Make Mine A Budgie

It's handy to have versatile images that can be coloured in various ways for different people or occasions, such as this little bird. In the digital set, he is a Peach-faced lovebird, but with a few colour tweaks and added markings, he becomes a cute budgerigar.

I've coloured the image with alcohol markers, but you can easily use your favourite colouring mediums to complete the project. Remember to use the appropriate paper for your medium, which will make the process much easier.

Colour the head, neck and wings with a bright yellow, then add shading around the eyes, under the beak, either side of the neck and under the wings. Blend the yellow shades using a variety of markers for a nice smooth transition.

Now colour the rest of the bird with a light green shade. Add your darkest green in the shadow areas - under the tail, at the bottom of the stomach, and under the loose feathers. You can even add some additional texture to the bird if you wish. Blend with the medium markers for a nice, smooth transition.

Beaks and feet are generally the same colour - a warm grey or earth tone.

Colour the stick however you wish, remembering to contrast the colour of the bird's feet with the colour of the stick so they are both discernible.

Time to add the markings that will make this bird recognisable as a budgerigar. Use a dark, warm grey to add little lines around his chin... a bit like a goatee beard.

Now use a blue-green pen to place markings on either side of the face, right next to the beak. These markings should resemble upside-down commas.

Finally, use a lighter shade of warm grey to add textured "stripes" on the sides of the face and shoulders. Make sure you keep them quite rough and textured like the tips of feathers, rather than having smooth sides like a triangle.

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