I should have mentioned in my previous blog post there are four things to drawing fur realistically.
1. Direction
2. Strokes
3. Layering
4. Colour
Continuing from my previous post and focusing still on direction I have attached a couple of photographs of my current pet portrait that will hopefully show what I mean.
Direction is vitally important as you will be building up layers of fur as the portrait progresses. If you look at real fur you can see it is in layers more often than not, not just one coat, so this is what we are trying to recreate in our portrait.
In the images I have attached you can see how I have started to lay down my pencils strokes in the direction the fur falls around the bone and muscle structure. Each layer following the same direction. I really can’t express how important this is. So take care and make sure you look at your reference frequently.
It really doesn’t matter what medium you are using for your pet portrait. The same rule applies.
I should also let you know I am using grey pastelmat with coloured pencils. Faber Castell, Derwent’s and Carb Othello’s.
Next tip will be varying your pencil strokes.