John Muir Laws interviews Nancy Overton, an artist who makes incredible paper mache birds to inspire and increase awareness and care for the natural world. (Class session recording from 7 September 2023) Nancy shares step-by-step photos of how she makes a bird: tools and materials, collecting reference photos, making a silhouette drawing, making wire silhouettes, Read More
Category: Drawing Birds
Tricks, tips, and techniques to help you draw birds.
Artivism for African Penguins (Jan. 23, 2025)
Join John Muir Laws, Nature Journal South Africa (NJSA), and Dr. Katta Ludynia, Research Manager at SANCCOB (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) to learn about African Penguins and how to use our nature journals as tools for artivism for their conservation. Oh yes, there are penguins in Africa, now. But they Read More
60-Second Bird Sketching
Learn how to draw birds with a few fast lines that capture the feeling and behavior of a live bird. Got a minute? Sketch a bird! Join me and the Wild Wonder Foundation for a fun class on quick bird sketching where I share my best tips and tricks learned through my 40 years of Read More
A Year of Drawing Birds with Julia Posey (Jan. 30, 2025)
What would happen if you drew a bird a day for a year? Julia Posey joins John Muir Laws to share her experiences. In 2020, as the world was shutting down and humans were staying put, birds kept right about their business, following migrations and great journeys, stopping in our yards and lingering outside our Read More
A Bird a Day with Anne Chadwick (Dec. 18, 2025)
What would happen if you drew one bird each day for a year? Join John Muir Laws in conversation with nature journaler and conservation leader Anne Chadwick as she wraps up a full year of drawing a bird a day. Why set a goal like this? Lessons learned? Progress made? How can this help build Read More
Understanding Birds Through Sculpture (Nov. 21, 2024)
Join John Muir Laws and Jack Revie as we explore the process of carving birds and how to think about birds three dimensionally. This process will improve your ability to draw birds from any angle. You may wish to bring some sculpy, or modeling clay to help you construct your own birds. (Class date: 21 Read More
Sierra Birds Book Launch
This special event was co-hosted by Wild Wonder Foundation, Feather River Land Trust, and Heyday Books. I gave this talk in November 2024 at the new beautiful Sierra Valley Nature Center in Beckwourth, California, to celebrate the publication of The Laws Field Guide to Sierra Birds. Featuring all new illustrations of more than 200 species, Read More
Birds from Below (Apr. 5, 2022)
Class session 5 April 2022. We usually want to draw birds from front, three-quarters, and side views, but is that really the angle we see them at most? In this class, John Muir Laws addresses how to draw birds when you’re looking up at them perched in a tree, the angle least talked about. Add Read More
Ask Jack: Grab Bag of Tricks! (May 18, 2021)
In this “Ask Jack” session, John Muir Laws goes over various tips and tricks, including how to sight with binoculars, creating a foggy landscape, using a smudging tool, and iridescence. (Class from 18 May 2021) Read More
Simplifying Bird Wings (Feb. 29, 2024)
With a little help from Vivek Khanzode’s website https://www.birdpixel.com, John Muir Laws explores the different feather groups on a bird’s wing, and then demonstrates how to simplify drawing the wing as a whole. “Show less than you know” – if you know where the different parts are on the wing, then that will show you Read More