“I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.” - Le Corbusier
Around 40% of households in the UK own a pet. It pretty much goes to show that we’re animal lovers. Be they dogs, cats, rabbits, or even horses, pets have a special place in our heart.
Why not draw pictures of them?
Here are the best ways to draw your favourite animals.
How to Draw a Cat
Whether you have a cat or not, drawing one can be a fun thing to do and useful for improving your drawing skills. Drawing a cat can be a simple thing or a time-consuming activity and it all depends on the type of drawing that you want to do.
If you want to learn to draw a simple cat, there are plenty of online tutorials that can show you how to do it. This type of drawing is really good, especially for kids.
But what can you do if you want to draw a realistic picture of your cat?
You can do this in several stages.
Firstly, you’ll want to make a grid so that you can draw the features symmetrically. Grids and construction lines can help when you’re drawing. You can do them in pencil and erase them once you’ve finished. Once your grid is ready, you can start with the eyes and then the nose. It’s often much easier to start with the eyes and then to place the nose between them.
Finally, you can outline the cat’s face. Don’t forget the ears to complete the drawing. Your grid will help you with this. There are many useful tutorials online to help you get started.
Keep in mind that there are a few differences between cats and kittens and it won’t work if you just draw a smaller face as you’ll have to change the proportions as the features are bigger on the face.
Regularly practise and your drawings of cats will get much better. Try quickly sketching cats to get used to the proportions. Don’t forget to try drawing different breeds of cats as you’ll learn a lot from the differences.
Find out more about drawing cats
How to Draw a Horse
Kids and adults alike love horses and those who love animals often take a lot of enjoyment from drawing them. However, horses are known as being quite difficult animals to draw.
To draw a horse’s head, you need to start with a circle. This will be used to draw the horse’s cheeks when viewed from the side. Next, draw a downwards-facing trapezium which will be the horse’s muzzle.
From there, you can draw the ears above the circle. This simple geometry can go a long way to getting you started. You then need to continue by adding the details of the horse’s face. Add the eyes and nostrils before adding details to the ears. You can also draw the neck even if you’re not planning on drawing the whole horse.
You can draw the geometric shapes in pencil and erase them later while using inks or another medium to go back over the permanent lines.
If you want, you can also draw the rest of the horse using a similar method of using geometric shapes. Use an oval for the body and lines for the legs. This will help you to place them in the right place and also pose your horse. From there, you can add the details to the horse’s body. To create depth, you can add light and shadow to the body.
To practise drawing horses, why not visit somewhere you can see them?
On a nice day, you can watch them move around and draw them. If you’re struggling to get started, look for some video tutorials on YouTube.
Find out more about drawing horses
How to Draw a Unicorn
While unicorns could be more biologically similar to rhinoceroses than horses, in our collective imaginations, they’re much more similar to the latter than the former. Essentially, they’re horses with a horn on their forehead, which is what most people think of when they think of unicorns.
You can draw a unicorn uses a lot of the tips we mentioned earlier for drawing horses. Start with the circles for the head and place the features around it. Once you’ve drawn your horse, don’t forget the horn!
You can start with a long and thin triangle on the horse’s forehead. You can then create the markings with diagonal parallel lines. Your unicorn is ready!
So where you can find unicorns?
Whether you’re looking to do realistic unicorns or cartoony unicorns, YouTube is brimming with drawing tutorials. Not only will you have a model to follow, but you can also get into the habit of following the same steps.
Any aspiring artist will need to find inspiration. Fortunately, in the digital age, it’s never been easier to find content and drawings for inspiration. You can even look to films and television to find the perfect unicorn to draw.
Social media can also be used for inspiration. Networks like Pinterest and Instagram can be used to find pictures of unicorns. You can use them for ideas, too.
Don’t forget that you can still use books to help you learn to draw. There are entire books on fantasy and mythological beasts.
Find out more about drawing unicorns
How to Draw a Dog
The main difficultly when drawing dogs is that the breeds can vary quite wildly. You can’t draw a King Charles spaniel the same way as you’d draw a husky. You need to change your approach according to the type of dog that you’ll be drawing.
Much like drawing other animals, you’ll want to start with geometric shapes. Start with a circle for the dog’s head and a trapezium for those with a long muzzle. A square should suffice for dogs with shorter muzzles.
As for the ears, this will vary according to the breed. Some have pointy ears whereas others have floppy ears that cling to the sides of their head. Adapt the geometric shape to the breed of dog.
The fur can also be tricky to draw. You can make simple markings with a pencil or use light and shadow to create the fur. For realistic drawings, the fur can take a long time.
Again, there are lots of useful tutorials online that can help you.
Find out more about drawing dogs
As an artist, you could always specialise in drawing animals. Some artists even accept commissions for drawings of people’s pets. Of course, you could practise by drawing friend’s and family member’s pets for free. Regular practice will help you get better at drawing and also noticing the finer details.
Drawing lessons can also help an awful lot, too. If you prefer to draw on your own, you can ask others for feedback on your work.
If you're looking for help with your art or drawing a particular animal, consider a private art tutorial from one of the great private tutors on the Superprof website.
You can enjoy face-to-face tutoring, online tutoring, or group tutoring. Each type of tutoring comes with advantages and disadvantages so think carefully about which is right for you, your preferred learning style, and your budget.
Face-to-face tutoring is probably what you think of when you think of tutoring. These sessions between a tutor and a single student can be tailored to the learner, their learning objectives, and their personality. Usually, these types of tutorials are more expensive than the others as you're paying for a bespoke service, but they're also the most cost-effective as every minute is spent focusing on your learning.
If you can't find any suitable tutors working in your local area, you can always opt for online private tutorials. As the tutor doesn't have to worry about travelling to their students and can schedule more sessions each week as a result, they tend to charge less per student per hour. In many cases, online tutoring, when done right, can be just as effective as face-to-face tuition.
Group tutorials are an excellent option for those on a budget as the cost of the tutor's time is shared amongst all the students in the class. This does mean the sessions won't be completely tailored to you, but you will have the opportunity to compare your work to the other students and learn from each other.
Don't forget that many of the tutors on Superprof offer the first lesson or hour for free. You can use these sessions to try out several tutors before choosing which one is right for you.
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