Ms Lori’s Blog

Pompy casts a shadow

I would like to introduce you to Pompy our rooster. Pompy is a Polish Buff rooster and is about a year old. Instead of having a big red comb on top of his head he has long skinny feathers that hang down over his eyes.

Pompy has what are called spurs at his ankles that are used for defense. Look also at the color of his legs. They are a silver or gray which is different from Red and Mater’s yellow legs. Now I want you to look at Pompy’s body feathers and notice how the direction in which the feathers grow changes. On the neck they grow down and the feathers on his body grown down and toward the tail. Look at the photo and look at Pompy’s tail feathers. They are longer and much more fancy than the hen’s tail feathers. Notice how some of the feathers start at the back of the body and curve into an arch while others point to the sky.

In the photo observe or look at how Pompy has one foot raised and his head is even with his back. This is how he looks when he is walking along looking for food. Also, notice that one foot is raised.

Before you start the drawing activity take one more look at the photo, but this time look at the ground around Pompy. I too this photo at about 10 o’clock in the morning before the sun was high in the sky. Do you see his shadow on the ground? Pompy’s shadow is in an area of the photo called the foreground and that just means the shadow is on our, the viewer, side of Pompy. Everything behind Pompy is the background. The same idea works in drawing. So, this drawing activity will include Pompy’s shadow.

Steps to drawing Pompy

Okay, the first step is to draw the egg shape for the body. At the small pointy end of the body draw a triangle with the flat side slightly overlapping the body and pointing to three o’clock or to the right. Then draw a circle around the tip of the triangle. At the opposite end of the body add the longest tail feather. It looks like an upside down hook. The longest curved feather starts at the top of the back end of the body.

At the back end of the body below the first feather add the letter “V”. One side of the “V” must touch the end of the body. Okay, the next step is to draw two diagonal lines like you would draw for the top of a triangle. Where the tow diagonal lines start must be the same width as the open top of the letter ”V”. By combining those lines together you have created a shape called a diamond.

In the middle of the bottom of the belly add a small triangle that is pointing to the ground. At the tip of the triangle add Pompy’s leg using two diagonal straight lines. To add Pompy’s raised foot draw a short straight line to the right and below that add the letter “W”. You have drawn two of Pompy’s toes. By adding the other tow to the right of the “W” you will draw the raised foot.

Now to me the fun part of drawing is adding some details. Feathers can be drawn using curved and straight lines. First look at the photo again at Pompy’s head feathers. Then look at the drawing activity sheet. I used the letter “v” again, but this time it is smaller and not in the position it would be for reading. I have flipped and rotated the “v” around a dot on Pompy’s head that will be his eye.  Before you start drawing your small “vs” erase the tip of the triangle that is inside the circle. Put a dot in the circle and then draw the feathers using the letter “v”.  At the bottom of the circle add a “W” for the beak.

The next area you will be adding feathers to the inside of the triangle attached to the body that represents the neck. To draw the feathers is as easy as drawing straight lines from the head to the body. If you look at the drawing activity sheet I used a zig zag line to draw the ends of the feathers that go across and down the body. You can make a zig zag line by repeating the letter “W” over and over. They must touch to create the zig zag line.

On the back of the body by the tail draw a large “W” and “V” touching each other. The points need to point down. This combination will make the big feathers at the back of the body. Now on the tail inside the diamond repeat the last step. Take one more look at the drawing activity sheet. You will see that inside the diamond I drew straight lines that travel from the top of the diamond back to the body. At the top end of the diamond feathers I added the letter “m” two times.

The last step is to draw Pompy’s shadow. The easiest way is to draw a skinny and long oval the same length as Pompy from his head to his tail. You can add the beak at the head end of the shadow, but since a shadow is like a reflection in some ways the beak should point to Pompy’s head. Shadows almost always touch what is casting the shadow so, be sure your oval is touching Pompy’s leg.

There, you have done it again. If you have been following along you should have several drawings of hens and now a rooster. If you are a first time participant, to the drawing activitiy, congratulations on drawing Pompy and his shadow. One thing to remember when you are learning to express yourself through art and these drawing activities is there are no mistakes. Instead there are opportunities for discovery. Until next time, have fun on your adventure of discovery.