Drawing a peacock's head, a tutorial

September's theme is peacocks!

This tutorial, sponsored by Deviantart,  will show you  how to draw a peacock's handsome head!

The art here was done using Photoshop, with  a hard brush, set on black, for the first outlines. These steps can also be done using a plain ol' pencil and paper! Further real media steps will be shown at the end of this journal.

First step: All birds start with an egg...

Add a beak to the lumpy egg... The second illustration shows the shape of the lower jaw and wattles, but you will need to draw it in place, under the head.

The lower jaw in place. Add the eye, lines to indicate eyelids, wrinkles, and neck.

The topknot is fan-shaped and sprouts from the bump on the back of the head.

Nostril

 The illustration below shows the general position of the facial markings.

Now you can add the basic colors, In Photoshop I created a new layer and set it to "multiply". This allows the lines of your drawing to show through the color. I painted the colors in with the brush tool.

 This shows the areas that will often appear black.

Final touches! The tiny feathers on top of a peacock's head aren't smooth, they are convex giving the head a bumpy look with lots of tiny highlights. Highlights are easy to add over dark areas with digital media. For real media I use opaque paint.

 He needs a snooty expression.

Peacocks come in other interesting colors.

Below is how I drew a Peacock using real media. Follow the first steps the same way as shown to draw the head, using a pencil and paper.

I colored this one using these Prismacolor pencils, but you can use almost any combination of pretty blue colors. Peacocks aren't picky. I used dabs of teal acrylic paint for the feather highlights, and a dab of pure white paint for the highlight on the eye.

Peacocks are loud.

When you have finished your Peacock , Share your art in the comments below with the tag #peacocktutorial to get a special Peacock badge!

 You can ask me questions about my artwork, process, or anything really in the comments of this journal!  Questions welcome!