How To Draw Realistic Fur Digital

Drawing fur from imagination tin be very frustrating. You lot've seen it, you know what information technology is, but when yous try cartoon it, you end up with a agglomeration of straw.

If this is your problem, in this tutorial I volition show you how to solve it. Kickoff hint? You need to draw what you see, non what you know!

What You Volition Need

Sheets of paper
HB pencil
2B pencil
4B pencil
Mechanical HB pencil
Blending stump (or cotton swab)
Kneaded eraser (or normal eraser)

i. What Is Fur?

With beginning with some theory. Y'all'll exist able to draw pencil fur much better merely by learning these few simple facts!

First, fur is made of hairs that prevarication one upon another, creating a smooth surface. Nonetheless, when the surface they lie on bends, they kickoff to clump—the individual hairs are grouped.

how fur bends — The lighter the hairs, the easier they become clumped

This "clumping" can occur in all dimensions, creating either "waves" of hair or small split clumps.

We tin can see everything considering of contrast betwixt lite and shadow. The bigger the clumps, the bigger the shadow betwixt them.

When you draw fur by cartoon individual hairs, what you're really drawing is skin illuminated from beneath, with hairs blocking the lite. That's why it looks so odd!

Then the big secret is: to draw disarming fur with a pencil, yous need to draw not the hairs/clumps, but the shadows between them.

In fact, that's how you lot should always approach drawing. Nosotros draw calorie-free and shadow, and nix more. A single pilus tin be like to a uncomplicated pencil stroke, but you tin't draw fur by drawing a lot of simple strokes!

2. How to Draw Long Fur

Step i

Permit's describe a fluffy tail as an instance. Imagine its top is slightly bent abroad from you. Utilise the HB pencil to describe the basic shape of the tail. Don't press as well hard—we don't desire to see information technology afterward.

Step 2

Tilt your pencil and fill the shape with gray. Don't printing besides hard to achieve a uniform effect. You tin can simulate the period of hair with your strokes, but it's not necessary.

Step 3

Have the 2B pencil and use the same technique to shade the side of the tail. We need to give information technology a 3D form.

Step iv

Press harder well-nigh the border to make the shadow gradually darker.

Step v

Have the HB pencil again and draw "side hair". These curves will define the direction of the fur all over the tail. Remember nigh that bending on top!

Step half-dozen

Tilt your pencil and plough every pilus into a precipitous clump. Be gentle!

Step seven

Now the hard part—nosotros need to draw the shadows between clumps. At that place are sure "signs" you tin use equally a base, but you demand to endeavor it yourself to sympathize how it works. Practice on the side for a moment if y'all're non sure how to practice it.

how to draw hair

Use the hair on the side every bit a guide for direction. The greater the angle, the shorter and wider the shadows should be. Employ the 2B pencil for this, and concord it tilted for a more than natural menstruum. If you drew any sharp, thin lines, your eye would fault them for some stray hair, which would break the effect.

Footstep 8

Go on by going to the right. The closer to the edge, the narrower and tighter the shadows should be.

Pace 9

Continue using the same pencil, but for the other side press harder for a darker shade.

Step x

Clumps are easy to achieve, and they look quite highly-seasoned, but it'due south not normal for a smooth surface to be and then clumped. Draw some bigger, wider shadows in the lower area to create "waves" (smooth groups of clumps).

Step 11

Take the 4B pencil and depict some tight, dark shadows on the shadowed side. Don't brand them also big!

Step 12

Use it to add some darker shadows to the center part also, but do it very subtly. This function doesn't need a lot of shadows, and the clearer they are, the wetter the tail will look.

Pace 13

Take the blending stump or a cotton swab if you lot don't have it. Gently blend the clumps, "cartoon" over the fur according to its flow.

Step xiv

Take the eraser to add some highlights to the illuminated side. If you take a kneader eraser, you lot can really describe some hair with information technology—if not, a normal eraser volition do.

Step fifteen

Fourth dimension for the mechanical pencil. Use it to add together tiny shadows within the clumps (the big clumps are made of smaller clumps, later on all). Be very, very careful—besides much of it may destroy the result. Feel free to copy the shapes of the shadows y'all run across in my cartoon.

how to use machanical pencil for drawing fur

Stride 16

Utilize the same pencil if you desire to add details to the lower part, only avoid any bigger shadows hither. This part should exist smooth and soft!

Step 17

Go back to the top and add the splitting at the ends of the clumps. Retrieve to draw them using shadows only!

Stride eighteen

Draw single loose hairs on the sides for a fluffier effect. Don't press too hard!

Step xix

Take a break and and then look at your drawing again from a altitude. Plough it upside down, come across it in a mirror, and maybe take a photo to get a unlike perspective.

If you notice something y'all'd like to change, this is the time to do it! Yet, don't be tempted to add together more contrast—the darker the shadows, the harder the clumps will await. Soft fur doesn't have so many clear shadows, because calorie-free easily gets through information technology.

how to draw realistic long hair with pencils

3. How to Draw Brusk Fur

Footstep ane

Curt fur is based on the same rules as long fur. Afterwards all, information technology doesn't matter how long the fur is, but how long it is in relation to the surface information technology lies on. The smaller the surface, the more angle and the more clumps there are. The bigger it is, the more compatible the hair.

Let's depict the base of a lion's tail as an instance. Over again, imagine it bends on top. Draw it with the HB pencil.

Stride 2

Tilt the pencil slightly and describe short hair in the center. Don't depict in rows, but rather get across and back again for a less artificial upshot.