Raptor Rapture Foundation - Drawing From Observation

On 6th November we had the Raptor Rapture foundation come in to our classroom, where they brought in 6 of their birds for us to draw. Once everything was set up we where put on our separate tables and placed in our groups. After everyone was seated the birds where brought in and placed on stands on each table. These birds included: Eagle Owl, Bateleur Eagle, White Face Scops Owl, Tawny Owl, Harris Hawk and a Falcon.

On each table there were different materials we could use to draw the birds such as: stick and ink, charcoal, graphite, fine liner, felt tip, pencil, emulsion etc… My favourite materials to use where the stick and ink because I like the smooth elegant lines you ca get, and the way you can make the lines and marks thick and thin. I also liked using the fine liner and onto brown paper which I used to draw the White Face Scops Owl. I like this technique because I used the black fine liner for shadows and drawing out the bird, then I used my white gel pen for highlights. This then made the brown paper act as the mid tone, which worked nicely.

Once we had 30 minutes to draw the bird we then had to move tables, to draw the other birds. I liked drawing all the birds, but my favourite was the Bateleur Eagle because it had the most interesting features and looked magnificent.

I thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience and would love to do it again sometime, it was extremely beneficial and helped me produce some good drawings.