Join me as we paint a watercolor chicken from start to finish!
When I first started learning watercolor, I hoped one day I would be able to paint birds. But I don’t have formal art training so whenever I sketched, so my proportions would be slightly off. It wasn’t until I got the iPad Pro that I was able to sketch more consistently and confidently so that I’m not wasting as much paper. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and that I feel like I can paint any bird now! If you’re like me and have trouble with the sketching, get all of my sketches in my shop!
This month, I decided to challenge myself and paint a handful of birds. I’m releasing real-time videos of me painting each one on YouTube. I think real-time painting is helpful because you can see how slowly I actually paint and how sometimes even I hesitate or mess up.
Without further ado, let’s get started with this tutorial on how to paint a watercolor chicken.
Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Supplies:
- Paint: LUKAS Aquarell 1862 Watercolor
- Brush(es): Creative Mark’s Watercolor Brushes, round size 000, 2, 3, 6
- Paper: Grumbacher Watercolor Paper, 11″x15″
- Jars of water
- Paper towel or cotton rag
- Pencil and eraser
- All of my favorite supplies here
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Here’s the reference photo (from unsplash):
Step 1: Face details
I like to use my smallest round size 000 brush for the face details. I used to save the details for the end, but for these birds, I almost always started with the eyes. I think it helped me establish its personality so that I could continue on painting with the body. Plus, if I were to mess up, it might have been in the smaller details, so I wanted to get it out of the way first.
Be really careful to preserve white space when painting the eye. But if you accidentally paint over it, it’s okay. Just have an opaque white medium on hand.
Remember to not use runny paint when focusing on tiny details. You want to use a drier brush and keep your strokes short and precise.
Step 2: Body Feathers
Now onto the majority of the chicken. I’m using the round size 6 brush here. I first laid down some clean water, and then added the paint. I’m being careful to leave some white space in between my brushstrokes.
I tried to mimic the feathers with my brushstrokes.
For the tail, I kept the center part mostly white. Using the wet-on-dry method, I used just the tip of my brush to paint the tail feathers. I layered a second, darker color for more dimension.
Step 3: Feet details
I’m using a round size 1 brush to first color in the feet, and then added horizontal lines for the leg details.
My style doesn’t really concern itself with the really minute details. I like to capture the personality and essence of the subject, and let the viewer fill in the details with their own imagination. So as long as the feet are generally the right color, and some details are painted in, I’m good with that.
Step 4: Texture details
The final step of the watercolor chicken is all done with a dry brush. Because I’m using cold-pressed paper, the texture of the watercolor paper shows through in my strokes which makes for interesting details. I’m staying with the round size 1 brush for this and only adding texture where I feel like it needs it. Which is mostly in the tail and face areas.
Thanks so much for painting with me! I want to see your watercolor chicken!
If you use this tutorial, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.
