Step 1

Once you’ve made sure you have the materials you need after checking the ‘What You Need’ tab, it’s time for your imagination to take flight. Using your pencil, sketch out the branch of a tree on your acrylic board. Now draw a bird on the branch. Fill in your branch with a brown pastel.

Step 2

Now let your artistic expression really take off. Fill in your bird’s tummy using dark blue, light green, then sky blue to create a series of layers that will combine to make a new colour. Smudge and watch it appear. Draw the rest of the bird’s body in light red, then overlay that with peach. Add your bird’s beak with your yellow pastel.

Step 3

Back to your branches. Draw red squiggles around them, then highlight them in peach. Add leaves using green. Now for the finishing flourishes. A few white highlights and black outlines on your bird and your work is done. You can add another feather to your cap and tell all your friends you’ve mastered oil pastels.