Pets provide kids with an engaging opportunity to hone their art skills. Through clear instructions and colorful illustrations, they can create charming drawings of their favorite pets in no time!
This tutorial is ideal for beginning artists, but even experienced ones can find useful tips and techniques here. The steps are straightforward and suitable for children of all ages.
Head
When drawing pets, begin by sketching the largest proportions of their head first and add smaller details as you go along. This will help you comprehend the overall structure of the drawing – including contours, direction, three-dimensional shapes as well as light sources, shadows, and color choices – better.
Drawing an ear is a crucial detail when drawing dogs, but it can be challenging if you’re unfamiliar with drawing dogs. To improve your drawing skill level, practice different breeds and shapes.
Start by drawing a reference photo of your dog’s head to get an accurate representation. This will help you visualize their head shape and make your sketches appear more lifelike.
When selecting a photo for your dog’s head shape and expression, opt for one that you can easily view in front of you and one that is familiar to you.
Next, sketch out an overall outline of the head and draw its snout. Doing this will help you visualize its shape better and prevent any unexpected twists or turns when drawing it later on.
For this step, you’ll need a pencil. Use a 2B pencil for white fur and a 4B pencil for darker areas of fur. Don’t apply too much pressure when drawing the fur; instead use light, even strokes.
Finally, add shading to your dog’s eyes and nose with colored pencils or crayons. For a more realistic effect, you should use a black-and-white version of your reference picture.
Body
Pet bodies are one of the most iconic animal forms, so it’s essential to learn how to draw them accurately. Drawing a dog’s legs can be especially tricky due to their intricate skeletal structure – which is why reference pictures are recommended before beginning any drawing project.
References are an invaluable tool for improving your drawing skills, as they give you a good sense of the proportions required for an animal’s body. Furthermore, using references makes your artwork more realistic as it creates a three-dimensional effect.
Start by drawing a basic shape of your pet’s body on paper using a pencil and a piece of paper. Next, draw thicker lines that look more lifelike by adding fur and muscles to the drawing – this will help you visualize how the dog’s physique will appear when complete.
Once you understand the basic shapes, you can progress to more detailed drawings of a dog’s head, muzzle, and lower lip. These parts of a pup will likely be seen most frequently so it’s wise to begin with them.
Begin by drawing a circle for the dog’s head. You can add two triangles on top to give it more detail and make the drawing appear closer to reality; plus, this will teach you how to draw an accurate depiction of a real canine’s head in general.
Draw the dog’s head, muzzle, and lower lip together. Doing this gives you a good visual of how the dog’s head will appear when complete, as well as helping you visualize how to draw their eyes in general.
Legs
Legs are an integral part of the human anatomy that can be difficult to draw accurately, especially when drawing pets. Although they’re complex with multiple muscles and joints, drawing legs well once you understand the basics will give you success.
Understanding the structure of legs is essential when drawing them, not only because it gives you a solid base to build upon but also helps with character proportioning. Beyond the standard hip, knee, and ankle joints, leg muscles vary considerably in shape and function.
Artist Lucas Elliott suggests starting with a general idea of where each leg muscle should be on your body, then gradually adding in specific details as you become more knowledgeable about its anatomy. This method can be particularly helpful when drawing characters that defy traditional human and animal body types–a tall, thin man or woman or a small, short bunny.
Drawing the legs of dogs and cats is a great place to begin when learning how to draw them because they share the same basic anatomy as most other animals. However, drawing wolves or rabbits may prove more challenging due to their more intricate features.
Begin by drawing the basic skeletal structure with circles for each hip, knee, and ankle joint. Subsequently, draw long cylinders for the upper and lower legs. Finally, add detail to each leg’s top by drawing in a teardrop-shaped muscle.
Drawing a dog requires drawing two front legs that are slightly bent. Start slightly to the right of the center and draw an oval that overlaps both the body and front paws, stopping just before each paw’s top edge on both sides.
Tail
A pet’s tail is an integral part of its anatomy. Not only does it aid balance and act as a rudder when swimming, but it’s also used for expressing emotions such as excitement or nervousness.
When drawing a dog’s tail, shape and size should be taken into consideration. Some tails are long and wavy while others have bushy tips. No matter the breed, drawing its tail accurately is key for creating realistic-looking drawings.
To begin, you’ll need a piece of paper and either a pencil or pen. Additionally, you can use markers or colored pencils to add additional details to the drawing.
Once your outline is complete, it’s time to shade your drawing. For this step, use a 4B pencil or pen; this will make the lines darker and more defined.
You can further enhance the sketch by lightly shading with a soft brush on your pencil or pen. Additionally, you may wish to shade in the back of the puppy’s head for added realism.
Before you begin drawing the dog’s body, it’s wise to find some reference photos. These can be found online or in magazines and will help you draw a more lifelike dog.
First, search for a reference photo without fuzzy or blurred edges. These can make it difficult to discern the fine details of a dog’s body.
Once the picture has been enhanced, use a program such as PowerPoint or Publisher to magnify it and enhance the visibility of all details.