How to Draw Animals: A Basic Guide

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Draw Animals the Way You’ve Always Wanted

Drawing animals is primarily a matter of patience. Animals are not always the most willing of subjects, so artists often have to take opportunities to draw these subjects as they arise. That means in any animal drawing session, you want to work quickly at first to capture the unique stance and bearing of the animal, and then focus on the details that distinguish them, such as the texture of an animal’s fur, feathers, or scales.

The hardest part about drawing animals in nature is catching them at a still moment, particularly if they are wild.

How to Draw Pets

Only you will be able to accurately depict the personality and demeanour of your own dog or cat. And the best part about drawing instead of photographing is that it allows you to truly control the way that your pet will look in the finished product.

Often the trickiest part when drawing dogs is getting their tongues and mouths right. The important thing is to remember that animal tongues tend to drape in a way that’s similar to fabric, since they’re much thinner than human ones.

Depicting pets’ personalities depends in no small part on how well you can draw their eyes. If you can demonstrate a thorough understanding of how to draw animal eyes, then you’ll be able to move on to the rest of their portraits with ease. Learn how to draw pets faces with this free ebook from Artists Network.

Or, if you consider yourself more of a cat person, this lesson will teach you how to draw cats with pastel pencils.

Famous Animal Artists

Carrie Stuart Parks is anotherartist well-known for excellent dog drawing lessons.

It always helps to study the experts when you’re trying to take on a new skill.

Andrew Denman: This artist’s habit of bird collection has clearly inspired his acrylic work, which is usually birds in their natural habitats. He has also painted bulls, wolves and rabbits to great critical acclaim.

Joy Thomas: This instructor and award-winning artist has been selected for dozens of exhibitions and is included in various art clubs. She is also renowned as an author and tutor, including for her most recent publication, How to Draw a Dog.

Lee Hammond: While Lee developed fame primarily as a drawer, she has also expanded into mastering acrylics and color pencil techniques. Her animal drawings in black and white are excellent sources from which you can learn.

Chris Hart: Hart’s comic style drawings add personification to the dogs he draws, and makes his approach irresistible. If you’d like to try sketching dogs rather than skipping to complex, detailed drawings, his lessons are worth a look.

How to Draw Feathers

Fur and feathers make animals much more difficult to draw than humans – not to mention our unfamiliarity with their anatomy. The key is to start from the bottom of the body and work your way, for accurate stroke work. And for the face, start at the nose and let the fur or feathers radiate out from there.

As Claudia Nice demonstrates in her how to draw a cow lesson, it isn’t always necessary to draw every strand of fur: all you have to do is scribble ink or pencil where it should be shaded.

Mastering How to Draw Animals