So, drawing from the photo brought back a lot of those memories. I remembered how much better I got when I drew every day--that kept me encouraged. I think it would have been frustrating otherwise. Drawing perspective to make the bird look three-dimensional was challenging. Drawing the relative sizes of the bird's body parts (bill, head, eye, wings, etc) was easier than drawing the perspective. 2)The leaves look as though they have been eaten--I wouldn't have noticed it without drawing them. This might be important for information about the bird's environment. Does the bird eat the insects that eat the leaves? It made me want to ask more questions about the photo--what time of year is this? Is the bird migrating? Drawing the photo made me notice field markings for the bird--no eye ring, the color of the legs, the amount and color of the streaking on the breast,etc. This would be helpful if I were trying to identify the bird in the field.

I'm retired, and haven't drawn anything of note since elementary school. I enjoyed taking the time to notice fine details in the image, and I found the process meditative. My pencil drawing was okay, had trouble adding the watercolors. Look forward to learning some techniques to improve the drawing and colors. I love seeing all your different examples. Nice work!

As mentioned by others, having the photo meant the bird kept still and I had time to see details.  After reading other comments I realize that I was. Outing and trying to draw the details of each feather without noticing the general character of clusters of feathers. getting the initial shape was hard. My poor bird was anorexic at first.

Drawing from a photos is within my comfort zone.  I’ve drawn birds before so the outline is less of a challenge. Branches and leaves on the other hand are a lot harder photos are useful to see all details when zoomed in. Also the subject matter stays in the same pose so you can take your time.

Getting the basic shape and proportions wasn't too hard. (I've drawn birds from photos before.) Getting the feathering right without it looking stilted was almost impossible, and I have a tendency to do everything in a very sketchy manner. I would like to address this during the course. I wouldn't have noticed the other toes on the feet curling around from the back of the branch if I hadn't been drawing it. I'm not happy with the way I did the wings and how the feet emerge from the body. It will be fun to sit down another time and make a good, detailed drawing.

1. Drawing from the photo gave me lots of time to mess around on the page, maybe too much time because there is a lot to see on one little bird. The basic sketch was easier than I thought it would be so I was surprised and happy with how that turned out. Once I decided to color it I felt like I was ruining it. My bird looks more like a thrush than a warbler. Oh well first try! 2. I wouldn't have studied this photo as intensely if I wasn't drawing it. I really got into the feathers. I love feathers, they are so beautiful. I really want to play around with sketching and painting feathers. On this warbler the yellow feathers above the legs are so wispy and the scallop pattern on the wings and tail are super intricate. The feathers really produce the shape and attitude of the bird. It's hard to reproduce that. The drawing flattens the warbler. I hope to learn how to put some personality into the subject by making those feathers fluff out on the page.  

I found the suggestion to think of the bird as a series of connected shapes (ovals in this case) to be helpful for getting the proportions right.  I enjoyed trying to capture his personality.

SO much fun looking at everyone's wonderful drawings. :-)

1. It was nice having the subject not move! In fact, I started it on the 7th and then had company and didn't finish it until today, the 15th! It was challenging to capture everything I saw with pencil only. Decided not to try color yet since I am totally new at this. Also was challenging to not keep fussing with it. 2. I really noticed everything going on with the branch, with all the texture and lichen. Also the different colors and patterns in the bird's feathers. And the irregularities in the leaves--chewed areas, brown spots, etc.

Hi folks! Got a bit of a late start to the course but I finally got around to it. Actually putting to paper was tough, but once I set out do it without overthinking it got easier. I found getting the placement of different elements was a challenge. Where does the beak go? How low is the eye? How far back are the legs? Translating a whole image into small details felt really hard, but I felt like it started to come together the less I tried to make it perfect. I definitely would not have noticed the exact colors present on the bird from a photograph alone. Paying attention to those details will be important in accurately representing what's being sketched.

1.    How did you feel about drawing from the photo? What came easily and what was challenging? I have drawn from photos before and found I made my customary mistakes of making the feet and head too large and consequently spent far too long reworking the image, a luxury I would not have had I been drawing from life. I’ve never added ink or watercolour to a drawing before, and I found that far more challenging than I’d anticipated. I couldn’t create the colours I wanted, I lost all my details and shading and struggled to embrace the free-flowing nature of watercolours. The end result feels both garish and flat - room for improvement! 2.    Was there anything in the photo that you might not have noticed if you weren’t asked to draw it? Would this make a difference when nature journaling? I almost certainly would not have noticed the details of the branches or those of the primaries and secondaries or the olive-grey hues of the mantle.  

