Paint a Hummingbird in Watercolor

Seeing the tiny hummingbird at work, taking nectar from a flower or at a bird feeder never fails to give the impression that a miracle has unfolded before our eyes. A bird whose beak is half the length of its body, who weighs mere ounces and is just three to five inches long.  He never stops to pose, yet the desire to capture him on paper is strong.  He makes a good subject for a watercolor.

Steps

Preparing and Drawing

  1. Begin by deciding how you want to depict the hummingbird.  Will it be with one of its favorite flowers?  How about in mid-air, the bird carefully painted but the background a colorful blur?
  2. Know the flowers a hummingbird favors.  They include many bright red and orange flowers with a trumpet shape for the bird to insert his beak.
  3. Practice drawing the bird a few times.  Simplify the bird into a few shapes to get the size and proportions, then add details.  Doing this practice will make it easier to draw the bird with confidence on your watercolor paper.
  4. Draw the bird until you feel comfortable with its proportions and general shape.  In planning your composition, stay true to the bird’s size in comparison to the rest of the world by keeping it on the small side.  If you are having trouble do some research on the internet.
  5. Draw the bird in pencil on a piece of 11 X 14 inch watercolor paper.  Lightly sketch the surroundings, including a large flower.

Painting

  1. Prepare your supplies.  You will need a watercolor set with the basic colors, an assortment of watercolor or all purpose brushes, a water container, and a board to support your paper as you work.  Add a few drops of water to your paint pads to activate them.
  2. Begin, if you wish, by painting the bird.  Hummingbirds come in a wide range of brilliant colors, but many, called, the “Ruby Throated Hummingbird” have a long swatch of red under their beaks.  
  3. Choose any colors you wish to finish the bird.  It is a good plan to place the first layer of colors, including green, blue-green, yellow, light gray, tan and dark gray.  Allow it to dry and then go back to do the details;  the beak, the eye and area around it, the darker feathers at the edges of the wings and tail and the feet.   It is interesting to note that the feet are not used for walking, rather for perching and scooting along on branches.  The feet are visible, but stretched behind and back when the bird flies.
    • Alternatively, use creative rainbow colors.  There are many hues of feathers on the hummingbird, so, if you feel like it, celebrate them.  Let creativity overcome realism.
  4. Do the flower.  Sketch it large compared to the bird.
  5. Paint the main flower in brilliant red or red-orange.  Add green leaves for contrast.

Adding Details

  1. Add the background.  This can consist of more flowers painted in clear focus or slightly blurred.  To get the illusion of out of focus flowers, sketch their placement lightly in pencil and paint them on paper that you have dampened with water.  Allow the area to sit a minute for the water to soak in and then paint the flowers with any colors you wish.  
  2. Fill in around the flowers with blue to represent the sky.   
    • Remember that painting this on wet paper allows the blue to appear faded and blurry. 
    • Consider filling in the sky area with yellow to represent a brilliantly sunny day.
  3. Try painting the surrounding areas shades of pale green.  This choice will give the illusion that you are in the midst of a lot of flowers in a garden.
  4. Add some fun details. Remember that hummingbirds can be aggressive and scrappy.  Many can often be seen at a feeder, but one might be protective of his food and try to attack the others.  
    • Butterflies, ladybugs or dragonflies might also be fun to include.
  5. Allow the work to dry and stand back to see if it says what you intend.  If you need to add further details, do so on a dry painting to preserve the colors you have already put down.
  6. Enjoy this piece by hanging it on your wall.  You might not see a hummingbird everyday in the flesh, but a painting will last forever.  

Tips

  • Due to the size and placement of their feathers, hummingbirds appear to be iridescent.  Create this illusion on your piece by lightly applying glitter paint or glitter glue to the bird shape. Iridescent watercolors are available to purchase, but those colors tend to be very subtle, almost hard to discern unless you are really searching for them
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