I am so happy to be in this course. Drawing the warbler was so much fun!! I'm a photographer and I'm used to looking at details but I think drawing made me appreciate the gentle sloping lines and shapes even more

This took a while to draw.  Not really clear on the plant or leaves.  Enjoyed the process but it was bit frustrating getting the right proportions and angles.  Outline came easy but details more challenging. I don't think I would have the time to do this detail in nature because of the time and the changes in lighting and definitely the position of the warbler.  I didn't notice the lichen on the branch until I had to draw it.

Definitely a plus that it held still. I got lost in the drawing just like I used to, which was really lovely.

1. A little bit familiar. The most easily part was drawing the feathers around the head and the challenging part was... maybe the back part, a little short the tail. 2. Yes! The brownish stripes under it's belly. I didn't notice it if I don't draw it.

As I have been practicing or I should say trying to practice drawing I wasn't too daunted by the warbler, I started out with the branch then begain drawing the shape of the bird, and added the details later.

1. it was hard to start the body of the bird on a blank page. Using colored pencils for the first time was a challenge. Nothing was particularly easy. It was difficult making the warbler as beautiful on the page as he was in the photo. My eraser was terrible. Must get a decent one.

Proportions are the hardest - to make sure the bird is still identifiable as its species  - so many subtle cues are hard to capture. I find it difficult to get feathers right or at least not misleading. I am getting better at representing light/shade but still find it challenging to differentiate colour markings from shade markings.   There are are many things I see when I attempt to draw that I wouldn’t otherwise. It makes me realize that I don’t know bird feather structure very well! For me, if I sketch a plant in the field, I fully know its features. It’s such a great tool. 

1. I have some experience in drawing from photos, so that helped give me some confidence. I tried to not get too caught up in the details, but since I’m new to birding, I realized that I’m not quite sure which details are important to capture precisely and which ones I can ‘fudge’ a bit. 2. However, drawing helps me notice the details in the first place, which will hopefully help me learn over time what makes each bird unique!

It wasn't too difficult but for me the challenge is usually getting the proportions correct. What was noticeable when drawing it was how the bill "connects" on the bird's head/face and the various colors on the bird's plumage-- it is not just yellow. This would indeed make a difference when journaling.

i like drawing from photos. it gives me much more time to study the detail, although i'm trying to stay loose. I find proportions the most challenging aspect, and i'm hoping this course will help fine tune my drawing skills. i would not have noticed the lichen at first. I think it's important to make note of those details in writing, as they do help complete the story of what you are seeing. 

1. I Liked drawing from a photograph, I could take my time to draw the details, the colors are more clear. I wish i could see the bird moving to analyze in a better way the beak, body, wings. 2.If I were sketching in nature, I would not notice details as the different colours, color of feathers.

I wouldn't notice a lot of the details of the bird - red streaks, bill shape, leg color, black on wings - unless I was drawing or intentionally trying to ID the bird. I think a lot of people don't get into birding because they're never taught by anyone to look for that detail. I am not so good at drawing. I am generally satisfied with my drawing of this bird. I have the shape and proportions of the bird mostly right, which is really good for me. I did a much better job with beak shape and eye placement than I usually do. I got some details, but not many. I struggle with varying line weight to capture detail. I'm better at shading and blending colors. But - and importantly - I took a full 10-15 minutes to get a picture I was satisfied with using a two dimensional reference drawing that would have sat still for me all night if I'd wanted it to. That's why I am much better at drawing plants from life. They are happy to have you spend all day looking at them. Birds are not and I am terrible at gesture drawing. :)

Though it was just a few minutes, taking the time to sketch, I noticed more or different things than I may have from a photo. The softness of areas, the saturation or dustiness of colors. The belly color just like the belly color on my cat. It is surprising how much I feel I can capture for myself with a simple sketch.

Ok, here is my effort, I am banking on the hypothesis that the artwork gets better with practice.

So, trying to figure out how to post a reply is a bit of a challenge...frustrated that pencil doesn't scan very well.  Working from a photo is good and bad - great for reference when drawing but I also find it hard to capture the space around the bird as it looks flat.  Proportions were challenging but with practice that should improve.  I had never noticed how lethal the bird claws look, very gnarly and pointy!  Whiskers around the bill and delicate feathers.

I think I need to learn to take more notes about the subject! This was a fun first exercise.

I have drawn from photos before, it can be challenging depending on the light and subject. This little bird was easy because it was not moving and a simple shape with just a few other shapes around it.  A heavier background would be harder. I noted on my sketch the lichen and torn leaf that I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I had just taken a photo and moved on.

It was slightly daunting at first, but then I really got into it - even though I know my technique is pretty basic and even I might laugh at it in the end.  I enjoyed doing it.  I had a very hard time knowing how to draw the branches.  More or less they are straight lines with no shading. I may not have noticed the holes in the leaves, the lichen or how the birds feet were if just looking at the photo and not drawing it.

Easier from a photo - I never get that close to a warbler and I had time to consider details. I noticed how the tail looks flat and how the toes wrap around the bottom of the branch.

Pictures are nice, but drawing actually gets you into the lesson. The more I drew the more I noticed, the stripes, the grey shoulders and back. The lines in the wings, the subtle brown in the breast and belly. I did not realize how long the birds toes are either, they wrap completely around the branch. If it was just the picture I would have been takes by the yellow and perhaps not noticed the other colors of the Warbler. Drawing from the photo meant that you could draw the bird complete, in the woods you probably would not get a bird to sit that long for you to draw it.

1. The basic shape/outline was ok, but I didn't even bother trying color. The details of the feather texture and the lichen were definitely beyond me. 2. I don't think I would have noticed all the different types of lichen - I would have just noticed the bird, mostly its color. I probably wouldn't have notices the different textures on the bird.