The Ultimate Animal Drawing Course - beginner to advanced

To start this courses first project off you are going to be drawing a realistic tiger eye. This may be a more advanced drawing but we are going to do it so we can test your drawing skills. Your first attempt may not look very good but at the end of the course you are going to redraw the same eye. When you compare the two you will notice a big difference after finishing this course and doing the assignments. 

Now that you have the basic line structure for your eye drawing it's time to get in there and start adding some real detail. In this lecture you will add in the fur and the refections in the eye. You will also start adding some darker values to your drawing such as the pupil and the eyelids.

Now lets get started with the fundamentals of drawing animals. The first fundamental is line and is the foundation of all of our animal drawings. In this lecture you will learn about different types of lines, line quality, and contour lines. Once you understand these you are going to create a continuous contour line drawing of a peacock. 

In this section you are going to learn how to draw a peacock with contouring lines. You can draw what ever animal that you like as long as you draw it using only contour lines. By the end of this lecture you will have a good understanding of contour lines and why they are important.

Now that you have a basic understanding of lines and how they work you are going to learn about cross contouring lines. Cross contouring lines help create the form of an object. In this lecture you will learn how to use cross contouring lines in your Peacock drawings. We will also be looking at some examples of cross contouring lines.

Now that you have a good comprehension of lines and how they are used in drawing you are going to learn about shapes. Shapes are the second most important part of drawing. If you don't have your shapes right the rest of your drawing wont be right. In this lecture you are going to learn how all animals can be broken down into simple shapes as well as looking at some examples of this. 

Now that you have begun to look at animals as simple shapes its time to learn about the simple shape structure formula. All 4 legged animals can be broken down into three simple parts, the head, the rib cage, and the pelvis. Making sure that your animals drawings have a structure will make your drawing look amazing!

Now that you have learned about the shape structure system its time for you to lean about how proportions affect the structure.  Changing the proportions can make an animal look like a baby or full grown. Proportions can also completely change what type of animal you are drawing.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the dog and wolf shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the cat shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the bear shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the horse shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the elephant shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn how to draw the bird shape structure. Shape structures are pretty similar from animal to animal but there are many differences. Most differences will be found in the spine, the snout, the belly, and the leg structure.

In this lecture you are going to learn the third fundamental of drawing, form. Form is just taking a 2D shape and making it 3D. This can be done by adding extra lines to a shape and changing it's perspective.  

By the end of this lecture you will have a good understanding of line of symmetry and why it's important. Symmetry is when something looks the same on both sides of a dividing line. Most living animals have a line of symmetry and its important for you to know here it is and how it effects your drawings.

Once you know how to draw simple shape structures for animals is't time to add a 3rd dimension to your structures. In this lecture I will break down how to draw your animals structures using 3D forms. It's very similar to drawing 2D structures.

Now that you know how to draw 3D forms you're ready to learn about light and shadow. Light and shadow will take your drawings from line drawings to realistic fully rendered drawings. In this lecture you will learn how to add highlights and shadows to your 3D forms. 

Many animals that you encounter have much more complex highlights and shadows than what we have been over so far. In many cases your shapes will be organic and consist of many cast shadows. In this lecture we are going to create a few advanced forms which we will then shade. Buy the end of this lecture you will have a much deeper understanding of form and how highlights and shadows play on them.

In this lecture we will be looking at pictures of animals and breaking down their simple 3d forms. Then we will figure out where our light source is and add in our highlights and shadows. Your assignment for this lecture is to find a picture of an animal and  draw it in its simple forms. Then add in your highlights and shadows.

Bounce light is a very important part of drawing highlights and shadows. Bounce light is when there is a surface bouncing light on to another surface. Understanding bounce light will allow you to create very realistic looking drawings.

In this lecture you will learn more about highlights and shadows and how they create form as we draw the basic form structure of a Rhino. Then we will add highlights and shadows to the form based off of the location of our light source. By this end of this lecture you will have a better understanding of highlights and shadow and how they play on the surface of an animals body.

In this lecture you will be able to download the rhino drawing and use it as your outline for the upcoming advanced highlight and shadow project.

Now that you know how to add high lights and shadows to your simple geometric forms its time to learn how to add high lights and shadows to complex organic forms. It's good to have an understanding of how to shade geometric forms but most animals won't just be simple geometric forms. In this lecture you will be shading the organic form of a rhino.

Congratulations on making it this far in the course. You have just finished section four. You should now have a strong base of knowledge and skill for drawing animals.

In this lecture I will be introducing you to the value scale. Values are just how dark or light a color is. Black being at one end of the scale and white at the other end. In this lecture we will drawing the value scale and matching your values to the highlights and shadows of a sphere drawing.

Download the chipmunk image if you would like to follow along.

The most important thing to practice if you want to get good at drawing is still life. Still life is just drawing animals from real life such as a chipmunk that's sitting in front of you. In this lecture we are going to be drawing a still life of a chipmunk using only values.

