Drawing animals can provide a wide array of new possibilities that are unique to this type of subject. Domestic or wild, animals are fascinating for any artist interested in movement and the organized arrangement of individual volumes within a whole shape. The study of an animal’s form is a challenge in itself but is also highly recommended, as it develops the ability to observe and describe shapes and textures, capacities that are invaluable to an artist’s work.
Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of horses. (1490). Royal Library, Windsor Castle. Leonardo was moved by scientific as much as artistic curiosity. His magnificent studies of horses are both scientific analyses and artistic rehearsals for his composition of equestrian monuments.
Animals provide subjects that particularly suit artists interested in movement and the organization of bodies in motion.
Dogs, cats, domestic, and farm animals are accessible for any artist. There is even an artistic genre that focuses on these subjects: pets. A favorite animal is a subject as interesting as any other, although it requires a particular approach. Animals move constantly, and it can be difficult to capture them in one position. Unless you work from photographs, the drawing must be planned in a way that captures the overall shape of the animal and its characteristic movements. Features such as fur and its color deserve special attention, which can be practiced in studies that focus on one characteristic of a particular animal.
Farm animals are excellent models: accessible and relaxed. The artist has sufficient time to draw them by studying their anatomy in full detail. Drawings by Ramon Noè.
Domestic animals are the most comfortable option for artists. They offer many more possibilities than what may seem likely, as drawing mediums and various points of view allow for vastly different interpretations. Work by Ramon Noè.
Anonymous, Dragon. Fantasy also has its place in the realm of animal drawings. Dragons were a common fantasy throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which gave rise to a myriad of fantastic beasts.
Zoos provide wide range of inspiration for the artist who loves drawing animals. The detailed study of each of them is outstanding practice for animal drawings. Drawings by Ramon Noè.
Zoos are great places for artists to gain inspiration. Every type of animal calls for a different drawing technique based on line, mark making, stroke, or hatching, depending on the skin, feathers, or fur of each animal. Proportions vary enormously and test the artist’s ability to observe and capture details. In a short time the general form must be resolved in order to characterize the animal clearly.
Each animal requires a particular schematic foundation. Such a foundation can only be created through attentive observation and by trying various solutions that, each time more closely resemble the animal’s anatomy. In practice, it is helpful to work with general diagrams that approach the shape of the animal and make adjustments to achieve a sketch of its shape.
Diagrams with straight lines are very suitable when the drawing of the animal doesn’t require foreshortening or difficult perspectives.
Geometric diagrams with straight lines are the simplest and best permit the artist to make sure the proportions are correct.
Shading and modeling that emphasize the animal’s real volume are extremely valuable additions to a composition.
Diagrams with ovals are very easy to draw and are advantageous, in that they immediately suggest the volume of the animal.
The drawing of the animal’s contours follows naturally from a diagram based on oval shapes.
A grouping of ovals of different sizes can easily create an initial approach to an animal’s anatomical form. As organic shapes are always rounded (and tend towards the oval), these shapes evoke the anatomy well before the more developed shape of the animal appears. The artist must concentrate on achieving shapes in proportion with these ovals (for the head, trunk, and limbs) before concentrating on particular parts of the anatomy. If this is done, then it is quite easy to correctly represent the real contours.
A few hatching strokes suffice to suggest the volumes that order and underpin the lines of the diagram.
These are loose, quickly drawn sketches made with a marker.
CONTINUOUS LINE DIAGRAMS
This "scribbling" can be very elegant, since the vibrating agility of the line gives them a lively and mobile look that responds to the suggestion of movement implicit in every animal form. One long stroke or flourish can synthesize many animals.
Squares, triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids are other shapes to use when making diagrams of animal anatomy. Although they do not suggest volume (the thickness of the animal’s body), they do offer a more precise depiction of its proportions. The straight lines that make up these figures serve as guidelines and measures; they can easily be compared to each other to ensure that they are consistent with the proportions. This makes the mental calculation of divisions much easier (the body is three times the size of the head, twice the length of the legs, etc.). Finally, it is easy to remember and repeat these general diagrams in later drawings.
Experienced artists are able to go beyond the initial, schematic framework of their sketch and create lines and shapes that more closely resemble an animal’s anatomy.
Shading and modeling adapt completely naturally to the lines of the preliminary drawing, provided they were traced correctly.
