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  Hi there : Here I will try to give you insight about how I draw/shade feathers.
You can see down there what I achieved in less than 30 minutes and what I hope you will be able to make after reading this !

Don't forget that this is only my way of doing it and that it is by no mean perfect. Don't hesitate to take from it what you like and discard what you don't as long as you think it will guide you where you want.

What you will see was made quickly so I didn't focus much on color palette, but doing so is really important if you want to get the best result.

If you want to see what I achieve using this way of working you look at this piece I made : Where dreams send me

Part 1 : Shape

The first step is to get the shape that you want. There I made a simple wing. Because it is in a flat position I didn't add a highlight on it. If you are working on something with a lot of curves I really advise you to shade it before. Just remember to shade it softly, you don't often find a sharp angle where feathers are put.

For this simple shape what will be the shadow's color. So if your wing is going to be white use a gray (don't forget to change color between the highlights and shadows)

Part 2 : giving life to the feathers

It is now time to create the feathers: using a lighter color shade the feather. Start for each one of them with the tip of it and then go to the base. Make the tip lighter than the base. This will create the impression that each feather casts a soft shadow in each other and it will help the viewer distinguish each feather from one another. If two feathers overlap and it is hard to differentiate them use the darkest colors nearby to create the shadow of the feather at the top.
When making the feather, try to give them a flow: they must all be going in the same direction but at the same time they must all be going in the same direction, but at the same time they shouldn't be to much parallel or it will feel natural. Avoind pattern can be a great idea. Also, don't forget that feathers must be fixed on something. and that it influence their direction.
Also, if you are looking at them perpendicularlydon't forget that feathers are 3-dimensional.

Once I was done, I added some highlights at the tips of the feathers and then used a photoshop mask to make them darker and add some contrast. After this I added some reflection onto them.
There are a lot of ways of adding feathers depending on the look you want to achieve. I personally like them shiny, so I painted some reflection onto some of the feathers. At this point you should think of the light acting on your wings and start to shade it accordingly, before this we were using the ambient light, but now if you have stronger lights in your scene you must think about their interaction with each feather.
Don't forget that the part in the shadows are not very affected by the lights because they are under the feathers.



Part 3 : Adding more colors and details

Adding more colors is really the most artisanal part of it. In my case I added some red/orange into the shadows. But is up to you to decide what you are doing there. My only rule is: make it more interesting. In real life there are many sources of lights coming from everywhere and adding many touches of colors to everything. So try adding variety into the colors. with some filter (like color balance in photoshop) or with brushes.

   When it is done finish by adding details: feather often has a hard part in the middle of them and they can be a little bit broken. Don't hesitate at this point to add some more little feathers in the spots that feels empty and to make each feather look sharper by redoing the center of them.

So that's it for this tutorial.

I hope it was helpfull to you, don't hesitate to ask me questions if you feel like I didn't explained enought something.
Don't hesitate to leave feedback. It is the first time I try to do a tutorial and it would be greatly appreciated !

Have a nice day !

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

  Hi there : Here I will try to give you insight about how I draw/shade feathers.
You can see down there what I achieved in less than 30 minutes and what I hope you will be able to make after reading this !

Don't forget that this is only my way of doing it and that it is by no mean perfect. Don't hesitate to take from it what you like and discard what you don't as long as you think it will guide you where you want.

What you will see was made quickly so I didn't focus much on color palette, but doing so is really important if you want to get the best result.

If you want to see what I achieve using this way of working you look at this piece I made : Where dreams send me

Part 1 : Shape

The first step is to get the shape that you want. There I made a simple wing. Because it is in a flat position I didn't add a highlight on it. If you are working on something with a lot of curves I really advise you to shade it before. Just remember to shade it softly, you don't often find a sharp angle where feathers are put.

For this simple shape what will be the shadow's color. So if your wing is going to be white use a gray (don't forget to change color between the highlights and shadows)

Part 2 : giving life to the feathers

It is now time to create the feathers: using a lighter color shade the feather. Start for each one of them with the tip of it and then go to the base. Make the tip lighter than the base. This will create the impression that each feather casts a soft shadow in each other and it will help the viewer distinguish each feather from one another. If two feathers overlap and it is hard to differentiate them use the darkest colors nearby to create the shadow of the feather at the top.
When making the feather, try to give them a flow: they must all be going in the same direction but at the same time they must all be going in the same direction, but at the same time they shouldn't be to much parallel or it will feel natural. Avoind pattern can be a great idea. Also, don't forget that feathers must be fixed on something. and that it influence their direction.
Also, if you are looking at them perpendicularlydon't forget that feathers are 3-dimensional.

Once I was done, I added some highlights at the tips of the feathers and then used a photoshop mask to make them darker and add some contrast. After this I added some reflection onto them.
There are a lot of ways of adding feathers depending on the look you want to achieve. I personally like them shiny, so I painted some reflection onto some of the feathers. At this point you should think of the light acting on your wings and start to shade it accordingly, before this we were using the ambient light, but now if you have stronger lights in your scene you must think about their interaction with each feather.
Don't forget that the part in the shadows are not very affected by the lights because they are under the feathers.



Part 3 : Adding more colors and details

Adding more colors is really the most artisanal part of it. In my case I added some red/orange into the shadows. But is up to you to decide what you are doing there. My only rule is: make it more interesting. In real life there are many sources of lights coming from everywhere and adding many touches of colors to everything. So try adding variety into the colors. with some filter (like color balance in photoshop) or with brushes.

   When it is done finish by adding details: feather often has a hard part in the middle of them and they can be a little bit broken. Don't hesitate at this point to add some more little feathers in the spots that feels empty and to make each feather look sharper by redoing the center of them.

So that's it for this tutorial.

I hope it was helpfull to you, don't hesitate to ask me questions if you feel like I didn't explained enought something.
Don't hesitate to leave feedback. It is the first time I try to do a tutorial and it would be greatly appreciated !

Have a nice day !