Drawing Fur Patterns of Animals

Drawing Fur Patterns:

I am going to show you some examples of how you can work with the pencil, in order to create fur patterns on animals.

I'm not talking about crosshatching in order to create shadows on your subject as this goes into another area of art as crosshatching can be used for many surfaces, mainly smooth surfaces like skin.

No, I want to show you how to accomplish drawing with the pencil alone, to create the look of fur and patterns that are so varied on all animals.

The main thing to remember is when drawing fur patterns on animals, that your pencil hand must remain loose.

Don't dig your pencil into the paper, this can also happen when you try so hard at getting the lines right.

Not only will you not create a natural look and feel about your finished fur look, you will also loose the natural texture you were trying to create in the first place.

In drawing fur patterns you will need to change your intensity in your pencil strokes.

I am firstly going to show you some sketches that I did to get that patterned look on a stripped cat.

Can you see that these strokes that I have done here, how the outer strokes are firmer, which also means darker in color. This gives the indication to the outer edge of the cats body.

Even without marking in the outer lines of the cats body, you can see that just with these patterns alone, I have created the shape of a cats back with these curved shapes.

Not all the lines are even; they don't have to be. This in turn, creates the feeling of texture and character in the unevenness in the coat.

Remember:

 "Straight  lines were created by man, nature has no straight lines."

To achieve these lines in drawing fur patterns, you need to put the base of your hand on the surface of the paper so to steady your hand while you draw.

By using a sweeping motion, you will achieve a curved line, and don't take up your hand from the paper.

Instead start to move the base of your hand slowly downwards on the paper shortening the strokes as you go. This might seem a bit difficult, also your lines might not be so close together.

By the way, my subscribers get more tips and tricks including: ideas on where to find good subject study in animal patterns in my free monthly "pet art newsletter" .

This is where you need to practice, sweeping your lines.

It's repetitive work, I had to do it when I was studying as an artist, and it builds control, and also tonal control as to how much pressure you put pencil to paper, you just need to practice, practice, practice....

This way your brain learns by repetitive work, and your strokes will become more flexible, and you will become faster. Which in turn, with speed, you will achieve a more natural look.

On this other pattern I have done shows the long strokes narrowing off to shorter strokes - only to lengthen out to a wider stroke again.

This gives you the impression of a tail, this can be a tail of a cat, right through to their big cat cousins like the tiger.

These sort of patterns also give you the impression of a shape without having to draw an outside line to determine where the cats body starts and ends.

Again.... it takes practice, remember.... don't take your hand off the paper, just slowly draw your hand to the side and swiftly sketch those lines.

I know it might seem hard when firstly doing exercise, and to achieve this sort of pattern, you will be able to use it in so many ways.

Let's just stick to animals here in drawing fur patterns for now. So you need to just practice these exercises and don't be afraid to loosen up your grip on your pencil.

Just learn to move your hand swiftly, and with speed you will gain more control.

Practice will be your best friend in here, so don't worry if you mess it up, your just mucking around on a piece of paper, so be brave and sweep those lines.

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