Here’s my tutorial on my “Bird in a Cage” watercolor project from earlier this week. As I mentioned then, I’m growing fond of using both permanent markers and crayons before painting as you get the boldness of the marker lines plus the “artsy” look of the crayons.
1. Draw an upside down “J” in the middle of a watercolor paper.
2. Complete the shape to make the bird body.
3. Draw a tail.
4. Draw the wings, eyes and beak.
5. Draw a small stick under the bird.
6. Add legs that connect the bird to the stick.
7. Draw a rectangle base of the cage, centered on the bottom of the paper.
8. Draw a large upside down “U” for the outside of the cage.
9. Draw the center wire of the bird cage.
10. Draw two curved wires that split each side evenly in half.
11. Draw four more curved wires that again split each of the remaining sections evenly in half.
12. Add decorations to the cage.
13. Trace the bird with a medium tip permanent marker, and the cage with a thick chisel tip one.
14. Trace all the cage lines with a white crayon. Press hard and don’t worry if the lines are a little off. That will only add to the charm of your art.
Paint your art with watercolors. I like the Dick Blick Liquid brand, especially the Turquoise Blue shown above.