How to Draw an Elephant Trunk
Elephants are some of the most interesting-looking creatures in the animal kingdom. With their large ears, white ivory tusks and wrinkly trunks, elephants cast an imposing shadow on the landscape, making them interesting subjects for the wildlife artist. Capturing the elephant's trunk in its proper proportion may be one of the challenges you face as an artist. However, using a common artist drawing tool---the grid---allows you to draw a detailed elephant's trunk to scale.
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Things You'll Need
- Elephant photos
- Ruler
- Pen
- Illustration board
- Drawing pencils, including "HB"
Instructions
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Collect some detailed photos of elephants that show close-ups of their trunks. Include photos that feature both the whole face and just the trunk; this provides an interesting drawing study of the texture of the elephant's trunk.
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Mark the elephant photo with a grid. Use pen and make sure the squares measure 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch or larger. Use a ruler to make the lines straight and the squares even.
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Make a grid on your illustration board, making it the same dimension as the grid on your picture. Draw the same number of squares, using an HB pencil.
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Locate the base of the elephant's trunk on your photo's grid. For example, the base of the trunk is positioned three grid squares up from the bottom of the photo and five squares in from the left-hand side.
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Locate the corresponding square on your illustration board. Mark it with a small dot with the point of your pencil so you can return to the square later. Use pencil.
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Study the tip of the elephant's trunk in your photo. Observe how the lines forming the trunk curve within the walls of each grid square. Notice the way the lines angle in relation to all the lines within each square. Note where they intersect the walls of the grid square. For example, one line might cross the grid square line about 3/4 of the way down the line.
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Draw the tip of the elephant's trunk in the corresponding grid squares on your illustration board. Replicate the manner in which the lines of trunk curve and angle to form the illusion of the trunk. Draw what you see without adding details that aren't there. If you draw a line, but the angle isn't quite correct, redraw it until it's correct.
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Sketch the rest of the elephant using the grid in the same way you did to create the tip of the trunk. As you draw more of the trunk and the rest of the elephant in your picture, take your time to really capture the shape of these lines in each corresponding grid square.
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Erase the grid lines from the trunk of the elephant on your illustration board.
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Use the side of your pencil's lead to shade the elephant's trunk. First observe the patterns of light and dark on the elephant's trunk. Notice that the deep creases forming the lines of the trunk look very dark. Map out a general layer of shading; the goal is just to give yourself a visual map for the placement of the lights and darks. Darken the places that require more emphasis once you finish putting down the layer of shading. Move your hand in a steady circular motion to create the most even coverage.
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Tips & Warnings
You can enlarge or reduce the size of the picture you're drawing by scaling your grid properly. For example, if you have a small elephant picture with room enough for squares measuring only 1/4-inch, you can make your drawing larger by creating 1-inch-by-1-inch grid squares on your paper. To reduce the size, work in reverse. Then draw the information in the grid square as usual.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
