How to Draw a Pig Nose

Pig noses are essentially cylinders

Drawing a pig's nose is a fun activity that can lead you into drawing other organic forms, which could lead ultimately to (human) figure drawing, one of the most popular and challenging types of drawing. The basic shape of a pig's nose is a cylinder, which is usually easy to recognize and draw. But unlike a true cylinder, which has a circular end, the end of the pig's nose is a cardioid (heart) shape. This potentially makes drawing pig noses more difficult than drawing a plain cylinder.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil and paper

Instructions

1. 

   Sketch the shape of a valentine's heart, which will represent the back of the pig's nose. Ensure the heart is at least three inches across its longest dimension, and that it's tilted slightly toward the right. Turn your paper, if needed, to add the tilt to the heart. The tilt is needed to create a 3D view of the nose.

   Refer to the graphic accompanying this step if you need help drawing a valentine heart.

2. Make the nose's front: Draw a second heart that's slightly smaller than the first, and position it slightly left of and above the first heart.

3. Turn your paper upside down to see the proper shape of the nose. Then, darken the outline of the smaller heart to indicate that it comes in front of the larger heart.

4. Do the following to connect the nose's back to its front:

   Draw a line from the bottom of the bigger heart's left chamber, to the bottom of the smaller heart's left chamber.

   Draw another line that connects the tops of the two hearts.

5. Form the left nostril: Draw a darkened oval in the smaller heart's left chamber, slightly above the horizontal center of the heart. Ensure the nostril oval is aligned with the left chamber's vertical center, and takes up roughly a quarter of the space inside the left chamber.

6. Make the right nostril: Use step 5's instructions to make another nostril, one inside the smaller heart's right chamber. Make this oval slightly smaller and thinner than the left chamber's nostril, to simulate the 3D effects of perspective and rotational foreshortening.

7. Begin adding details to give the nose a greater sense of 3D depth: Erase a small portion of the upper part of the smaller heart. This will make the front of the nose appear to be in front of, though still connected to, the nose's rear.

8. Shade the nose: Using a fairly heavy pressure on the pencil, draw a series of short "C"-shaped curves that covers the lower portion of the nose's outline. Ensure each curve's bottom is connected to the nose's lower outline, and that the curve tops are no higher than the bottom of the nostril ovals.

References

• "How to Draw What You See"; Rudy De Reyna; 1996