People find joy in observing and drawing animals. In fact, such activity dates back to prehistoric times when cavemen carved in shapes of animals on the walls of their dwellings.
Beauty of drawing animals comes from mere fact that animals come in all shapes and sizes. Each animal you draw will be different than next you draw. While you learn to draw animals, different animals will require different approach and techniques. For instance, drawing a cow involve using a square that is divided into 4 parts. Drawing a hippopotamus on the other hand involves drawing a big flat circle to form the body and an egg-shaped circle attached for the face.
To learn to draw animals, you should look at pictures of them books and other publications to study them. Also observe how they move and behave to capture the essence of them when you translate to your canvas. By studying animals in many different shapes and sizes, you will get the general idea about their basic shapes. Basic shapes in drawing are simple geometric shapes such as ovals, circles and triangles used to determine the outlines of the subject you are drawing.
Determine the basic shapes to set the foundation of the animal you are drawing then you will want to draw outlines of the body using the basic shapes as a guideline. Next draw in details and features such as eyes, mouths, ears, etc. Having basic understandings of animals' anatomy will help a lot when drawing them. Knowing the accurate presentation of skeletal structures and correct body compositions of fat and muscle will heighten the realism of animal you are drawing. Seals are covered in blubbers and will be generally devoid of any signs of muscles and skeletons. A tiger will have powerful muscles on its shoulders and throughout its bodies and show distinct hints of ribs along the body.
One way to make your animal drawing look more realistic is to add natural objects such as vegetations found in their habitations. The contrast in lines between the animals and those objects will enhance your drawing.
Quick Tip #1: Breaking It Down
Break the subject you are drawing into simple basic shapes such as square, oval, oblong, triangle, and circle. It doesn't matter whether you are drawing an apple or a dragon. If you break your model down into basic shapes and use them as an outline, you are greatly simplifying the process of drawing. |
Quick Tip #2: Outside In
Draw from outside in. What I mean by this is you should always draw the outlines of your models first then cramp all the details within those outlines. Drawing facial features such as eyes, nose and mouth before setting facial line is a huge no-no. |
Quick Tip #3: Upside-Down
One exercise that will improve your drawing skills is drawing an upside-down image. This may seem a bit weird at first but try it! It'll develop and improve your visual mode. |
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