How to draw a Tiger

How to draw a Tiger:

"Tiger Tiger in the Night"

Beautiful, dramatic, and the largest big cat in the world..... So I can see why the tiger is a subject that many an artist would want to capture. Its pure size and strength leaves all in ore of this magnificent creature.  And in how to draw a tiger, we need to learn a few things about this cat in order to justify it to our art.

Artist: J Wilwerding

We have discussed the spots on the leopard, the stripes on the tiger needs special attention. No two tiger markings are alike, yet they all follow a specific rule.

What you are going to do, is be one step ahead of some other artists and know your tigers stripes.

Have a look at these artists drawings, you can see the markings of the tiger. Also the stripes go from the back of the head, and not across as you seen in many drawings of the tiger. Careful observation of the minor things will save you in later life. When someone will come up to you and say. The stripes seem a bit wrong.

Remember... study your subject first. I can remember when I first did a sculpture of an Australian Light Horse in bronze. And when finished. There it stood with many of the Australian Light Horse club members around, inspecting it. Now some of these man were original Light horse Soldiers. And I can tell you..

I was more than a little anxious when they stared closely at it. I was hoping that all was right. That the gear on horse and soldier was correct. Needless to say that they only can up with two minor faults in the equipment.

It was a sigh of relief. Though it would have been nice to have had it perfect. But I am not a military person. And was happy to have the association very happy with what I had done.

So you see, I remembered this many years ago.... and was glad to have studied the original pictures and paintings of the Australian Light Horse in History, before I started my project.

So do your homework before you tackle a new subject. Learn what you can. How it moves, all species move differently.

I was more than a little anxious when they stared closely at it. I was hoping that all was right. That the gear on horse and soldier was correct. Needless to say that they only can up with two minor faults in the equipment.

It was a sigh of relief. Though it would have been nice to have had it perfect. But I am not a military person. And was happy to have the association very happy with what I had done.

So you see, I remembered this many years ago.... and was glad to have studied the original pictures and paintings of the Australian Light Horse in History, before I started my project.

So do your homework before you tackle a new subject. Learn what you can. How it moves, all species move differently.

Here is another sketch on how to draw a tiger. The markings blend and mix well with the tigers overall body. Right to the tip of its tail. There are also sketches to show how the movement of the tiger almost glides when it moves.

"Drawing is the honesty of art. To draw does not mean simply to reproduce contours: drawing does not consist merely of line. Drawing is also expression, the inner form, the plane and modeling. See what remains after that. Drawing includes three and a half quarters of the content of painting." ~ Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres.

Remember the wire frame, you can also see it used here in this artists sketches. This is concentrated when you want to learn about getting the proportional length right in the legs and how the legs movements change in every movement - then repeated.

On how to draw a tiger - never forget that the big cat and the small cat moves the same way. If you have a kitty at home, watch them. These are graceful smooth moving felines. So bring this strongest feature out in your work.