How to Paint a Kiwi

Few New Zealanders have seen a kiwi in the wild.

The kiwi, -- a brown, flightless nocturnal bird -- is the national symbol of New Zeland, and the locals refer to themselves a "kiwis." The kiwi is an endangered species. According to Save the Kiwi, there were about 78,000 birds in 1997, but that has dropped to about 70,000. The gentle passive kiwi didn't have any natural predators until the Maori started killing them for their prized feathers. Female kiwis are larger than males and can grow to be the size of a chicken and an adult bird can weight up to 9 lbs. Kiwis live primarily on worms and grubs, but also eat insects, seeds and berries. Dragoart suggests using shapes to draw a kiwi. Once the sketch is in place, you can easily paint the kiwi from the outline.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Canvas or fiberboard
• Acrylic or oil paint
• Brushes
• Strips of cardboard

Instructions

1. Start with a light pencil sketch on the canvas, fiberboard or other white surface you are working with. Draw two circles, a smaller one for the head and a large one for the body. The rough sketch will help give you perspective when you paint.

2. Add the long slender kiwi bill with a line down the middle. The nostrils are at the lower end of the bill and the bird has a very good sense of smell. Draw a small circle for the eye and a single line for the neck.

3. Sketch in the short legs and the three-toed feet, which are the only way the kiwi can defend itself. The wings are only about 2 inches long and you can't see them among the feathers, so don't worry about them.

4. Get out your brown paints, a bit of black and some yellow. The kiwi only has one basic color, so it is a matter of mixing and shading the browns to get the effect you want.

5. Use different shades of brown paint to add feathers that are more like hair. Choose dark brown for the coarse look. Mix in a dab of yellow from time to time when you want to highlight an area.

6. Outline the kiwi bill and feet with a thin line of black paint. Also dab black in the eye and then add a touch of yellow for contrast. Paint a black line down the middle of the bill for definition and to indicate where it separates to open.

7. Paint in a few extra long feathers that stick out around the bill and the top of the head with short, sharp brush strokes. These feathers are more like bristles. Move to the kiwi's body and outline the torso of the kiwi with zigzag strokes to give the desired effect for the feathers.

Tips & Warnings

• For a textured look, dab thick acrylic paint on the body of the kiwi with a strip of cardboard.

References

• BNZ Save the Kiwi: Kiwis Saving Kiwi
• Kiwi Web: The Kiwi Bird -- New Zealand's Indigenous Flightless Bird
• Dragoart: How to Draw a Kiwi