Contrast is extremely important for creating great animal drawings. With out contrast there would be no way to differentiate between objects. In this lecture you are going to learn how contrast works as well as have a look at some examples of good and bad use of contrast.

In this lecture you will be able to download the wolf drawing and use it as your outline for the upcoming values contrast project.

It's important that in each one of your animal drawings you have a focal point. A focal point is just a point in the drawing that the viewers eyes are drawn to first. Typically you will want the eyes of your animal to be the focal point. You can create the focal point by using contrasts. 

In this lecture we are going to go over the five basic was of creating space in your drawings. Space is just the illusion of a 3rd Dimension on a 2D surface. By the end of this lecture you will have a good understanding of how space works and how to create it.

In this lecture we are going to dive a little bit deeper into how to create depth and space in your drawings. We will be utilizing the overlap, size, and placement techniques to create space in a drawing of a German Shepherd. This is a very good exercise for practicing your ability to create space and depth in your animal drawings.

When It comes to creating realistic well rendered animal drawings you must understand perspective. Perspective is just a 3D illusion created by lines on your paper. There are two different types of perspective, 1 point and 2 point. In this lecture you will be learning 1 point perspective.

Now that you have learned how one point perspective works its time to learn about two point perspective. Two point perspective is what you will most often be using when drawing animals. Two point perspective has the same concept as one point perspective except for it uses two vanishing points.

When your drawing the head of an animal it's important to keep it in perspective. In this lecture I will be teaching you how to draw a bear head in two point perspective. Once we draw out the geometric forms in perspective we can smooth those out and add in details such as the eyes and nose.

In this lecture you will be able to download the bird photo that we will be using to draw from life with.

Now that you have learned all of the fundamentals it's time to start putting that knowledge to use. In this lecture you will be learning the three basic drawing techniques when it comes to drawing animals from life. You will be applying what you learn to a life drawing of a bird.

In this lecture you will be able to download the dog drawings and use it as your outline for the upcoming drawing project.

In this lecture you are going to learn three different ways to render your highlights and showdown on your animal drawings. They are crosshatching, blending, and rendering. Each one has a different look and a different use.

In this lecture you will be able to download the dog photo that we will be using to draw from life with.

In this lecture we will be doing a still life drawing of my dog Nova. This lecture will be a demonstration of how to draw a portrait of your pet. It's important to watch how others draw so make sure you pay close attention to this lecture.

In this lecture we will be finishing up our still life drawing of my dog nova. Now that we have the outline for the drawing done we cans start adding in our values. I will first start by adding in my dark values and then coming back and adding in the lighter values and details.

In this lecture you will be able to download the lion photo that we will be using the drawing grid system with.

In this lecture you are going to learn a simple technique that will allow you to copy a photograph exactly as you see it. The technique consists of breaking your photo into a grid system. Then you draw the same grid system onto your paper and transfer the content of each square on your photograph to your paper. One grid square at a time.

Now that you have drawn the contouring lines of you image it's time to add value to your drawing. We will be using the rendering technique to add in our values. The rendering technique helps hide your grid lines.

In this lecture you will be able to download the horse photos that we will be using the draw our studies.

If you want to get good at drawing a specific animal you will need to draw lots of studies of that animal. Studies are just quick simple sketches that give you an understanding of the animals shape, form, and pose. The more times you draw an animal the more it will build up your visual library.

In this lecture you are are going to be create some textured objects. Texture is very important when it comes to animal drawings. Texture is what makes things look realistic and interesting. In this lecture you will be creating 4 different textured spheres. 

In this lecture you will be learning how to draw fur texture. Fur texture can be pretty tricky to draw. But if you follow my step by step process that I teach in this lecture it will be easy.

In this lecture you will be learning how to draw wrinkled skin texture. You might find this texture on animals such as elephants, rhinos, and hippopotamuses. By following my step by step process that I teach in this lecture it will be easy.

In this lecture you will be learning how to draw reptile scale texture. You might find this texture on animals such as snakes and lizards. By following my step by step process that I teach in this lecture it will be easy.

In this lecture you will learn the basic parts of an animals skeletal system. The skeletal system will change slightly from animal to animal so its important that do your own research on the animals skeleton that you want to draw. By the end of this lecture you will have drawn the skeleton of a dog.

In this lecture you will be drawing the muscle anatomy for the skeleton you just drew. The muscle anatomy will be different from animal to animal so its important that you research your animals muscle anatomy. Muscle anatomy will help you understand the form of your animal as well as how it moves.

In this section of the course I will be teaching you how to draw an animal character in the animation style. In order to draw animation styled art work you must know how to draw real life first. That's why I have saved this lecture for the end of the course. In this lecture I will break down my process for drawing animation animal characters step by step.

In this lecture you will be learning how to draw an animation styled grizzly bear character. Bears are very similar to dogs so drawing this bear shouldn't be too much different than our dog drawing.