How to Draw an Otter
Otters are known for their playfulness and for their fishing capabilities. The otter is also an animal that has strong family ties. Hunted for its coat in the past, in recent times the otter has become beloved because of its sense of fun. The many types of otter vary in size, and both river and sea otters are perfectly adapted to the water, and have webbed feet.
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Instructions
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Sketch the outline of the otter's body from its rounded snout up to the top of its head, and then draw the curve of the otter's back down to its tail. Sketch the hind legs, then the belly, forelegs, chest, throat and chin. Roughly sketch the otter's facial features.
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Begin your drawing by adding thicker lines to the sketched body of the otter. Use an eraser to remove any areas of inaccuracy in the sketch. Don't rush through drawing the otter's body. Portraying the body accurately will mean that the rest of the drawing will be an easier task.
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Draw in detail the otter's tail. Begin from the thin tip of its tail up to the thick base. Shade in the tail lightly, and draw irregular, horizontal lines on top of the shaded and non-shaded areas. These lines will represent the texture of the tail. Just above the tail, most of the nearest hind leg should be shaded in very darkly.
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Shade in the otter's nearest hind leg, and the back hind leg. The latter will not be completely visible. Shade in the otter's coat from its hind legs to its head. Once this has been done, apply pencil strokes over the coat. Begin from the area of the coat above the hind legs and tail. These pencil strokes should slant to the left. By the middle of the otter's coat the pencil strokes should be horizontal. The pencil strokes should slant to the left again between the middle of the otter's coat and its head. The strokes should also be thinner. The result should be that you have captured the coat of the otter after it has recently been in water.
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Portray the forelegs of the otter with its splayed, webbed feet and small claws. The back foreleg should be slightly hidden by the front foreleg. From the top of the nearest foreleg of the otter, draw a straight line up to its chin. The line will represent both its chest and throat. Leave a large area of white underneath its chin and between its ear and chest.
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Make the facial features of the otter more detailed, beginning with its small, rounded ear. Draw its one visible eye, and shade in carefully to capture the expressive quality of the animal. Draw and shade in the otter's nose to give it a shiny appearance. Add the curl of the otter's mouth and place whiskers on the side of its face. These whiskers should extend mostly inward, with some short whiskers visible from behind the otter's nose. Shade in the head and throat, and draw more irregular, horizontal lines to depict the rest of the otter's coat.
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Tips & Warnings
Drawing otters in the wild will be difficult, but making several sketches will simplify the process.
Capturing the otter's coat accurately in a drawing is quite difficult to achieve. To avoid frustration during the actual drawing, practice drawing or sketching the texture of the coat in isolation.
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
