Published 7 years ago

How to Draw a Crow

Today, we are going to focus on the Raven. A creature often depicted because of all the symbolism associated with it, used to create a certain atmosphere, etc.

Let's start by observing our subject!

Image "great raven" unknown photographer

As you can see, it’s a completely black and quite stocky animal. Personally, I find it quite elegant too, but I digress :)

Here is a schematic of the skeleton of a crow (or of a bird in general, for that matter). I find this kind of diagram particularly important to understand the position of the wings and legs in relation to the body.

The head is very small and flat, it could be likened to a slightly flattened small sphere. The beak is long and wide. It rises above half of the sphere.

The neck is very wide and short, about one and a half times the width of the head. The body can be contained within a rectangle (or cylinder) into which one could fit approximately twice the head + neck of our crow. The tail is half as wide as the body but just as long.

The legs are positioned towards the middle of the body, quite thin. As for the wings, the main fold is located almost at the base of the neck.

Now that we've spotted all that, we can get to work :D

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STEP BY STEP:

DRAW THE SKETCH

I'm not going to start with a photo for this example, but really do some creative work based on various photo references to better understand the body structure.

I will use the analysis I did during the observation phase, so please do not hesitate to read it again and carefully analyze your model ^^

THE HEAD, THE NECK AND THE BEAK OF THE CROW

I always start with the head, it's not necessarily a method that works for everyone, so do as you feel. If you prefer to start with the legs, that's no problem ;) I always position the line of the eyes and the center of the head, whether it's for humans or animals.

I then add the neck. I take the opportunity to quickly place the beak.

THE BODY

The most perilous part, in my opinion, is that concerning the body of the bird and its proportions relative to the rest. If you wish to learn more abouthow to draw a bird, check out the article on our blog!

This is a kind of large rectangle about twice the length of the head + neck. I will then place the tail in line with the body. I use more of a triangular shape for it. As we saw, this part is about as long as the body itself.

DRAW THE LEGS

Then come the two parts that can also be difficult: the wings and legs. The legs are positioned in the middle of the body. They slant sharply backward then bend forward (in the opposite direction to a human leg flexion). Their base is hidden in a sheath of feathers which can be placed with two rectangles, extending down to the bend of the leg. The base of the leg and the talons are approximately as long as the raven's “shin”. Except for the rear toe, a bit shorter, but with a longer and thicker talon.

THE WINGS

We saw it, the wings fold towards the base of the neck. They are oriented diagonally from the base of the neck to the top of the tail. They can be placed in an elliptical shape.

We now have our base.

This step is supposed to be quick. Quickly throw the shapes on the paper and correct them if necessary to have good proportions afterwards.

THE SKETCH STEP BY STEP

Now, we will be able to delve a bit more into the details.

I will start with the head. First, I'll make sure my beak is positioned correctly. It easily takes up half of the head in terms of both height and width.

I then place the opening line of the beak slightly below the halfway point. Let's not forget that the beak is not straight but slightly curved. Another important detail, beaks often have a roughly triangular shape no matter the angle from which they are viewed. This is particularly useful for correctly positioning the base of the beak on the head.

Then, the eyes! These are just adjacent to the edges of the beak. Birds generally have their eyes located on the sides of their skulls (with a few exceptions like owls, for example). If you've ever seen birds, you might have noticed that they generally observe you from the side and not from the front. Well, that's why ^^

No modifications to the neck for now. Let's move on to the body! We need to make it more organic. I would tend to create a potato-like shape for the body. Not too close to an ellipse, which is too perfect a shape for a body. Keep in mind that there is a rib cage underneath. Same principle for the tail.

Regarding this, the tail of a crow looks like this once spread out. It folds somewhat like a fan. Keep this in mind when you make your feathers. Also be careful not to place the feathers too regularly. Regularity is rare in nature :3 Even our face is not symmetrical, so try to allow some irregularity in your drawings, arranging things at varying distances.

For the legs, observation as always will help a lot. There are 3 toes at the front and only one at the back. The toes thicken towards the end and are covered with a large curved claw. The joints are also thicker. And scales can be observed.

Royalty-free photo by Alexas_fotos

I still need to detail the wings a bit more, and for that, I'm going to use references to stay consistent on this point. I've diagrammed how the wing is folded against the body. In fact, you mainly see the outer part of the wing and the upper surface in the position I've chosen. Generally, the feathers near the fold are small, like down, and those towards the outside are long, since they are used for flying, they need to catch the wind.

DRAW THE DETAILS OF THE RAVEN

At this stage, I erase the construction lines, and I try to give more volume and substance by adding details in the process.

For example, I will detail the small feathers around the beak, the skin around the eyes (the eyelids), and add some lines to indicate the direction of the plumage. Again, be careful to make it logical. I also noticed that the lower part of the beak is almost horizontal, so I straightened it.

I'm going to add some small feathers on the belly and detail the legs a bit more. You don't need to draw everything exactly. Suggesting things is very effective and faster. That's what I do with the feathers and legs. ;)

Our drawing is now finished! We can move on to coloring!

APPLY COLOR TO THE RAVEN

For this case, it will be relatively simple. Crows are black. Like most black animals, they have either brown or blue reflections, or a bit of both.

WARNING: Never use pure black for a realistic rendering. It's quite rare to need it.

I will therefore use a dark color, leaning towards a deep blue. The beak, legs, and eyelids will be in a similar but more brownish shade.

I often start with my lightest color, which I then darken, or you can start with a middle tone to which you will add lights and then shadows, or start with the darkest shade and lighten afterwards. Here too, do according to your preference.

THE SHADOWS OF THE DRAWING

My base shades are applied, so I will now darken by adding my first shadows. I will work on the plumage first by choosing a shade darker than the first (the eyedropper is your friend) but this time leaning towards brown. As always, I refer to my reference photos to intelligently choose my colors.

This first layer of shadow will help me give volume to my crow. Since it is generally spherical, I will apply my shadows on the edges, the underside of its body, and according to my light source.

I choose to place this one on the side and so I lay my shadows accordingly. It's hard to explain all this here, it's a matter of logic and habit. I refer you to a future lesson that will address this topic in depth ;)

No matter what, always consider the position of your light and place your shadows on the opposite side. We should be able to guess where the light source is coming from in your image.

Once this first layer is done, I choose an even darker color for a second layer of shadow. This one will be influenced almost exclusively by the light source and will help me detail certain feathers.

Let's move on to the beak and feet. The principle is mostly the same. I choose a slightly darker shade for the feet and don't hesitate to dab the brush on the beak to give it a worn effect. I also take the opportunity to add some highlights on it as well as on the talons.

Finally, I add the final details and lights. A little shadow to prevent the bird from floating in the air and voilà! It’s done!

For those interested, here is a time-lapse video of the entire process of drawing this crow :)

CONCLUSION

Do not hesitate to always refer to a model and most importantly: analyze and understand what you are drawing. That’s very important. Always start by breaking down your model into simple shapes, find landmarks on it that seem logical to you (in my case the head + neck, but it could be something else if you prefer). Do not hesitate to look for references of the animal from different angles, wings spread or folded, to fully understand the positioning and articulation of its limbs :)

Like sculptors, start with rough shapes to find your proportions, then gradually refine and add details. Do not just clean up the lines, continue to observe your model to catch any mistakes you may have missed and add interesting and relevant details. Get your pencils ready now ;p

Illustrator and Writer: Rakjah

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