How to Draw a Simple Feather

Hello Angels,

So I know that some people think that they can't draw for crap and you have to be born with the talent, but I think it's possible to be taught to draw, at least some simple things. Drawing is fun and it really helps get away from things that are stressful (unless you are going to art school than it could be the cause of stress). But at any rate, it never hurts to try unless you stab yourself with the pencil or get a paper cut. So here's a little how-to on drawing simple feathers. And hey if you mess it up, just say it's abstract.

I draw in a mostly trial and error kind of way. So there's a lot of doing and redoing and sometimes I do the whole gestural placement thing if I'm feeling it. But today it's just a simple feather we are going to try to make. You can then do so much more with a simple feather once you get it down. All you need is a pencil and paper, as well as your finger for blending. 

Step One:

The easiest step that anyone can do, drawing the little squiggly line. It can look as straight or curvy as you want, just keep in mind that the more curvy you make it the harder the next steps may be for you. 

Step Two: 

This step is also simple, just add to little curved lines at the bottom. Two little arms so the line is basically like "hey bro what's up?". Lines got some sass now. 

Step Three:

Basically just do step two again but branch it off the other one. So it has double arms like a monster or a bug or something. (note the eraser marks behind it because I was gonna escalate this much quicker but decided against it-you're welcome).

Step Four: (You are doing good little angel)

Now this part is a bit tricky. Using the two arms you just made in step three, follow your base line to make the outline of the feather. Every once in a while just add a little dip that ends in a point. Keep following the shape of the base line and you should be just fine. Curve the feather in the same manor that the base line curves.

Now if this escalated too quickly for you try doing this: Just draw two curved lines that start at the two "arms" and follow the curve of the base almost exactly, starting to kind of curve it to meet at the top, like one of these bad boys. 

Quick note: if you mess up, don't erase the whole thing, just erase parts until you make it how you want it. Otherwise you might just end up repeating your errors over and over again. You can always redraw the base line to match the two outer ones.

Now let's do a little zoom zoom to get a closer look at this bad boy to make the little cuts. First off just erase a tiny portion of it like so. 

Next just draw a little line going down toward the base curve like this. 

Okay now draw a line going back up to make a little triangle like shape. You will kind of be able to see where you erased so make sure you pick the line back up there because otherwise it might end up looking a bit disproportionate.  

Now just connect it back to the original curve you had going. Like I said, attach it where the faded eraser mark was and it should reconnect perfectly. 

Ta-da! Just keep on doing that as many times as you want to create that jagged look to your feather. 

Now if you really wanted to, you could stop at this step and just color it in or leave it. This is like the simple simple feather. Which could be enough for you, but if you want to take it a little further than stay with me. 

Step Five: 

Fill this guy in a little. You don't have to be too precise with it. Just go from the base line outward, or you can go outward toward the base line, whatever is the most comfortable for you. Just make sure that your little lines follow the direction of the feather itself as shown below. 

Step Six:

Time to get a little messy. Use your finger to smudge the whole thing. It doesn't really matter how you do it, but try to at least follow the direction of your shading. You'll get something like this beautiful mess. Awe yeah, smudging all the hard work you just did. 

Step Seven: 

Now try to use your eraser to gently (I repeat GENTLY) erase the outer edge to get rid of some smudges and soften the outline a little so it wont be showing up under the next couple of steps. You want your eraser to barely touch the paper, you want to approach the line from the outside and make it as thin as you can. It doesn't have to be totally gone, in fact it shouldn't be. If you go a little overboard and end up being eraser happy don't panic, just kind of redraw it and smudge it back to awesomeness. Now start to make lines again kind of like in step five but this time go outside of the outline (but make sure to follow the feather shape and feather outline). Start at the line base and work your way out. Take it one line at a time, make some curve depending on how your feather curves, basically just follow the shape. Use your previous shading as a guide to help you. If you are feeling fancy you can make some lines darker or thicker than others but if you are a truly hopeless newbie that is struggling as it is you can just keep it simple. 

Step eight:

Keep doing step seven until you have done the whole outline and boom, you have a simple feather drawing.

Now rejoice in your awesome because you deserve it. Go stick that sucker in everyone's face and say "look at what I drew!" To which they will either say "great job!" in a sarcastic tone if you sucked, or in a genuine tone if you did awesome. Either way you tried and I think you are awesome just for that. 

Now keep drawing these babies everywhere and come back to me when you think you got it down and we'll talk about a dream catcher or owl. 

Now go forth little angels and spread those feathers, one every piece of paper you come across.

Draw on angels and stay classy.