Drawing Birds

Class dates: January 17, January 24, January 31
$20/person — Registration is now open to all!

Welcome to Drawing Birds! This new three-part drawing class will help you gain confidence drawing birds. Your instructor will be Carolyn Byers, Madison Audubon’s education director and artist behind Green Sparrow Arts. Each virtual (Zoom) class will be on Tuesday evenings from 7-9pm.

Drawing birds
(January 17)

We will break down the steps of drawing realistic and lifelike birds. You'll practice gesture drawings, breaking the bird into basic shapes, and using angles and proportions to make sketches more lifelike. This class is one that we have taught before!

Drawing beaks and feet
(January 24)

Beaks and feet are some of the trickiest parts of drawing birds, and also the most important. For many birds their beak is one of their defining field marks—you need to get them right! In this class we'll use the skills from Drawing Birds but apply them specifically to beaks and feet.

Drawing Weird Birds
(January 31)

Birds do a LOT of things with their bodies. They reach, they hang, they have long necks or legs. In this class we'll focus on birds with interesting body shapes or on birds in interesting positions.

All of these classes are geared towards people who are new to drawing, or artists who want to gain skills drawing birds. You'll need paper and pencil, or your favorite art supplies. You will also need an internet connection and a device to watch the class on. If you would like to participate in discussions or share your own art a camera and microphone will be useful (most smartphones and laptops have both).

Cover image: Merlin with wings poised for flight by Monica Hall.