How to draw fur, lesson three.

This image is an example to help you make the transition from thinking about drawing plates and boards to drawing animal fur. As in drawing plates and boards, the value of your drawing is what gives you the illusion of fur. Darker values are down next to the animals skin. The reason is this, there's less light there. As the hair sticks up higher, it catches more light. As this layer of hair comes against the next layer of hair, the edges are created by the change in value from light to dark.

On to lesson four in how to draw fur.

How to draw fur, lesson two.

Here's lesson two in how to draw fur. We all know the shape of an animal isn't square like the boards in my first example. Animals have a softly rounded shape and their fur follows the form created by their skeleton and muscles.

The way light falls on an animals form is what gives us the ability to see how layers of fur lay upon each other. These plates demonstrate this principle. The shadow will move as the light changes so we have to take that into account as we draw fur, it might not always be shining down in the same direction as it is in this picture. So take that into account when you draw fur.

I'm using boards and plates (very familiar items) to help you make the transition to fur. These examples help you to see what's happening in a very simple form.

On to lesson 3, how to draw fur!

How to draw fur, lesson one.

When you first begin to draw fur, it's easy to get lost in all the layers and colors of an animal. I've devised a way to think of fur, that takes the mystery out of the process. See the image above. Imagine it to be a stack of lumber out in the yard. The sun is above the lumber and it casts a shadow around the top of the boards where one board lays against another. As this light hits the boards, the top of each board is lit up where it's closest to the light. Then you see a shadow that's formed when the edge of a board blocks the light from falling onto the next board.

The light has created a pattern of shadow and highlight. This same process will happen in an animals fur.

Lesson two is coming next.