How to Draw a Wolf

How to Draw a Wolf

How to Draw a Wolf:

In the world of the wolf, drawings have been done of this beautiful creature since we can remember.

So how important is it for an artist to want to draw the wolf, and how important it is to get it right.

There are many ways of how to draw a wolf, and we have seen the wolf in Walt Disney's interpretation of "Peter and the Wolf" in cartoon form, through to wildlife art.

When I look through wildlife artists works, whether it be in books, or on the net.

I usually always find that they have all done a piece of art work devoted to the wolf.

I also find myself drawn to the wolf, and have drawn the wolf at one time or the other since I was a child.

What draws me to the wolf........ well I think it's a raw instinct that they represent that beckons me......

I cannot speak for everyone else, though, I do think it is along the same lines, and what about you, you would not be on this page if you didn't have the same attraction to the wolf.

And with how to draw a wolf, would you.......

Photo Courtesy: corvidae

Have a look at the art work of the wolf on the right.

Granted, it's not a drawing, though I wanted you to have a look at this particular painting because it has captured everything that the wolf represents.

And it's a wonderful piece of art work.

You can see by the look in it's eyes and the mouth, how this art work reaches out to the onlooker to show what the wolf reveals in it's face.

Getting it to this stage, is applied work. You don't think that an artist just comes up with this work on a whim do you.....

It takes time and lots of practice to get to a stage that an artist can portray an animal such as the wolf in it's truest sense, so natural and realistic.

So where do we start in learning how to draw a wolf.........

I sat down the other night and dusted off my pencils to draw you a quick sketch of a wolf.

Now it was meant to be just a sketch, though I found myself putting in more detail than I intended.

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward." Vincent van Gogh 1853 - 1890

But it does not take away the basics of where you need to start form in how to draw a wolf. I can't tell the last time that I have drawn a wolf, and, once decided, that I was going to draw a wolf myself for this page. I was quite looking forward to it.

So here it is, I used a few different pencils here, 3B, B2 is one of my favourites, as it's quite soft, and gave me the sweep of darker color to the wolf drawing.

I used the pencil on it's side, as I wanted the overall color to be very light.

Harder pencils like H can be used for the sharper detail and smaller art work.

I just scribbled the pencils on a piece of paper first, to see what texture and hardness they were.

Getting the feel of them firstly.......

Keep up to date on Pets of the Realm, subscribe to my Newsletter at " Pet Art Newsletter"

The proportional guide lines that I started out with, I have left in for you to see. If you look closely, you will see some other lines that I had put in. The straight lines for the legs for example....

I also wanted to put in some wispy outlines of fur in, The sweep of the lines are loose and short, but not straight.

In some areas I had very lightly drawn in the outlines and than drawn in the fur in a darker toned pressure.

Don't try to put in the fur outlines without having some sort of line to go buy, because... if you do make a mistake, it's going to take longer to rub out that amount of detail, than one very fine line.

In how to draw a wolf, rough sketches like this gives you the overall shape of the wolf and where the detail should go, ready for you to take the next step to filling in the detail of the wolf.

You have the basic outlines, and you want to create texture and depth to the wolf. So this is your starting point, as your canvas for the main event. And that is filling in all the detail that you want to make your wolf come to life in the drawing.

I also decided at the last minute, to add in some background of some fallen trees laying on the ground, an indication of the snow that is covering the wolf's feet.

In getting to this stage in how to draw a wolf, you can then change details in the drawing as you go.

This drawing is by no means finished, if you are aiming for a detailed drawing of a lifelike wolf.

If you are aiming for a less detailed drawing in how to draw a wolf, than work on what we have here and decide what aspects of this wolf drawing that you want to enhance, and what areas that you want to take away.