Learning how to sketch animals is an integral part of painting. The sketch the animals ranges from wildlife scenes around the world to portraits of pets, which after mastering and gaining skills in their sketching, it is possible to combine these extraordinary creatures with elements of nature. This tutorial provides expert advices on how to successfully sketch animals for an aspiring student.

The first point in the correct sketching of animals is to look at them well. In the sense that before drawing the sketch, the student must study the various photographs of the animal to know the dimensions and proportions of the animal's body and head.

The second thing that depends on the first is to understand the basic comparative anatomy, most animals, especially mammals, have the same "pieces" only of different sizes (this is also true for humans). Animals that belong to the same group or family usually have the same general body divisions, but the stretch and thickness of these divisions are different. For example, the body of a horse and a bear are both composed of three main parts: front, middle and end, but the dimensions of these parts are very different in these two animals, and therefore a lot of eye training is needed.

Also, physical characteristics such as the shape of the animal's head, body shape, tail length, size of legs and neck, etc. are known in studying and seeing the animal's body well.

The third point is that when you look closely at the animals, you will fully understand with which geometric shape each animal can be drawn on paper. At this point, you need to make the forms simpler. With this method, you can easily understand how to draw animals such as horses, dogs, bears and others.

I will tell you this explanation with a simple example, suppose you want to draw the snout of an animal like a dog, you should know that such an organ can be drawn with the geometric shape of a triangle. Or different parts of the body can be represented by a circle or an oval.

The fourth point in animal painting is to divide the body into parts. Most of the livestocks can be divided into six main areas: 1- head, 2- neck, 3- front legs and shoulders, 4- middle part of the body, 5- back legs and buttocks and 6- tail. This may sound like a simple observation, but once you break the animal in this way, you can overlap those areas in space from any direction.

The fifth point is to create a primary sketch somewhat according to the above points and without details. Let your hand go free and use simple lines and geometric shapes to draw on the animal's primary sketch. In the next steps, add details to the sketch and correct the curves and details.

The sixth point is that when you have several subjects in the image, use the overlap of shapes in space to create depth, observing this point is effective in creating distance and proximity of subjects. Proper overlap of shapes will give your paintings a sense of believability and life.

The seventh point is to be careful of light and shadow, the correct use of light and shades in your image can help strengthen the sense of effect.

What you will learn in this course are:

1_ Principles of sketching animals' bodies

In this video, we will get acquainted with the general principles of animal body division in a simple way and explain the principles in the form of sketching a horse's body.

The bodies of animals can generally be drawn in three circles, the full description of which is given in the video.

2_ Principles of sketching the body of animals from the angle of three faces - bear and deer

In the continuation of the previous tutorial, we practiced how to draw the animals' bodies from the side angle. In this video, we learn the principles of drawing and dividing the animals' bodies from 3faces angle, and by sketching a bear and a deer, we practice the animals' body design.

3- Principles of sketching animals' heads - horses

In this tutorial, we will get acquainted with the general division of animal heads from the horse family, and we will learn that animal heads can be divided into three parts in design, the jaw, the middle part, and the main part where the eyes are located.

The principles of placing the ears relative to each other on the animals' heads are also taught.

In this video, the training is explained by creating the horse's head.

4- sketching and shading the three faces of the horse

In this video, in addition to learning how to design a horse's head from the angle of three faces, we get acquainted with how to shade and volume it.

5- Deer head sketch

In this video, you will learn how to sketch the head of animals such as deer from the angle of three faces using cubes, and after sketching in a pleasant way, you will also get acquainted with shading and volume of the head.

6- How to place the legs of animals

Most of the time, when students start to draw animals, they move the legs of the animals parallel to each other and do not understand why the drawing is so unattractive. In this video, I will explain how the legs of the animals should be in the sketch so that it makes your sketch more beautiful.

7- How to draw the body of animals in perspective

One of the professional sketching methods is observing perspective in the scenery. Perspectives can also be observed when drawing animals, depending on how the subject is positioned. In this video, we explain how to sketch an animal body in perspective by drawing an example of a deer.

8- Changes in the body and joints of animals in motion

There are many points in animal sketchings. One of these points is the changes in the body of animals in motion. If you pay attention to the body of animals in moving, jumping and spring positions, you will see that in some cases, for example, before jumping, the length of the body is less than the normal and normal position of the body. In some other cases, such as jumping or when animals such as tigers and leopards have stretched their bodies on the ground, the chest becomes more open and stretched, which makes the animal's body taller and longer. Also, the direction and shape of the legs and joints of animals is different in different positions.

I show you this difference in body and joint elongation with a simple sketch of a tiger in the pre-jump and while jumping position in this video.

9- Bear sketching

In this video you will learn how to divide and draw the body of bears and learn how to draw a realistic sketch of bears.

In the first sketch, I will teach you the linear sketch of the bear while standing on all fours, and in the second sketch, we will examine the shape of the bear while standing on two legs. We also sketch the bear's body.

10- sketching a cartoon bear

Drawing cartoon characters is a good fun break for a painter. In cartoon designs, we usually encounter a slight exaggeration in the size of the body divisions, and the same exaggerations make the cartoon characters smaller or larger. Also, dressing the animals in the sketch gives our sketching a more cartoonish and fantasy aspect. In this video, we sketch a funny and smiling cartoon bear together and add volume to it with a little shading.

11- Dog head sketch

In the continuation of animal sketching tutorial, in order to gain more experiences and study animals, we can create the heads of different animals. Dogs are one of the most attractive animals that have found a special variety with their different species. In this video, you will learn how to sketch a dog's head, arrange the components of the head together, volume and shading, and to some extent, create the dog's hair texture.

12- Squirrel sketch

In this part of the tutorial, you will get acquainted with how to sketch a squirrel's head, body and tail, and you will learn how to build and shade it. Apart from the squirrel's cute shape and its beautiful tail, the squirrel's body and tail have different hair texture, which has made this animal a good subject as a painting model.

13- Giraffe head sketch

Giraffes with long necks, beautiful eyes, horny form on the head and leopard spots on the body are special and different animals that in this part of the tutorial we will learn how to sketch their heads and necks. We also create a beautiful image of a pair of giraffe mother and child by placing the two designs side by side and making a connection between them with a bit of overlap.