Birdsfoot Studio

Figure Drawing Practice✦ Benefits of Sharpies

I was in a bit of a slump with figure drawing, and actually felt like I was getting worse despite the online courses I’m watching. One of the instructors drew with a sharpie so I thought I’d change things up and give it a try.

Normally I draw with a non erasable pencil, but even that is pretty forgiving. When I started drawing with sharpie I saw a lot of problems with my line quality come out. The lines lacked confidence and were even going back to the beginner “chicken scratches...

Domino becomes a live model

I have my sketchbook and favorite pens in the living room, on the ready for if Domino strikes a pose. I’m getting better at quickly sketching Domino when he’s well behaved, and not worrying if he moves. I can always finish the drawing another time if he walks away or changes positions before I have enough drawn out.

These drawings all have different stylistic decisions, especially in his face, yet they all capture some part of his personality.

Drawing this quickly from life,...

Female Red Breasted Merganser ✦Timelapse

Here’s a painting from a while back. This is done from life, from the museum’s taxidermy collection. Still one of my favorite paintings.

✦Time- 1 hour 30 minutes

✦ Watercolor MaxPack, Painter’s MaxPack, Oil MaxPack

✦Random watercolor brushes for the base, MaxU Grainy Stipple for texture, MaxU Fine Oil for the finishing details (Plus others)

Gumbo, Domino, and Fritz

I’m excited to share this cute sketchbook spread! For some reason drawing at the zoo isn’t a problem for me, but I become hesitant with my own pets. Maybe it’s because they’re free to walk away from me, or maybe I’m worried my drawings won’t look like them.

My cats love me so I actually don’t have to worry too much about them walking away. Gumbo (orange cat, he’s all the cats on the left page and top three on the right) walked around a lot but stayed close to me. Domino ...

What Color is a Yellow Object in Shadow?

I wanted to look specifically into what happens to a yellow object (in a still life situation) as it falls into shadow. I studied 4 paintings and they all followed the same pattern, just to varying degrees.

I didn’t want to pick on any specific painting, but while looking for yellow still lifes I found some that were ineffective. I think one of the most common mistakes is to cool the shadows or play it safe and paint them very grey, leading to a flat unrealistic shadow.

I plan...

Charcoal Sketches ✦ Grandpa’s Tractor and Other Farm Equipment

This is my current favorite spread, probably out of all of my sketchbooks.

All of these are drawn from life with a General’s and CarbOthello charcoal pencil. The CarbOthello is a little harder so I use it for a rough sketch to place everything, and the General’s is super soft. I have two but I never know which I’m using. One is 557-4B Soft and the other is 557-6B Ex. Soft.

I try to let mistakes go, but sometimes they’re too much or there’s just one in an otherwise good d...

Harvest 2024 ✦ Harvest 2016

This was going to be a post about how I’ve been recording my harvest through art over the years. I found what I think is my oldest squash drawing, and at that time I had a combined journal and sketchbook.

What a strange coincidence, I haven’t read my old journals in years. And this page contains the day that stays in my memory because of how traumatizing it was, and that I’ve been thinking about even more recently.

I was living with what I now know is endometriosis, but I ...

Quick Charcoal Sketches ✦ Sketchbook Spread

This is the first time I sketched with a charcoal pencil, and I love it! As you can see this is from a little while back, and I’m continuing to sketch this way.

These are all drawn from life. The tractor has been on the farm my whole life. It was originally used for haying- cutting, pulling the bailer, hauling bails. I would go for rides in it as a kid, making a giant pillow nest on the armrest.

I loved riding on equipment, and would even ride with the neighbors when they farm...

Important Update!

There’s some changes coming to my Patreon and I wanted to let you guys know! Especially paying members because I don’t want to change what you’re getting without telling you first.

Basically I’ll no longer be doing a monthly video. I will still be doing one informative article per month. My Patreon will mostly be a way for me to share the art I care about but no longer wish to post on Instagram (because of, ya know, those wonderful AI policies).

So here’s...

In Depth Study of Ray Harris Ching - Unedited Timelapse

Most of my master studies I do in one shot, but there’s a lot of paintings that are either too intimidating to paint in this way or I feel I won’t learn the most I can.

I’m developing a system to break down complex paintings so I can focus on one skill at a time without getting overwhelmed.

First I color match the largest and most important areas of color, swatching them over the original to see if my guess is close, then plotting it on a color wheel when I’m satisfied. ...

Gallimimus Reconstruction

I did another reconstruction to practice my skills and test out a new brush pack.

I had so much fun painting the black and white feathers. A new breakthrough! I generally avoid painting birds with complex patterns because I don’t know how to paint them, but this turned out pretty good.

I struggled the most with the beak. I think it would have worked out a lot better if I would have sculpted a model, but since this is an exercise this is the best I can reasonably do. Something to...

Guinea Fowl - Voiced Over Timelapse

Mainly talking about how I pick a background color for my paintings and some difficulties I had working on this one

Recommended Courses and Resources

This article will be a rundown of the courses I learned the most from, and a sample of the sketches I did while taking them. I’d like to apologize for the quality of the photos; my sketchbooks are colossal. They don’t fit in the scanner and it’s too large a surface for the camera to expose evenly.

When I decided to go back to basics to strengthen my art in the long run, I started with perspectiv...

Sketch Practice - Hands

I’ve been practicing human anatomy lately, figure drawing and portraits and hands. I’m really enjoying drawing hands. They’re so expressive and full of character.

This sketchbook is usually a mess, because it’s for learning! This is a rare case where everything turned out pretty nice and there’s minimal errors. I even photographed it before I added a “bad” drawing.

Material- Prismacolor Premier Black

2024-08-31 23:09:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Bird Skull Still Life

I set up this bird skull (goose or duck? I’m still unsure) with a sheet of my favorite green paper and a copy of Crime and Punishment. It had the perfect color of red.

I had just finished Marshall Vandruff’s perspective course and I was excited to start using what I had learned in more practical applications. I had fun drawing vintage appliances in different rotations, but natural science illustration is my thing.

With my new knowledge, I noticed more points I could use and ma...

Guinea Fowl Painting

It’s been a little while since I did a full painting! I’ve been focusing more on sketching in my “student” sketchbook lately. I thought I’d be rusty but dang, I really like this one!

If you have any questions about the process, please ask away! I’m going to be making a voiced over time lapse so it always helps to know what you guys want to hear about.

As a treat for my free members, I’m going to try and remember to note all the brushes I use on a painting so I can b...

Oystercatcher Full Time Lapse Painting

I did this one a while ago but I still love the colors and rendering (: I take any chance to let wispy feathers break the silhouette or break into other forms. It’s just such an awesome way to show texture.

I also got good use out of a flat chisel brush. Lately I’ve been using a round brush but the chisel offers totally different brush strokes that really work well in longer strokes. Maybe I need to bring it back into my work.

Brush Pack - Oil MaxPack, Watercolor ...

Shape Design Demo - Guinea Fowl

One of the most common questions I get is about shape design, so I hope this demo will begin to touch on what I’m thinking about as I sketch.

The video is at 1.5x speed.

Brush- MaxU Form Shader from Max Ulichney’s Oil MaxPack

Pigments, Screens, and a Case Study of Greens

Even the most vibrant paints are limited in their range of hues and saturation, especially when compared to the range of a digital screen. Being aware of the range and limits of natural pigments is something that could aid in achieving a traditional effect in digital painting.

Simply put, traditional pigments just don’t reach as high a saturation, and the colors are further toned down and harmonized as the artist mixes them. Anyone who has tried to match the color of a bouq...