How to Draw Animals for Adults

Drawing animals for pleasure can be relaxing or frustrating. The rules for drawing animals differ slightly from typical drawing rules, but with practice and patience, you can learn to draw animals to your satisfaction--and enjoy doing it.

Things You'll Need

• Acid-free art paper
• Pencil
• Eraser

Instructions

1. Select your subject. For the most realistic results, draw from an example, not from your imagination. Use a photograph instead of a live subject because most animals won't stay still. Select a large, high resolution photograph that's in focus.

2. Gather and prepare your materials. For a proper drawing, you'll want archival quality, acid-free art paper, sharpened pencils and an art eraser.

3. Do several small, quick sketches of the animal on a practice sheet of paper. Study your sketches and try to determine what works and what doesn't.

4. Draw the initial outline of the animal on the paper. Start at the head and work your way down. Map the structure of the animal on the paper, if it makes you comfortable. In other words, draw a circle for the head, a circle for the body, an oval for legs and a tail, etc. These shapes will be erased, but you'll get a good idea of the placement of the full animal on paper.

5. Draw details like eyes, nose, mouth, claws, ears. It may help to make mapping lines-horizontal and vertical lines across the face that show the vertical and horizontal axis of the face-in order to properly line up the features.

6. Shade the appropriate areas of the drawing. This is done by lightly running the pencil over the paper in patient, back and forth motions. The shadows should be done lightly at first, darkening them later to produce the appropriate depth of shadow.

7. Put the drawing away for a few hours or a few days-long enough to forget a little what it looks like. Return to the drawing later and compare the drawing to the photograph. Look for errors and correct them as necessary. Erase the mapping lines.

Tips & Warnings

• Note that art pencils come in different grades. Pencils labeled 2B, 3B, 4B (and so on) are softer and produce a darker mark (the higher the number, the softer the lead). Pencils labeled 2H, 3H, 4H (and so on) will be harder and produce a lighter mark--the higher the number, the lighter the mark. Harder pencils are good for shading light areas, and also for mapping out the structure of the drawing before filling in the details.

• Avoid the temptation to draw "sketchy" lines-a series of short, progressive marks grouped together, meant to represent one straight line. This type of drawing style may quickly become inelegant and cumbersome. Do your best to draw each shape with long, continuous lines. Draw lightly at first and erase your mistakes-but also, get used to making mistakes, and accept them.

References

• How To Draw It.com