Hi all!  Well did the first assignment and found it very difficult. Good thing the bird couldn't move because it took me way too long to do not so much.  I'm very much enjoying this class and can't wait to learn some tips and techniques to become more selective and accurate in capturing nature.

This first drawing went better than I thought it would; I think there may be hope for my nature journaling! I found the different types of feathers to be probably the most difficult part. Figuring out how to represent the detail on the branch was tricky too though! There are so many details I wouldnt have noticed if I had just taken a photo: the reddish streaks on the breast of the bird, the olive back, and all the different kinds of growths on the branches. I love that when you look closely, what looks like a simple branch actually has a lot more going on!

I would not have noticed the gray back (the All About Birds ID guide says yellow-green) or the streaked breast on this yellow warbler if I had not taken the time to draw from the photo. With the color photo, I tend to gloss over the nuances and see just yellow. With the pencil sketch, I can more easily point out the different colorings and markings and use these color patterns to not only confirm the ID of Yellow Warbler but the region, age, and sex (Northern adult male) as well. This explains why I prefer field guides that illustrate with drawings rather than photographs.

Well, it does resemble a bird. I love the photo holding still while I drew.  Drawing a subject does allow you to ignore the rest of the scene, that is a plus sometimes.

1. Drawing from a photo gives you the time, and zoom feature, to capture details.  It also gives you the time to practice being able to have your hand do what your eye sees - not an easy feat.  Just drawing what I see is challenging. 2. The details of the shape are much more apparent when you are trying to recreate it.  Differences in markings are more striking, such as the red lines which are more loose, random and wider as opposed to the black lines created by the folded wings which are much more defined and straighter.

I  have drawn from photos before and though I know it is not ideal, it does help thatthe subject is not moving. I am hoping for tips on sketching a mobile subject. The same day I sketched this I tried to sketch a kingfisher that flew away and tried to fill in the gaps from memory. That was difficult for me. My husband photographed the bird, I may go back and try again. I have tsken a Natural History and Illustration course previously and getting proportions right is still a challenge for me. My goal is to keep a nature journal using watercolors. I am new at watercolors and hope to improve. If I were not asked to draw this bird, I wouldn't have noticed its peculiar slope on the top of its head or position of its claws. This makes a difference when nature journaling because you are studying the subject and learning about its body shape and positoning.

1. On the plus side, drawing from the photo gave plenty of time to go back and correct mistakes or add things that I missed on first looking at the photo. The challenge was that the photo was always there reminding me of where lines were not quite right. 2. I don't think I would have noticed the two layers of feathers on the wing and that the black bars were more pronounced on the lower layer of feathers if I hadn't taken the time to draw it.

My mom and I are taking this class together.  Here are our warbler pictures.  We are looking forward to learning more.

This was the first time in a long time that I have tried drawing and I found it very difficult to capture the essence of the warbler, it’s shape and in its environment. I liked experimenting with the watercolors which I have not used before and  found that the colors were bleeding and distorted the image so I need to learn how to control that.  I did notice more detail as I studied the photo and may try drawing a little more the next time to capture more detail.

1) I really enjoyed drawing from the photo, but I felt nervous about sharing it. As with others in the class, I am a bit of a perfectionist and drawing has never been my strength. As a child I decided I wasn't very good at it and gave up on it by the time I was in middle school. I still enjoyed it, but I thought I would never get any better. I never took art classes and never gave it much thought. Now I am a homeschooling mom and I would like for my children to learn to draw and to nature journal. I have started attempting to teach myself to paint and draw better, but I still have to make sure I am not hyper-critical of my work. So the hardest part is not judging myself. 2) I feel that there is so much I miss when I take a photo over painting. I don't think I would have noticed how far the wing goes back, the transition of coloring from the shoulder to the wing tip, etc if I had taken a picture and moved on. I have also found that drawing and painting cause me to pay more attention to body shape, which is also helpful for identifying birds. For me the ultimate difference is that painting makes me slow down and take in the moment more. I find keeping a nature journal both helps me to remember where I have been and helps make the memory more vibrant in the first place.

1. I think I paid too much attention to detail which my drawing look kinda choppy and sloppy. It was definitely was a challenge for me. 2. I would probably missed the details of the feathers of the bird. I never realized there was so many layers. I think it would make a difference because a bird in nature is hard to get an up-close look at and they are likely to move around.