Chicken Drawing

A chicken drawing is a visual representation of a domestic fowl, typically featuring the bird's distinct physical characteristics such as a comb, wattles, beak, and feathers.

This chicken drawing collection is hand-curated and made freely-available for use in your projects. To learn more, see the pages on license and attribution information for Kapwing.

Chicken drawing is a popular subject in art, with examples dating back to ancient times. In ancient Egypt, chickens were depicted in hieroglyphs and artwork, such as the famous "Tomb of Nefertari" from around 1255 BCE. The ancient Greek artist Polygnotus also included chickens in his paintings, as mentioned by the historian Pliny the Elder in his book "Natural History" from the 1st century CE. During the Renaissance, artists like Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini created detailed studies of chickens in their sketchbooks. The Italian artist Ulisse Aldrovandi published a book called "Ornithologiae" in 1599, which included illustrations of various chicken breeds. In the 17th century, the Dutch artist Melchior d'Hondecoeter became famous for his paintings of chickens and other birds. In modern times, chicken drawing has been popularized by artists like M.C. Escher, who created a lithograph titled "Bird and Fish" in 1938, featuring a stylized chicken. The contemporary artist Katherine Plumber is known for her realistic chicken paintings, which have been featured in exhibitions and publications since the 1990s. Chicken drawing is also a popular subject for beginners learning to draw, with many tutorials and books available on the topic.

• The oldest known depiction of a chicken is a Babylonian seal from 600 BC, featuring a rooster.
• In 1996, a chicken named Mardi produced a drawing that sold for $42.50 at an auction in London.
• The world's largest chicken drawing, measuring 1,500 square meters, was created in 2014 by Chinese artist Zhijun Wang.
• The 'Chicken Scratch' drawing technique, popularized in the 1950s, involves making small, repeated strokes to create texture.
• In 2018, a hyperrealistic pencil drawing of a chicken by artist Dani Ives went viral on social media.