Three Simple Illustration Tutorials: Feathers

In the three simple tutorials below, you’ll learn how to draw, paint, and calligraph eye-catching feathers. Now, I know that you haven’t been twiddling your thumbs all these years thinking, “Gee, I wish I knew some variations on ways to draw a feather!” — but trust me: this knowledge will come in handy. As is the case with all the TPK tutorials similar in nature to this one, possible usages for your feather(s) are enumerated at the end of the post!

1. Dotted Tribal Feather

Last year, I was commissioned by my friend Sydney to create feather artwork for her company, Etkie. Etkie is a social business that provides jobs to Native American beadwork artisans, and I wanted to reflect the beadwork in the feathers I created. So: this feather is based on {Northern} Native American motifs, and in addition to being easy to draw, it’s beautiful to display.

Begin by using a pencil to draw a tapered, curved shape like the one below. This will serve as the shaft/quill of the feather illustration.

Next, draw a few stray pieces of feather a couple of centimeters/just shy of an inch from the bottom of the shape.

Once you’ve drawn your stray pieces, lightly sketch an oval shape to create a general outline of the feather.

Go over that oval shape again with a more confident stroke that features separations between the barbs {“barbs” is the technical term for the branches of the feather}.

Once your outline has been created, use your pencil to draw faint design guidelines in the feather. Feel free to follow my example in the photo below; or you can utilize your own design!

You’re all done with the pencil part now! At this point, you’ll want to get out a very fine-tipped marker {such as a Micron 005} or a calligraphy pen with a very fine-tipped nib {e.g. a Hunt 100} or a crow quill pen and some black ink. If none of those items are available, any regular pen will work! I’m using a crow quill pen and sumi ink to create my illustration.

Use your pen to outline the shaft and outside of the feather.

Then, draw dots in the design guidelines on the inside of the feather as shown in the series of photos below:

Once you’re finished drawing the dots, wait for the ink to completely dry, then erase. If you’re using sumi ink, drying time will only be five minutes or so.

Upon erasing, you’re finished with your feather! At this point, you can leave it as-is or add watercolor to it. I like the clean, minimalistic look, so I’m sticking with black and white.

2. “Tie-Dye” Watercolor Feather

This feather concept is very quick and colorful! First, you’ll create a pencil outline as instructed in the tutorial above. I would recommend drawing this outline on watercolor paper, as you’ll be working with watercolors.

Next, use a water-saturated paintbrush to paint on and around the outside of the feather. Basically, anywhere you’ll want watercolor, you want it to be wet. {My water has a yellowish tint in the photo below for visualization purposes; your water should be clean and clear.}

Once your feather and the area around it is wet, use a paintbrush — the same brush you used to put the water on the paper is fine — to transfer watercolor paint to the water already on the paper. The watercolor will immediately spread out in a tie-dye effect.

You don’t need to stick to any particular color scheme; I simply chose colors I like — pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges.

When your paint has completely dried, take out your Micron pen or your calligraphy pen, and use it to trace over your pencil lines. {I wouldn’t use a crow quill on watercolor paper; too many fibers to catch on!}

If you feel your feather is looking a little “naked”, you can add a few strokes to denote barbs. The end result is a colorful, eye-catching piece!

3. Wordy Feather

This feather is unique in that it is formed from calligraphy and words! As with the first two feathers, you’ll start by drawing a pencil sketch.

Use your crow quill or a calligraphy pen with an itty-bitty nib to write something on the spine. You can write in calligraphy or print; whichever you are most comfortable with!

Next, use your tiny-nibbed pen {or a Micron 005 pen} to write very small letters around the outside of the feather. You can write whatever you want; I’ve gone with the French children’s song Alouette. {“Alouette” means “lark”, which is why I felt it was fitting!}

Once you have written around the outline of the feather, wait for the ink to dry, then erase! At this point, I have opted to be finished, but you could always add some colorful accents like a watercolor wash.

Utilization Suggestions

And now, the moment you {may} have been waiting for: real-life implementation of the feather illustration inspiration you read/saw today. The first use that comes to mind for me is adding an awe factor to envelope art. You can see below that the dotted tribal feather concept looks amazing on a brown envelope paired with Janet Style calligraphy.

These feathers also make amazing gift tags. The tie-dye watercolor feather really shines in this utilization with equally free-spirited Kaitlin Style calligraphy. To create it, illustrate the tie-dye feather as described in the tutorial, then cut around it, leaving a bit of space between your cut and the edge of the watercolor. Punch a hole in the end, thread some string through, and tie it on a gift!

Of course, you can use the feather ideas as artwork in your home {or as artwork to gift someone}. You can see how pretty and simple several feathers in a row can look in the photo below:

If you’re still not convinced, here are some other suggestions:

• Make DIY feather confetti instead of floral confetti.
• Create a relatively large feather {~6″ tall}, cut it out, and use it as a bookmark.
• Write your name on one of these feathers, laminate/punch a hole in it, and use as an informational tag for a backpack. If your backpack is found ownerless, the feather tag will stick out and help to reunite you with your things!
• Use as place cards at a wedding or event. Who can resist a beautiful feather with his or her name written on it? 90% of your guests will take their feathers home to display!

I hope you enjoyed these three illustration tutorials, and if you’re in the US, I am wishing you have a happy 4th of July! Thanks again for reading the TPK blog.

Warmly,