02-45 Rat

The toes and tail of this rat stretch to provide support while he’s standing. Use contrast of tone to help the rat’s whiskers, ear, nose, feet, and tail stand out.

1 Working in sections, draw the shapes of the rat’s head.

2 Draw the main shapes of the rat’s body in sections.

3 Smooth and refine the lines of the head and front legs.

4 For the front paws, draw the top line of each toe followed by the lower line and then the claw.

5 Draw the feet and tail. Shade the tail and the fur where the hind feet and the tail join the body.

6 Draw fur texture over the outer edges of the rat’s body, and shade the fur sections.

7 Make the whiskers that fall over the rat’s cheek with your fingernail or a paper clip, and draw the remaining ones with a sharp pencil.

8 Shade the head with the side of your pencil’s tip and then shade short lines over the rat’s body.

9 Refine the shading of the rat’s upper body, eye, mouth, and front feet.

10 Refine the shading of the back feet.

11 Refine the shading on the rat’s lower body, and add the shadow beneath the body and the tail. Use a kneaded eraser to lighten some spots on the rat’s chest and abdomen.