Drawing: Dogs & Cats

Learn to Draw Step by Step

Nolon Stacey

• Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781600581366
• eBook ISBN: 9781616737092
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Whether they prefer the company of dogs, cats, or both, aspiring artists will learn how to create faithful depictions of all their furry friends with this essential drawing book. Inside, gifted artist Nolon Stacey provides fundamental techniques and complete instructions for drawing several different breeds of cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies. He also demonstrates how to portray specific canine and feline features––such as perky ears, wayward whiskers, and playful paws. Readers also will learn how to achieve accurate proportions and capture the priceless expressions that make dogs and cats so utterly irresistible! Packed with helpful tips and extraordinarily realistic drawings, this book is a "must-have" for every pet-loving artist.

FOCUSING ON FEATURES

Before creating a full canine portrait, it’s a good idea to get to know the general shapes that make up each feature. As you practice rendering the features of a variety of dogs, notice the subtle changes in shape, value, and proportion that distinguish each breed.

EYES

The eyes are possibly the most important feature when it comes to capturing the personality and character of an animal. Here I provide a three-quarter view (turned slightly away from center).

Step 1 Using an HB pencil, begin by outlining the main areas of the eye—the pupil, the iris, the eyelids, and the highlight. Also sketch the hair around the eyes. Almost all dog breeds have a very dark area of bare skin surrounding the eyeball, so shade this area with solid tone.

Step 2 Next, using a 2B pencil, block in the darkest values of the eye, including the pupil (avoiding the highlight) and the area surrounding the eyeball. As you shade, leave small highlights in the corners of the eye to convey the impression of a moist, glistening surface.

Step 3 Begin creating the pattern of the iris using an HB pencil, drawing lines that radiate outward from the pupil toward the outer edge of the iris. Also use the HB pencil to add more hair around the eye, following the direction of growth.

Step 4 Finish the eye with an H pencil, adding more tone to the iris and then lifting out some graphite to indicate reflected light. Also soften the highlight with a tortillon. Then continue developing the hair, stroking over the top of the lid and over the outer corner.

NOSES

There is a tremendous variation in size, shape, and even color of noses from one breed to the next. Below I’ll draw a front view of the nose. Be sure to observe your subject from a variety of angles to truly understand the shape of its features.

Step 1 Begin by using an HB pencil to sketch the shape of the nose, including the nostrils. Be sure to study your subject and draw the shape you really see—not the shape you expect it to be. Then add rough guidelines to show where the main areas of light and shadow will be.

Step 2 Next add tone with a 2B pencil, using tiny circular strokes to emulate the unique texture of a dog’s nose. Darken the nostrils and the vertical crease through the middle of the nose. Then begin shading the rest with lighter layers of circles. Leave the highlight areas free of graphite.

Step 3 Go over the entire nose with small circles to soften the texture slightly, but keeping the bumpy effect. Leave the top of the nose and the area under the nostril light to suggest the reflected light. To create the appearance of a wet nose, avoid blending the darks into the lights, instead allowing harsh separations.

Step 4 To connect the nose to the rest of the dog’s face, begin adding the surrounding hair. As with the eyes, the hair grows away from the nose, with the darkest areas directly under and above the nose. The hair just below the nose is generally coarse, so keep these lines dark and short.

EARS

Ears vary greatly in the canine world—they can be long or short, dropped or upright, and long haired or short haired. Here I provide an example of the upright ear of a German Shepherd Dog.

Step 1 The German Shepherd Dog has relatively large ears—especially given that they stand upright. In this example, we’re viewing the dog’s left ear straight on, so the shape is triangular. Begin by sketching the ear shape with an HB pencil, outlining the folds and mapping out some of the darker tones.

Step 2 Using a 2B pencil, begin adding hair to the ear, starting with the darkest hair around the base and along the uppermost edge. Let the hair dictate the form of the ear from now on, using very little shading. The hair grows upward and outward across the ear, with a hairless area along the inside flap of the ear.

Step 3 Go over the dark hairs with an HB pencil; this fills in the gaps with a slightly different tone, providing depth and thickness to the hair. Fill in most of the remaining gaps with strokes of a 2B pencil, applying very little pressure for the lighter areas. Finish by lightly shading the hairless area using a 2H pencil.

WHISKERS

There are a number of ways to suggest whiskers on your dogs—but keep in mind that many whiskers are light in color and often appear nearly translucent, so two of the three methods involve not drawing them.

Erasing Method For thicker whiskers, remove the graphite with the point of an eraser. This method is best suited for large or close-up drawings.

Indenting Method For light whiskers against dark hair, use a blunt tool to indent the whiskers; then shade over them. Continue the whiskers into lighter sections using a sharp HB pencil.

Negative Drawing Method To create thin or thick whiskers without disturbing the paper’s surface, outline the parallel shapes of each whisker. Avoid stroking over them when adding hair.

RENDERING HAIR

The basic categories of dog hair are long and curly, long and straight, short and curly, and short and straight. Roughness or smoothness of the hair also affects its appearance. There are many variations within each basic type of hair, but you should be able to adapt one of the techniques demonstrated in this section to draw any dog hair you wish. For the longer hair types, I’ll show both a detailed method with definite areas of shadow and highlight and a quicker, sketchier method created simply with lines.

LONG, CURLY HAIR

DETAIL METHOD

Step 1 Long, curly hair ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Tools and Materials
• Drawing and Shading
• Focusing on Features
• Rendering Hair
• Cats in a Bag
• Bulldog
• Dachshunds
• Kittens
• Cat Portrait
• Springer Spaniel Puppy
• Husky
• Silver Tabby
• Dalmatian
• Maine Coon
• Ocicat
• Labrador Retriever
• About the Artist
• Copyright Page