Painting Flamingos in watercolor and ink

Flamingo in line and wash technique

I have painted a lot of birds before but this is my first time painting flamingos. They are such interesting birds. Their quirky shape and the way they stand gives them so much character and makes painting them so much fun.

I was taking Ian Fennelly’s Urban Zoo Sketching Course and one of the lessons is on painting Flamingos. I am a huge fan of Ian’s style, it’s so very unique. I have not really seen anyone else use that style of line and wash. I have taken a few of his online courses already which are mostly about urban sketching and thoroughly enjoyed them. So when I saw that he had released a course about drawing animals, I immediately bought it. I didn’t get time to complete the course then as life became busy as a new mom, but I’m going through it slowly now.

This sketch was done with a combination of watercolors, Tombow ABT dual brush pens in grey colors for the shadows and fineliners for the outline. I am thrilled with how it turned out.

Flamingo standing on one leg

I decided to do one more from a different reference. I had a lot of fun painting it. Flamingos are such fun birds! I will definitely be painting more soon.