7 USE BLACK AND WHITE INK ON MIDTONE PAPER

How to enhance a pencil drawing of a lion’s head with inks, bringing it to life

A Create a rough sketch

First lay in a rough drawing in pencil bearing in mind all the tips you have already learned so far. It’s okay to be loose at this stage. This can give your work a dynamic edge! You’ll refine the image in the later steps.

B Add darks to the drawing

Next, use a brush pen and/or ball point pen to lay down the darks. Use waterproof ink here in case you want to add watercolour or a wash later. Try to work in one consistent direction so you don’t smear the ink.

C Use white ink for highlights

Now use a white pen (I like Sakura Gelly Roll pens for this) and add final accents and highlights. Because you started with a midtone and not on white you can go lighter and make it pop! Use markers to add more shading.

8 STAY LOOSE AND FIND THE FLOW

This is similar to step six if you want to get down a gesture of your pose right away. The animal is likely to move on you, so you need to get the essence of the pose fast. If you’re drawing a tiger or lion you need to get the action and don’t worry about every stripe and whisker. Instead, look for the line of action and rhythm to the pose.

9 CAPTURE GOOD SILHOUETTES

The basics of good animal drawing are not that different from drawing a good human character. You want their pose to read as clearly and concisely as possible. If your silhouette isn’t clear then the drawing won’t be understood by the viewer. It’s the same whether you’re drawing an elephant, a bear or any other animal.

You need to get the action – don’t worry about every stripe and whisker

10 USE OVERLAPPING SHAPES TO CREATE DEPTH

Once you’re happy capturing the different shapes of your chosen animal, try overlapping them. This will give your image a sense of depth and space in the frame. Properly overlapping each shape will give your drawings a sense of believability and life.

11 CREATE ACTION AND DRAMA

Animals are living creatures. If you’ve been out in the wild drawing you’ll have noticed that they’re always on the move. You should be capturing this in your drawings as well. While there’s nothing wrong with a good animal portrait (so to speak), I’ve found that images of animals in action always get a bigger response and have more impact. Work hard to develop a sense of drama and life into your images.

12 BE MINDFUL OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

Proper use of light and shadow in your image can help enhance the feeling of drama that we discussed in step 11. I’ll often push or exaggerate the lighting of nature to heighten that feeling. Used properly, a dramatically cast shadow can deeply enhance the mood of your image as well as give it a sense of time and place.

13 LOOK FOR THE BIG SHAPES FIRST

A typical mistake that I see artists make is they get too caught up in the details right away. You don’t need to do that. Instead, get down the big shapes first. For example, if you’re drawing an elephant then find the big “bean shape” of the body and lay that in, followed by the triangle or wedge shape of the head. Get their placement right and the rest will come together quickly.

14 LOOK FOR EMOTION AND PERSONALITY

Whether drawing an animal that’s realistic or cartoony, try to get as much personality as possible into the image. As humans we look for this naturally and gravitate towards it. Use that to your advantage whenever possible. A little exaggeration or emphasis can go a long way.

15 BE SELECTIVE WHEN DRAWING YOUR ANIMAL’S HAIR AND FUR

There’s no need to be too detailed here. You don’t need or want to draw each and every hair on an animal. Instead, make marks in key spots to suggest it. Places where the body bends are a great spot to indicate a hair break.

A dramatically cast shadow can deeply enhance the mood of your image