I thought that, in art, I could show you how to draw Piper. If there any older children who would also like to have a go, you can see the animation here.

The first step with drawing is to observe: to spend some time calmly looking and thinking about the features of what you are going to draw. A feature is a part of something which helps us to recognise it. You might want to start by watching the film again but this time, thinking about how Piper has been drawn. It is a good idea to practise sketching some of the individual parts on a piece of scrap paper before you start on your main drawing.

Piper’s eyes are circular. They have a very large pupil (the black part of the eye) and a much smaller brown iris (the coloured part of the eye) which you can just see at the side, like a tiny crescent moon. We know that the eyes are shiny because of the white dot in the pupil. You could start by having a go at drawing Piper’s eye:

Once you are happy, you can draw both eyes. You may notice that Piper has a grey stripe at the side of each eye:

Piper’s beak is a small narrow triangle or two triangles if the beak is open:

Piper’s legs are thin with something that looks like a knee fairly near the body. It seems to bend the opposite way to your knee but that is because it is really an ankle joint! Piper’s feet look like this:

When you have practised the details, you can have a go at drawing the whole of Piper. To make a great drawing:

• draw fairly big. It is easier and makes a more effective picture.
• look for shapes.

We have practised looking for shapes in the things we want to draw in some of the projects that we did at school. You can draw the shape lightly in pencil before you start or just imagine it while you draw. If you do draw shapes first, you will probably want to rub them out later so remember not to use 'Incredible Hulk pencil'!

If you are feeling a bit nervous, the easiest picture to draw is a close-up where you can miss out all the tricky parts! Notice that the beak, eye and feathers all line up:

Here is another easy version of Piper that you can try. Piper is a little like a snowman with a beak, feathers and feet added!

Once you feel more confident, you can try drawing Piper in a variety of positions. Here are some of the drawings that I did:

Once you have drawn Piper, you can have fun adding a background. Think about all the information that you found out for your English task, such as where a sandpiper lives and what they eat. You could even illustrate your own adventure for Piper. If you are able to take a photograph of your finished work, I would love to see it. You could ask a grown-up to send pictures to me at svarty@willingham.cambs.sch.uk. Have fun!