Draw & Paint Wild Creatures
10 lessons - 18 videos - 30 printables
Selected from the archives of my Journey Through the Natural Year course, these lessons cover pencil, colored pencil, watercolor ad ink techniques for 13 different complete projects. Learn to:
Understand animal proportion
Draw and paint a variety of fur types and textures
Layer watercolor and colored pencil for rich, detailed colors and patterns
See and sketch basic body forms
Mix watercolor for natural looking fur and feathers
Let’s get started.
Fur, fins, feathers, the dusty scales of a butterfly wing... there is so much to explore as we draw creatures of field and forest (and pond). Their interesting textures and unique proportions are perfect for sharpening your creative powers of observation.
NOT-SO-IMPORTANT NOTE: Technically, two of our creatures are no longer wild. The koi fish and the Egyptian goose have wild ancestors, but are not considered wild creatures. They are, however, so beautiful and such fun to draw that I included them here.
LESSON 1: TINY TEXTURES - DRAWING FUR AND BARK IN INK
“I draw animals and I would love to do more pen-and-ink, but it takes so long! I wish there was a shortcut...”
There is, sort of. To trim a sizeable chunk off the time required to draw a detailed ink drawing, we can set down a base texture and then simply draw on top of it to create stripes or shadows in fur. This week, we will use this “tiny textures” technique on a charming little model... the chipmunk.
The squirrel’s most diminutive relative, chipmunks have huge dark eyes and lovely striped fur -- perfect for ink drawing.
Watch the videos and print the three attached pdf pages before you start to draw. Our video password is journey
Happy drawing!
