Drawing on Nature: Animals and Fur: Preclass

Welcome to the preclass lesson for the Animals and Fur course in Drawing on Nature! This preclass lesson is identical for all of the courses in Drawing on Nature/Animals and Fur.

Here you’ll find out about the supplies you’ll need for the complete course or any of the single-drawing courses. Four tips are explained to help you get the drawing onto your paper, and below this video is a 5th option to enlarge it as well. Watch the video then scroll on for charts, links, and futher information!

Colors for complete course (10 drawings)

The large color chart below shows all the Copic and Prismacolors used for the FULL class, minus special colors just for the bear (provided in that lesson); 

If you’re using another brand of markers or pencils, I have free conversion charts for Olo and Sketchmarker that you can download. There’s no guarantee every color in this course has a perfect match, but with animals – find something close, and in many lessons you’ll hear discussion of glazing by adding a light wash of one color over another to change the hue, and that can be valuable when using other brands.

Colors for individual courses

In the grid below, you can view colors for single-image courses you’re signing up for.

If you’re using another brand of markers or pencils, I have free conversion charts for Olo and Sketchmarker that you can download. There’s no guarantee every color in this course has a perfect match, but with animals – find something close, and in many lessons you’ll hear discussion of glazing by adding a light wash of one color over another to change the hue, and that can be valuable when using other brands.

Below are the colors for each individual drawing (they’ll also be in each lesson, too). Tap on any image to see it larger.

A word about the paper in this class

The demos are done on Stonehenge, but you are most welcome to use whatever paper YOU desire for this course; if you get great pencil results on your favorite marker paper, rock on. See the YouTube video below to see how it works a little differently on this paper. Some people may love this paper, some might hate it! No problemo.

ALSO: you’re not required to use markers to blend pencil in this course, either. I do recommend testing out any blending solution on top of marker on the paper you choose; make sure it doesn’t poorly affect the marker.

 Shopping links

The above video gives you a further explanation of materials needed; the list below includes alternates, not everything is needed. Affiliate links below are provided; your purchase helps support the website at no cost to you:

1. Markers (Copics are used for demos):
   1. Copic Markers  | Refills | Hex Chart
   2. Sketchmarker Brush Pro | Refills | Hex Chart
   3. Olo markers and refills  | Hex Chart
2. Pencils (Prismacolor are used for demos, use whatever brand you love):
   1. Prismacolor pencils – (Hex Chart)
   2. Polychromos Pencils  (Hex Chart)
   3. Luminance Pencils  (Hex Chart)
3.  Papers:
   1. Stonehenge sketchbook (an 11 x 14 is used in class; I recommend at least a 9 x 12. The larger  your drawing the more detail  you can achieve.) You might also like a 9 x 12 pad from which you can tear out sheets.
   2. Neenah Cardstock, Solar White (an alternate paper you might try)
4. Choose a transfer method:
   1. Lightbox (free method is to use a window, see the video)
   2. Graphite  paper
   3. See more about transfer methods described below, including options that are free!
5. Miscellaneous:
   1. White gel pen (just for highlights on eyes or a whisker if a white pencil doesn’t get you far enough)
   2. Sharpeners: While I use a Quietsharp for a first sharpening, I like a handheld for superfine points. They don’t last long and need replaced more often as blades dull but the points are sharp for whiskers! Almost any brand of handheld works fine as long as the blades are good. Treat yourself to a new one. 🙂
   3. Kneaded or other soft eraser for lightening and removing sketched outlines.

Get signed up

To download photo references for this course, you’ll need a free membership at Paint My Photo, where photographers upload images they’re happy for us to use for our art!

For sharing your art, asking questions, getting help, and giving and receiving feedback, Artventure is the place to be! It’s an active and growing community with artists from around the globe. Most are students here, but many are also not….but the lovely thing about this community on Mighty Networks is the absence of ads, algorithms, and what-I-had-for-lunch content to interrupt getting inspired! It’s free to join, and there are a few small classes there that you might also find fun!

Tips for transferring images

In each lesson you’ll be given a link to the original video if you wish to download it and print it individually; you’ll also receive a PDF you can print to know the exact size of the demo. An 11″ x 14″ sketchbook was used, so it may sometimes seem like it’s a small drawing. I recommend making yours as large as you feel comfortable, as the detail is much easier to achieve on a larger piece.

Trace using a light box: print the image at the desired size and simply trace it. Use a LIGHT pressure so you’ll be able to erase the lines later.

Transfer using graphite paper: it has two sides to it, so place the darker side facing the drawing paper. Test the pressure you’ll need to get the image to go through; be sure to test what is erasable; some brands of graphite paper are more erasable than others.

Free method 1: Use a window as a lightbox. If you’re working in a sketchbook you might need someone to hold the weight of the book for you; but you can tape the photo to the window on a nice sunny day and trace it.

Free method 2: Create your own sheet of graphite paper by covering a piece of copy paper with scribbles of pencil – a 6B to 9B works best, as lighter ones take forever and run out of transferability quickly. Store in a folder so you don’t lose all that graphite. But honestly a whole pack of graphite paper is so cheap it makes little sense to create your own.

Free method 3: Create a one-time use graphite transfer by scribbling with graphite on the back of the photo printout. You only need graphite in the area you want to transfer, so don’t bother covering it all.

Tips

Don’t draw every detail; just the ones that are prominent – facial features, markings. In each lesson, you’ll see a sketch showing the recommended amount of line work.

For outer fuzzy edges that fade into white, do not draw big hard edges; make soft marks, and even hashed (dotted) lines. Otherwise you can find them difficult to erase, as pencil gets trapped under alcohol marker.

If a particular shadow in the fur is a prominent one, make a line to tell yourself where that is; it can help you mark where a turn in a body shape begins as darker sections often indicate the places where muscles might joing.

Bonus video: speed drawing of the emu!

Whlie Emmanuel the Emu isn’t available as a lesson in this course, he did make it onto YouTube and into the pre-class lesson here!