Heron Standing In Tall Reeds Coloring Page

This heron stands upright among reeds, facing right, with only its head and the top of its neck clear of the vegetation. Below that point the page turns dense: a thick bed of blade leaves and around fifteen cattails fills the lower two thirds and swallows the bird's legs entirely. Its plumage is drawn in long fine strokes rather than outlined feathers, so it holds pencil shading far better than flat marker. A full rectangular border rings the sheet, built from twisting vine work with a heavy solid ornament in each corner and a small diamond at the midpoint of every side. Those four corners are already inked black and give the page its structure. The white sky behind the neck is the only large empty area and it is what keeps the composition readable, so think twice before filling it. The reeds are the real work. Because they cross and overlap constantly, picking two greens and alternating them stem by stem is the difference between a legible bed of reeds and one solid green block across the bottom of the page.