There's no one right way to draw a bird. Here are 30 ways artists on Magma drew theirs, and how you can learn from them.
In "Draw chickens and birds", a public Art Jam that 21 artists joined, everyone filled one shared canvas with birds: a puffin, an eagle with its wings spread, round chicks in top hats, a big purple bird mid-flap and plenty of quick doodles in between. The five hens in the corner (#73) are one of them.
Open the Art JamWork from a reference and paint the feathers in groups: the soft breast, the layered wing, the long tail. Small details like the eye ring and the color of the beak do a lot of the work.
The black-chinned hummingbirds (#17) show one bird hovering with its wings raised and one sitting on a twig. Both have the same long, thin beak and the purple band under the black chin, which is what makes them read as one species.
The mourning dove (#59) is almost all soft beige and grey, with a few black spots on the wing and a long pointed tail. A blurred background and one bare branch keep all the attention on the bird.
Turn the body into a ball, shrink the beak and make the eyes big. Most birds are already round when they fluff up, so cute birds still look like real ones.
The crow (#2) is seen from above, so its body becomes one big rounded teardrop of black feathers. Two huge orange-ringed eyes and a beak pointing straight at you are all the face it needs.
The long-tailed tit (#10) is a fluffy white and pink ball with a tiny beak and a dark eye, and a long black-and-white tail that sticks straight out behind it.
Keep the bird's silhouette and play with everything else: flat shapes, bold patterns, hatching or long sweeping brush marks.
The egret (#14) is built around its neck, bent into a big S, with a long yellow beak cutting across the black background. The white feathers are flat pale-blue shapes with no fine detail.
The bird made of sweeping brush marks (#49) was drawn in a "lighting & form studies" jam. On that canvas the same bird appears several times in a grid of frames, and the posted piece is one of them.
#49
#93A flying bird is mostly wings. Draw the body small and the wings big, and spread the long feathers at the tips.
The red kite (#20) has its wings stretched wide with the long feathers at the ends spread apart like fingers. Two crows further away are just small dark shapes against the clouds.
The barn owl (#8) raises both wings high behind its pale, heart-shaped face. The lit undersides of the feathers stand out against the dark trees and the blue forget-me-nots below.
Studies are how most artists learn birds. Fill a page with heads, wings and poses, or try a few small sketches before a big piece.
The birds of prey studies (#46) mix heads in profile, wing shapes and standing poses with handwritten notes next to each one, a good way to remember what you noticed.
The owl thumbnails (#23) are eleven small grey sketches of owls in different poses and framings. The artist's caption: "I want to plan my pieces more, I'll take one of these further."
#63
#73The fastest way to get better at birds is to draw them next to other people. 9 of the 30 drawings on this page were made in Art Jams: shared canvases where everyone draws at the same time.
In the "Draw chickens and birds" jam, 21 artists drew birds side by side on one canvas, from quick doodles to the five painted hens. Join a bird jam, watch how others handle beaks, wings and feathers, or start your own and share the link.
No bird jam is live at the moment. Browse the open Art Jams, or start your own and share the link.
The basic shapes behind a perching bird. Once they're down, pick a way from above and make it yours.
Counts from Magma's public Art Jams and posts, September 2026.
Open a free canvas in your browser. Nothing to install, and it works on Chromebooks too. Post it when you're done, and it could end up on this page.
Draw a bird nowThere's no single right way. Start with simple shapes (a small circle for the head, a tilted egg for the body, a triangle beak, a leaf-shaped wing and a fan tail), then pick a style: realistic, cute, stylized, in flight or a quick sketch. The easiest way to improve is to draw alongside others in a bird Art Jam and see how they do it.
Keep the body a small oval and make the wings big, coming out from the shoulders. Spread the long feathers at the wing tips apart like fingers and tuck the feet under the body. The red kite and the hovering hummingbird on this page are good examples.
Make the head big and round and set it straight on the body with no neck. Put both eyes on the front of a flat face, with a small hooked beak between them. The barn owls and the page of owl thumbnails on this page show different ways.
Draw it on Magma and post it to your public feed. We pick drawings for this page from public posts, and every one is credited to its artist.
Draw your bird now
Draw a bird now
