A birdhouse is a charming addition to any backyard or garden. Not only does it provide shelter for birds, but it can also add visual interest and decorate your outdoor space. Drawing and designing your own simple birdhouse is an easy and fun project that can be done in just a few steps. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through everything you need to know to create your own hand-drawn birdhouse plans.
Materials Needed
One of the best parts of learning how to draw a basic birdhouse is that you don’t need many supplies. Here is a list of the drawing materials you will need:
- Paper – You can use regular white paper or graph paper if you want to add precise measurements.
- Pencil – Any standard writing pencil will work for sketching out your design.
- Ruler – Helpful for measuring and drawing straight lines.
- Eraser – Allow you to easily erase mistakes or revise your drawing.
- Colored pencils, markers, or crayons (optional) – Can help you add color or details to your finished birdhouse sketch.
Step 1: Decide on the Basic Shape and Size
When starting your drawing, the first step is to decide on the general shape and dimensions for your birdhouse. Typical birdhouses are rectangular or square shaped. But you can get creative with shapes too – drawing circular, triangular, or even uniquely shaped birdhouses.
For a standard size, draw your birdhouse to be 5 to 7 inches wide and 8 to 12 inches tall. This provides enough interior space for common backyard birds like sparrows or chickadees. But again, you can customize the proportions if you’d like a smaller or larger finished house.
Use your pencil and ruler to lightly sketch a rectangle or square about the size you’d like for your birdhouse. Don’t press too hard since you may need to erase and adjust the shape as you go.
Step 2: Add the Entry Hole
Now that you have the main body sketched out, it’s time to add the entry hole for birds. The entry hole is one of the most important parts of any birdhouse design. Pay attention to the placement and scale of the hole.
A good standard size for the entry hole is 1 1⁄4 inches in diameter. This allows small birds to fit through, but excludes larger birds like starlings.
Use your pencil to sketch a circle about 1 1⁄4 inches wide wherever you would like the entry hole. Typically this is centered near the top of one side of the birdhouse. However, you can place it slightly lower on one side if desired.
Step 3: Draw the Roof
Every good birdhouse needs an angled roof to provide protection from rain and shade from sun. Decide if you would like a single sloped roof or a pitched roof with two slopes that meet at a peak.
For a single sloped roof, draw angled lines from each top corner of your birdhouse extending up and inwards to meet at a central point. For a pitched roof, draw two sets of angled lines from each side that meet at a centered peak.
The slope of your roof can vary depending on preference. A steep, sharply angled roof offers more rain protection while a more gently sloped roof has a quainter appearance.
Step 4: Add Structural Details
At this point, the basic structure of your birdhouse should be complete. Now you can start adding finer details to give your birdhouse more visual interest and a realistic appearance.
Consider adding structural elements like:
- Decorative overhangs or trim around the roofline
- Faux rafters underneath the roof overhang
- Small embellishments over the entry hole like an arch or decorative trim
- Fake wood grain texture
- Corner boards where the walls meet
Keep these details fairly small and simple so they don’t distract from the overall shape of the main birdhouse structure.
Step 5: Add Accessories
Once your basic birdhouse is drawn, consider adding fun accessories or design elements like:
- A perch below the entry hole
- Small plant pots or flower boxes attached to the exterior
- An exterior fence or trellis
- A sign or plaque with the birdhouse’s name
- Custom paint colors or patterns
These details are optional, but can give your birdhouse drawing even more decorative charm and personality.
Step 6: Finalize Your Drawing
To put the finishing touches on your sketch, go over all of your lines again with proper pressure so they are dark and clearly visible. Erase any unnecessary sketch lines from the drafting process.
You can also use colored pencils, markers, or crayons to add color to your birdhouse drawing if desired. This can bring it to life and make it pop off the page.
Be sure to sign and date your drawing so you can remember when it was created. You now have a complete custom diagram of your very own birdhouse design!
Tips for Creating Detailed Birdhouse Drawings
Once you feel comfortable sketching a basic birdhouse, you can try advancing your skills to add more intricate details and realism. Here are some tips for taking your drawings to the next level:
- Look at photos of real wooden birdhouses for inspiration on construction styles and small accents to include.
- Use graph paper to accurately scale and proportion your birdhouse elements.
- Practice drawing more complex roof shapes like hipped roofs or multi-level roofs.
- Add realistic hardware like hinges, nails, or screws.
- Draw intricate wood textures on the exterior like clapboard, shakes, or lattice.
- Incorporate delicate trim, scrollwork, or other carved accents.
- Render your drawing in color, shade, and shadow to make it appear three-dimensional.
The more you practice, the better you will become at crafting professional quality drawings of charming birdhouses.
