How to draw wool with a pencil?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It is always difficult for beginning artists to draw texture and texture. Tree bark, sand, gravel and foliage are quite difficult to convey on paper. The same applies to wool. Today we will analyze how to draw it.

Wool on an animal

Inexperienced artists, starting to depict animals, often face the same problem. It can be expressed in the form of a question: how to draw wool? Let's analyze this question using the example of a drawing of a kitten:

1. Our pet shown in the picture sits three-quarters tall. This is one of the most successful postures for both animals and people. The first step is to "build" the kitten, or just draw the outline of the animal.
2. Next, we detail the drawing, work on the muzzle and paws. And only after that we proceed to the image of wool.
3. First you need to decide in which areas where the animal's coat will be directed. On the breast, the hair is directed down, on the head up, and on the back it lies evenly, slightly bristling. To achieve realism in the drawing, we will draw a fur coat in strands.

Start with the breast:

• Wavingmotion outline a piece of wool.
• Right and left darken our wave.
• In the same way, repeat this operation until all the wool on the chest is drawn. It is worth remembering that the kitten's coat is uneven, somewhere it is a little fluffier, and somewhere smoother.

Go to the paws:

• Here you do not need to draw thick fur. It will be enough to show the fur texture with separate strokes.
• Left and right, the fur on the back of the kitten is darker than the front. Therefore, we shade the space with a soft pencil, and then select individual strands with an eraser.
• We are working on the muzzle in the same way as the paws, with small strokes, but the crown and ears are depicted as fur. Draw the outline of the kitten with an eraser.

How to draw the fur of the surrounding animals? All of them can be depicted by analogy with a cute kitten, the detailed image process of which we analyzed above.

Drawing animals with a child

Of course, the previous version of the image is acceptable for an adult. A 1st grade child can draw the fur of the animals of the world in a different way. More simple. Let's analyze the image process again in the drawing of a kitten.

How to draw animal fur for a child? Here it is not necessary to draw the inner filling, it is much more important to show the effect of wool on the outer contour of the animal. How to do it:

1. Well, of course, this effect can be achieved by combining straight lines with zigzag ones. For example, the back and legs are lessfluffier than the tail and breast. Therefore, we depict them with a simple straight line. But the tail is fluffy, so we draw it either with a zigzag line right away, or we draw hairs on top of the already drawn tail.
2. The same operation is done with the breast. The muzzle of the kitten will also not be smooth. The cheeks and crown of the animal are fluffy and need to be shown.
3. With curved lines we give the kitten fluffiness. As accents, in some places you can also draw zigzag short lines, emphasizing the character of the animal's coat.

Wool of a slaughtered animal

Sometimes you need to draw the skin of a dead animal or a scarecrow. How to do it? Everything is simple. We will work by analogy with the previous paragraph. "Why not the first one?" you might ask. The fact is that the killed animals should look more comical in the picture, unrealistic, so that it is clear that this is already an inanimate creature.

Let's consider how to depict the head of a bear, from which the hat was made:

• First, outline the contours of the animal.
• Working out the details.
• When the preparatory work is finished, you can move on to the image of wool. The outer contour should be in the form of a zigzag, but the internal details will be depicted as separate dashes. Thus, we must outline the cheeks and eyes of the bear. But the fur above the eyes and on the ears should already be made in the form of a zigzag.

Here you can clearly see the principle that needs to be remembered. All inner fur must be drawnseparate short lines, and the outer edges of the animal - a zigzag line.

How to draw a fur coat

The artist depicts wool not only on animals, but also on clothes. For example, on a fur coat. Indeed, in the landscapes and portraits of Russian artists, the hair of animals on people's clothes is quite common. Therefore, we will analyze the points, how best to draw a fur coat.

1. The wool of animals is easy to draw in the form of clothes. But the outline of outerwear must be depicted, guided by the rule from the previous paragraph. That is, it must be made in the form of a zigzag.
2. If the fur coat is divided into sectors, then we draw them in long even stripes. But we depict large pieces of fur as whole. The stripes on them will not be clear, but blurry, with separate dashes. Thus, the artist shows the play of light and shadow on the fur.
3. Where the fur coat breaks into folds, a zigzag should appear. This is especially evident on the sleeves or on the hem.
4. Remember that in addition to shadow and light, the fur coat has a halftone. We show it with uniform shading.

