Project #12 Animal Portraits

Creating animal portraits is just like creating portraits of people.  The goal is to not only make a portrait that looks like the animal but one that also expresses their personality.  

You will most likely be working from a photograph since animals are not the best portrait models.  Whether you draw from life, transfer or freehand contour lines from a photograph and then paint or draw them the eyes are one of the most important features to capture.  Getting the eyes correctly will help you express the animal's personality.  

If you are using pencil or paint getting the texture of the fur is also very important.  To do that make your pencil or paint brush strokes in the direction (or directions for curly fur) that the fur grows. Adding shadows and highlights in the fur create a realistic effect if you want that.  Or you may want something looser with less detail.  Your artistic style will also be important in creating the mood for the portrait. 

If you want to transfer the contour lines from a photograph see Project #5. 

The first three portraits above are by Lucy Wells Riggs done in colored pencil. The 3rd and 4th portraits are by Lisa Qualls in graphite on claybord and the painting below is oil on paper.