Mastering Traditional Chinese Loquat & White-eye Drawing Techniques

Brief Introduction:

"Loquat and White-eye" is a classic example of "broken branch" flower and bird painting, a representative masterpiece in terms of composition from the Song Dynasty. The painting depicts the instant dynamic of a white-eye bird, about to peck at a fruit, suddenly noticing a small ant on it. The coloring uses meticulous and rich techniques, faithfully capturing the natural forms of the fruit, leaves, bird, and insect, fully reflecting the artistic level achieved in realistic flower and bird painting during the Song Dynasty.

Step One:

Use light ink to outline the loquats, the undersides of the leaves (reversed leaves), and the bird's belly. Use medium ink for the branches and the bird's back. Use dark ink to outline the bird's beak and the upper sides of the leaves (front leaves). Keep the lines thin, preferably using a long-haired brush. The lines in this artwork are quite fine. The bird's feather areas are generally outlined with dashed lines, while the flight feathers and coverts can use solid lines.

Step Two:

Apply a light sap green wash to the bird's back and the undersides of the leaves. Apply a grass green wash to the upper sides of the leaves. Apply a light white wash to the bird's chin and chest/belly areas. Apply a light pinkish-yellow wash to the loquats. Apply a light ochre wash to the branches.

Step Three:

Repeatedly layer the loquats with orange-yellow (gamboge + vermilion), paying special attention to the changes in spatial relationships and overlaps. For the topmost loquats, apply orange-yellow wash from the edges towards the center. For the loquats in shadow, apply grass green wash from the edges towards the center.

Wash the undersides of the leaves with grass green. For the upper sides of the leaves, continue to layer with indigo along the veins twice, then apply a grass green wash. For the darkest areas, use a deep greenish-black (moqing) for a final wash.

Wash the bird's head and back with dark green twice. Repeatedly layer the flight feathers, coverts, and tail feathers with medium ink. Lightly wash the bird's chest with light ochre. Wash the upper beak with ink. Apply white wash to the lower beak, and draw the midline of the beak with thick ink.

The branches are primarily washed with light ink. Slightly add texture (cun-ca) to the thicker parts of the branches.

Step Four:

For the bird's back, use dark green to draw fine hairs (si mao). Around the eyes, dot with thick white powder to create white circles. Apply orange-yellow wash to the eyes, then layer with light ink, and finally dot the pupils with dark ink. For the bird's chin and chest/belly, highlight the bright areas with light white powder, then draw fine hairs with slightly thicker white powder. Apply a light indigo wash to the bird's claws, then dot scales with slightly thicker indigo.

For the six seeds at the top of the loquats, apply medium ink wash, then re-outline with dark ink. For the loquats in shadow, wash with ochre ink from the edges towards the center, then highlight again with "si lü" (a shade of green). Use a fine brush dipped in thick ink to draw two ants on the loquats. For the undersides of the leaves, apply a thin "si lü" wash by brushing from the leaf edges inwards, then wash again with light ochre from the base. After that, outline the leaf veins with slightly thicker "si lü", and re-outline the base of the leaf stems with light rouge. For the insect-bitten areas on the undersides of the leaves, wash with ochre ink to create color spots.

For the upper sides of the leaves that are in shadow, apply a large area wash with medium ink, and locally highlight with thick greenish-black.

Wash the branches multiple times with light ink. Add local texture (cun-ca) with light ink, then dot moss with thick ink. After the moss dots dry, highlight them again with thick "san lü" (a shade of green).