Wool clothes

Quite often the artist is faced with the fact that he does not know how to draw knitted things. After all, such clothes are very different in texture from a cotton sweater or knitted turtleneck. We have already figured out how to draw the fur of animals, and now we will learn how to draw the texture of a knitted material.

Sweaters, socks, scarves and hats can be depicted according to the same principle. The edge of the product should be drawn in a zigzag. But this is not a dogma. The contour can also be indicated by a straight line. The main thing is to convey the structure of the material.

Let's take a sweater as an example. Usually knitted things have a characteristic ornament. We are used to the fact that knitted sweaters have a pattern, such as deer or snowflakes. This is the print that needs to be sent. It should also be drawn not evenly, but as if soft, blurry. This effect can be achieved by rubbing the lead with a cotton swab or eraser. And the very structure of the knitted material must be conveyed in small dashes. They can be both vertical and horizontal. The main thing is to draw them according to the shape of the product.

Faux Fur

Natural materials are different from those produced synthetically. The main difference between faux fur lies in the characteristic brilliance. This is what should be conveyed in the drawing. That is, depicting, for example, a fur coat, it is necessary to highlight not only those parts of the product that are in the light, but also those that are in the shade. The picture will be less saturated in tone.

Another technique that will help the artist to portray artificial fur is drawing a short pile. The edge of the product should be depicted not with the usual zigzag, but with separate small strokes. Moreover, in an artificial product, the fur will always have one direction.

Draw sepia wool

Today more and more often artists use all kinds of soft materials. Sepia is considered one of the most sought after of them. Even a child with it will be able to draw the fur of the animals of the world around.

Sepia is sold in the form of pencils. It is a soft material that has a brown color. It lays down better on paper and is easier to shade. What is the difference between sepia drawing and regular slate pencil? The soft material first sets the whole tone of the picture, and only then small details are drawn, such as hairs on the animal's coat.

When depicting, for example, a dog, you first need to give its entire body a uniform brown color. And only then highlight the dark places. And only after the volume appears, you should draw wool. It should be drawn with a well-honed pencil. Strokes should be applied in different directions to achieve greater realism.

Draw with a soft pencil

Very often at school, children are given homework to portray an animal. Let's figure out how to draw a squirrel. It will be difficult for a child to draw the fur of an animal, but if parents help, the task will be much easier. We give an example of professional art work, in the image and likeness of which a child should draw:

• Squirrel is a fluffy animal. But her fur is not as soft as a cat's. First of all, you need to draw the outline of the animal, and then shade it with one gray tone. The lead needs to be rubbed with cotton wool.
• Now let's find out how to draw the fur of an animal. Mentally, you need to divide the squirrel into parts: chest, paws, muzzle, back, stomach and tail. Each area will be hatched separately and at its own angle.
• The belly will have hairsstraight direction, and go down. On paws too. But on the back you need to apply strokes in the form, that is, in the horizontal direction.
• The tail will be an exception. Here all the strokes will be directed upwards, but in order to achieve realism and volume, you should change direction, slightly deviating either to the right or to the left. The tip of the tail should be curled. Wool will be directed down.
• Since we draw with a soft pencil, we need to take advantage of all the benefits that this material gives. The hair along the edges of the tail should be darker, that is, here you need to press harder on the pencil. The same goes for the paws and the top of the head.

Hard pencil drawing

Let's figure out how to depict a squirrel, but in a different stylistic solution. How to draw animal hair with a hard pencil?

The fact is that here we will not clearly reveal the light and shadow, but will focus on the form. The strokes on the body will go in one direction. But the hairs will not be straight, but wavy. On the head, the strokes will also go in the same direction, but not down, but in the shape of the muzzle. The situation is more complicated with the tail. It will be depicted as a fan of strokes. We start drawing it from the body of the squirrel and gradually wrap the tail down. To add some volume, draw a few curved lines at the base of the tail.