Jane Kim painting a Secretary Bird.

Painting lifelike birds can be difficult, but painting realistic birds actually boils down to 7 basic painting techniques that anyone can learn to use. Learn the simple ins and outs of these 7 painting methods, and how and when to use them in the Free helpful guide provided by science illustrator Jane Kim. Whether this is your first art course, or if you have some experience but wish to learn about painting birds, this introduction to painting birds will draw you in to this interesting aspect of birding. In addition, Jane provides 4 principles she thinks about before she puts a brush stroke of paint on paper.

In addition to the 7 basic techniques, Jane explains that her favorite paints for illustrating birds are Golden Fluid Acrylics, and she explains that before she puts a brush stroke of paint on paper, she thinks about 4 principles:

1) The amount of paint on the brush

2) The consistency of paint – the water content

3) The angle of the brush

4) The amount of pressure on the brush

After explanations of each of the above principals, Jane provides the list of 7 techniques with descriptions of how to achieve each and when to use each technique. She also shares examples of each technique used on 3 of her bird paintings. To view the instructions online or to download a Free PDF file, see 7-Essential-Painting-Techniques-Jane Kim JL LH ML 10_20 new.pdf (hubspotusercontent-na1.net)

If you are interested in learning more, these 7 techniques are featured in the self-paced online course available from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy entitled: How to Paint Birds with Jane Kim, which you can access at How to Paint Birds with Jane Kim | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab (allaboutbirds.org)