Helpful Birdhouse Drawing Exercises
Here are some helpful exercises and challenges to improve your birdhouse drawing abilities:
- Draw the same birdhouse from multiple views – For example, draw a front view, side view, interior view, and 3⁄4 perspective. This enhances your spatial reasoning skills.
- Sketch birdhouses in different settings – Practice drawing a birdhouse on a tree, posts, fences, or other backgrounds. This improves your depiction of context and scale.
- Focus on a different architectural element in each drawing – Do a series of drawings highlighting just the entry hole, roof, accessories, materials, etc. This allows you to refine specific techniques.
- Set a time limit for each sketch – Quick timed drawing challenges can help build your on-the-fly visualization skills.
- Fill a whole page with diverse birdhouse designs – Creatively brainstorm as many unique birdhouse ideas as possible within the space of your paper. This sparks innovation.
By experimenting with these kinds of targeted birdhouse drawing exercises, you will become even more adept at bringing your architectural visions to life on paper.
Common Styles of Birdhouses
There are many aesthetic styles you can choose from when dreaming up your whimsical birdhouse designs. Consider incorporating elements from some of these popular options:
- Rustic – Rustic birdhouses have a cozy, weathered appearance. Drawing wood grain, nails, a stone perch, and other organic textures can achieve this look.
- Victorian – Decorative Victorian-era details like intricate trim, scrolling, and bright colors define this birdhouse style. Drawing scalloped roof shingles also adds character.
- Modern – Clean lines, simple shapes, and a lack of ornamentation give modern birdhouses a sleek, contemporary feel. Limiting decorations can help capture this pared-down style.
- Whimsical – Let your imagination run wild with a playful, whimsical design featuring bright colors, patterns, and imaginative shapes. Fun accessories like flowerboxes also contribute to a fanciful look.
- Natural – Use natural-edge wood, sticks, stones, vines and other organic materials to create an earthy, rustic birdhouse perfect for a garden. Focus on asymmetric, imperfect shapes.
While drawing your own custom birdhouse, borrow elements from your favorite looks to develop a unique design style.
Choosing Colors and Materials
When visualizing your birdhouse through drawing, also consider what aesthetic colors and materials would be ideal for the final built piece. Here are some options to ponder:
- Wood tones – Classic wood stains offer a natural, outdoorsy look. Different stains can evoke distinct feelings, like cherry for warmth or white-wash for beachy brightness.
- Unexpected colors – For a pop of personality, draw your birdhouse coated in a bright, unexpected color like robin’s egg blue, sunflower yellow, or lime green.
- Mixed media – Incorporating metal, fiberglass, reclaimed wood, and other mixed materials can add new textures. Draw hardware, roofing, signs or other accents using contrasting materials.
- Distressed – A distressed, chippy painted look has vintage appeal. Sketch weathered wood, scratches, and areas where underlying woodgrain peeks through the color coating.
Deciding on a color scheme and materials while in the drawing stage helps you envision the full design and character of your unique birdhouse.
Planning Interior Elements
When drawing your birdhouse, don’t forget to consider interior elements too. Provide enough usable interior space, adequate drainage and ventilation, and easy access for cleaning the house each season.
Here are some key interior features to include in your drawings:
- An interior floor space about 4×4 inches
- Ventilation holes near the top of the walls under the roof
- Vertical grooves or ridges in the interior walls for climbing and nest attachment
- A way to easily open the roof or side panel each fall for cleaning access
- Drainage holes in the floor
- A recessed, slanted floor to channel water out through the drainage holes
- An overhang extending about 1-2 inches past the entry hole to shelter and protect birds
Keep functionality in mind as you sketch your birdhouse inside and out. Picture how birds will realistically use the space when bringing your designs to life.
Considering Birdhouse Placement
As you envision your birdhouse through drawing, also think about where the final constructed piece could be installed in your yard to make birds feel at home.
Here are some tips for optimal birdhouse placement:
- Mount about eye level on a wall, post, or tree at least 5 feet off the ground to deter predators.
- Make sure the entry hole aligns close to the wall or tree so arriving birds have a landing spot.
- Face the opening away from prevailing winds and rain.
- Point the birdhouse entrance towards bushes, trees, or feeders so birds have a clear flight path.
- Place away from windows to reduce collisions.
Determining a good real-world location while drawing will help the final installed birdhouse attract more feathered friends to your yard.
Conclusion
Drawing a simple birdhouse is an enjoyable creative endeavor and great practice for enhancing your art and drafting skills. Follow the steps outlined here to hand-sketch your own custom birdhouse designs from start to finish. Let the whimsical style of your dream backyard birdhaven shine through in your one-of-a-kind illustration.
With a little planning, careful line work, inventive embellishments, and color, you can produce beautiful birdhouse renderings to eventually bring to three-dimensional life. So grab your pencils, ruler, and paper and start drafting your feathered friends’ future home today!