How to Draw a Bird

If you ever wanted to learn how to draw a bird, today is your lucky day! So, with my beginners’ step-by-step guide, you will master basic bird anatomy and be on your way to drawing different species of birds!

Black and white drawing of a bird facing left by Skip to my Lou — Draw this bird in less than 30 minutes!

Related: How to Draw an Owl and Bald Eagle Coloring Pages are both fun resources.

Today you can draw this simple bird and make it a blue jay or robin depending on how you color it at the end! With my easy bird tutorial, you will learn the basics so you can draw any bird species in no time!

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Here’s what I use to Draw Birds and lots of other things

Sketching Pencils
Kneaded Rubber Eraser
Sketch Pad
Erasable Colored Pencils
Fine markers
Sketch and Drawing Art Pencil Set
Artist drawing set (This is great for ne w and experienced artists. It’s also something I give as a gift.)

Step-by-Step Instructions for DRawing this Bird

Start your bird drawing near the top of the left side of your paper and curve a small line down and over as shown. This line forms the top of the head. Then make the eye by drawing a circle shape under the curve. Inside the circle, draw another smaller circle at the top left of the first circle.

small curved line on the left on top of a circle with a dot inside by Skip to my Lou

2. Finish the bird’s head by extending the curved line a little bit on the right side then drawing the bird’s beak and chest line. So,to draw the bird’s beak, extend a slightly curved line out and back from the left side by the eye. Then draw a line in the middle to separate the top and bottom pieces. Finally, a sideways “v” shape beside the eye joins the pieces of the beak to the bird’s face.

black and white drawing showing the head of a bird with its beak pointing to the left side by Skip to my Lou

3. Draw the wing shape by starting with an oval shape at the shoulder and extending that line down parallel with the chest line. Keep drawing past the chest line about 1 1/2 inches. Take your pencil back to the right line you extended in Step 2. Continue that line to shape the bird’s neck and back. Take that line down to meet the wing line in a point, as shown. Start the top of the bird’s leg by drawing a “u” shape at the bottom of the chest line.

black and white drawing of the head and body of a bird facing left by Skip to my Lou

4. Complete the bird’s body and tail outline with a simple line as shown. Then, make sure the rectangular tail points downward as shown.

black and white drawing of the head, body and tail of a bird facing left by Skip to my Lou.

5. Use 3 parallel lines to create the bird’s legs as shown. Then draw downward curving lines to draw the bird’s feet. Finally add triangle-shaped claws on the tips of the toes.

black and white outline of a bird's head, body, tail and feet by Skip to my Lou.

6. Add the finishing details to your bird drawing in this step. Start by shading in the eye, leaving on a small white speck. Then add jagged lines at the neck, on the wing, on the lower belly and by the tail as shown. These jagged lines indicate where the colors and textures of the bird’s feathers change. Last use sets of parallel lines on the feathers and tail feathers.

Before You Fly Away

Thank you for perching here for today’s drawing lesson! I hope you found this easy bird drawing relaxing and fun. If you enjoy drawing as much as I do, you’ll want to take a look at these other drawing tutorials, too!

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