How to Draw A Pelican

How to Draw A Pelican. Many species of birds have a rather unusual and unique appearance. The pelican is undoubtedly one of them, as it is an exciting and instantly recognizable bird species.

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Its most recognizable feature is its vast beak, which has the added trick of having a pouch to help it catch fish in the water.

This bird has such a unique look that was learning how to draw a pelican can be equal parts fun and challenging. That’s what this tutorial is for, though, because we’re here to show you that it can be easy and fun if you know what to do!

How to Draw A Pelican

Step 1

We’ve chosen an eye-catching and dramatic image that we’ll learn to draw in this guide to drawing a pelican. The bird is depicted flying in front of a circle that could be the moon or even the sun! We’ll remove that circle in this step, but first, we will start drawing the pelican itself.

To draw the pelican, start by removing the long, pointed beak. It is divided into two parts, so the bird’s head is relatively small. Use a small round shape for the eye and then draw some jagged lines for the back of the head.

The next thing we’ll draw is the pelican’s back, and then we can start drawing the circle. Use a compass to draw this circle, but be careful to leave a blank space at the base.

Step 2

In this second part of your pelican design, we will add more elements to the bird. First, use curved lines for the pelican’s curved neck. These lines are bumpy and a little jagged to make them look feathery.

You can also draw some small line details around the neck to make it look more textured. Finally, we finish this step by drawing the falling wing. It is marked with a curved line and ends with some rounded feathers at the base.

Step 3

You started the first wing in the previous step of this how to draw a pelican guide, and in this step, you can remove the second one. The good news is that now that you’ve done this once, drawing a second one shouldn’t be a problem!

This wing will be closer to us as viewers so it will appear a little larger. Other than that, it will look very similar to the previous branch you drew. Once this wing is removed, we can proceed to the next step of the guide!

Step 4

In this fourth step of your pelican drawing, we will continue with the wing you drew in the last step. Last time we only pulled the front part of it, and in doing so, we will remove part of the back.

The back of the wing will be much more detailed as there will be a lot of feathers in this area. Use many curved lines to draw these feathers until it looks like our reference image. With this sail complete, the next step is to move on to the final details!

Step 5

You can now add the final details and touches in this step of our how-to-draw a pelican guide! Another layer of feathers needs to be added to this wing, so use more of those long, rounded lines to remove the back of the wing. You can end up with small details on the legs dragging the pelican behind them.

Once you’ve drawn all those details, you can move on to the final step! However, you don’t need to proceed just yet, as you can add some additional information. You could add background details or draw other birds to accompany this pelican.

Step 6

You have arrived at the final stage of your pelican drawing and can round it off nicely with some colors! In our reference image, we showed you how to color this pelican. We used dark brown tones for the feather ends of the pelican itself.

So we used some orange for the beak while coloring the rest a light beige. Finally, we colored the circle behind it a rich orange to make it look like a full moon behind the bird. Do you think you will use these exact colors, or do you have others in mind?

4 Tips to Take your Pelican Design to the Next Level.

Let’s go through some of these tips for your pelican sketch to make it even better!

Tip #1

This drawing of a pelican features one of those magnificent birds soaring in the air. It would be a fantastic show in real life, but it would be even more incredible if there were more than one.

Now that you know how to draw a pelican, you can add an extra one or two to this drawing. Adding it would help make this fantastic formation of flying pelicans look like this.

Tip #2

How many would you like to add to this design to create a lineup?

If you want to populate this design, you don’t have to stick to just pelicans. It would also be great to add some additional species of birds that you love! These could include any species you like and would be a great way to showcase all of your favorite bird species. If you need help drawing other birds, you can search online for birds to help you.

Tip #3

This pelican design we created features a stunning view of the pelican flying in front of the sun. You could make it even more impressive by tweaking some details.

For example, you could outline the pelican and give it a black silhouette instead of adding interior details.

It is an example of one way to change the image’s mood, but there are a few other effects you could create, so don’t be afraid to get creative! You can add one of your designs if you want a more detailed background setting for this pelican sketch.

Tip #4

We could do it by removing the sun behind the pelican, or you could integrate it. Whatever you decide, you can create whatever background setting you want, and again, you can search online for images to help you draw your chosen landscape.

Your Pelican Drawing is Ready!

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