The basic interest in drawing animals lies in capturing their movement, their particular personality, the vitality, tameness, or wildness that characterizes them. Usually, sketches and studies done rapidly achieve this much better than highly rendered works, which may compromise the potential vivacity of these drawings with excessive detail. In drawing animals, the artists must observe the qualities that characterize the breed or type of animal before they can focus on what distinguishes one specific animal from the rest of its breed. Therefore, sketches or notes are always invaluable.
Sometimes lines and marks are unstable and do not completely describe the shape of the animal, but even so they express the movement of this animal very well. Drawing by Joan Teixidor.
Sketchpads are the best support for animal sketches. These small drawings do not have to be fully finished. They may be fragments, studies, or details that may inspire new works in the future. Drawing by Vicenç Ballestar.
The sketches that characterize an animal with very few strokes have a unique style and grace. These can be done in pencil, pen, or nib strokes; the latter is ideal for suggesting movement and vitality. Leaving a part incomplete precludes a final definition of the form and evokes the temporal and fleeting moment of the drawing. This effect arises spontaneously when working from life and is convincing when done deliberately.
A drawing with very conservative and economic strokes. Just a few lines render the animal’s shape, and even its fur.
Marks, lines, arabesques, trials, and corrections. Everything works well in drawing animals. The apparent chaos lends itself to a coherent work.
Sometimes chance leads to happy results. The unpredictable movement of animals often creates effects that the artist could not have imagined or planned.
Animal sketches done with just a few lines or strokes are similar to sketches achieved solely by marks, done in pastel or charcoal. Spreading a spot may evoke an animal’s shape better than a detailed description of its anatomy. On occasion, spots create accidental effects that the artist could not have achieved through meticulous and conscientious work. Agility in drawing is key. By practicing and creating studies, artists will inevitably experience fortunate “accidents” that will work to their advantage.
There are as many methods for creating sketches as there are types of artists. Some start with a line that very closely resembles the model that they later enrich with shades and accents. Others merely summarize the form, or establish a linear framework very rapidly. Rather than one standard practice for sketching animals, there are various methods that produce drastically different results.
Rapid observation of the animal translates into very loose marks that approach the shape of the subject. Charcoal is the best material for this.
Here, the artist finds contours that best express the animal’s movement in marks, defining them quickly with a charcoal pencil.
The contours are blended with a cloth and the pencil strokes remain mostly unaltered.
The result is a spontaneous sketch, but one that possesses a sufficient degree of precision and definition of line.
In drawings with nib or reed pen, the line dominates, while the underlying frame of the drawing, however general, is always based on a group of lines.
Thinking of the drawing as making a series of rapid marks and finding the line in them proves to be one of the most effective techniques for taking notes for drawing animals (and sketches in general). Marks translate the rapid movement of animals well. In addition, their ambiguous forms give the artist the option of choosing different linear solutions for each spot or group of spots. A procedure of this sort appears in these pages together with other options for carrying out the interesting and enjoyable exercise of sketching animals.
Ink creates bold marks. Although the procedure is similar to using charcoal, an ink drawing’s line is more dominant.
It is possible to achieve thicker lines by working with a nib or reed pen. The change in thickness depends on the rhythm of work and the movement or position of the animal.
Both of the sketches shown here were achieved with simple marks and line work. In both, the charcoal marks not only enable the artist to sketch in the actual contours, but also function on their own to suggest the overall form and volume of the animal.
The texture of an animal’s their skin, feathers, or fur are among the many interesting features that attract artists. In this drawing, artist Vicenç Ballestar concentrates on the very thorough representation of the thick fur of a cow. The backlight in the image accentuates the particular features of the hair that require more delicate work.
THE SUBJECT
The artist will use sanguine and sepia pencils to draw this cow, combining the two tones to obtain a rich array of warm, nuanced tone.
1. This initial drawing could be considered a finished line drawing. Approaching the drawing this way will resolve important issues of form before you attempt to draw the fur.
2. To make the contours of the shape stand out, shade the exterior of the cow with energetic sanguine strokes, blending them with a cotton cloth.
3. Blend the stripes drawn earlier on the cow to create a general evaluation of the most marked volumes of the animal.
4. Cover the entire background by making marks in sanguine. These marks should not have a uniform tone, but instead, should feature dark, blended areas created with a sepia stick.
5. Resolve the internal details of the muzzle and the head with the tip of the pencil (both sanguine and sepia). Do this over previously blended areas.
6. The drawing shows a high degree of finish. A combination of strokes and blended marks, in which sepia and sanguine were mixed, effectively conveys the texture of fur. A perfect realistic portrayal and a powerful sense of three dimensions dominate the drawing.