How To Draw a Dog

There are lots of techniques and secrets in drawing dogs and I will share you one that is very effective. These are the following basic steps on how to draw a dog. Dog’s appearance differs from their size and family. Some are the large sized dog and some are the small sized one. If we talk about their muzzle, one has the shorter muzzle and the other one has the longer one. With respect to the shape of the dog’s head, some have heavy square head and some are elongated. All these stuffs vary with the dog’s breed. Dog’s fur can be also classified according to their variety. Some dogs have short fur like Mastiff, Great Danes, Rottweiler and Chihuahua. Others have long fur and bushy hair that makes them really cute. Example of these dogs are the German shepherd, St Bernard, Akita Inu and Great Pyrenees. Therefore, in sketching a dog, one should consider more of the details of the form, the shape and the fur of the dog based on their breed to match or even to photo-copy the said portrait of the dog you have used.

There are lots of techniques and secrets in drawing dogs and I will share you one that is very effective. These are the following basic steps on how to draw a dog:

Outline

To start with the outline of the dog, one should think through the reflection of the light which covers the shadows or the dimmed parts, and the highlights or the bright ones which is being directly strike by the light. After you have distinguished the brightness and shades in the portrait, start sketching lighter lines to form the whole figure of the dog. Note that the dog is hairy and it is its fur that covers its whole body. So, emphasize its hairy figure of its body. As you have noticed, these lighter lines are the dimmed parts figures in the portrait of the dog. And these covers the figure of the head of the dog, the large hairy ears, the square cut elongated muzzle, the volume of the shape of some parts particularly the dark nose in the muzzle, and the medium-sized eyes. Consider also the basic shapes to form the outline for the face of the dog like a circle for its face, a triangle for its ears, and a cylinder for its muzzle. With regards to the muzzle of the dog, it has been forwarded. Just put a centered-V-cut cylinder at the dog’s face that will represent as the outline of the dog’s muzzle. To end the whole outline figure, make sure that the eyes, ears, nose and the muzzle are well proportioned.

Give details

After making some outlines, give more details to the dog’s face particularly the sparkling of its eyes that makes it livelier and the darker shade of the nose. You must be careful in drawing the eyes for it gives the good appearance of the drawing. You must consider how to shade it well and also light that flash on its eyes. Also give emphasis to the thickness of its gum and the size and volume of its tongue if it is there. Consider also the dark part of the strong jaw with its strong and sharp teeth. Also, give more of the stands and the depths of the curve of the ears. And the most important thing is the fur of the dog. We can classify it with the short-coated and the long-coated hair. Just use short lines for the short hair and long lines for the long hair.

Shading

Finally, we have come to the shading part of the darker areas. As you’ve observed, there are different thickness of shading and not just two. Some parts could be lighter shades like the area that surrounds the inner part of the ear of the dog also its face, and some part would be the darker one like the most outer part of the ear and a certain part of the neck. And most probably, there are some parts like the nose, and the jaw of the dog should be extremely dark in the way of shading. With regards to this part, one should know about the behaviors and methods of shading.

In drawing a dog, the harder part of it is the position of the strands of its fur, its reflection from the light, and to make emphasize the glossiness and shines of its fur. To master the fur’s variation, one must practice the techniques about shading to get  good results.