Tiger Drawing

Step by Step Process

I thought I’d take you through the step by step drawing process of my latest tiger drawing.

Charcoal tiger drawing on paper (Artwork: Myra Naito) 18″x24″

Every artist has their own particular step by step drawing process (or processes) that’s unique to them. Here’s a peek into mine…

Reference Photos

I always use reference photos. My drawings are so detailed that it would be impossible to do the work with the animal sitting in front of me. And in the case of this tiger drawing, where would I get a real live tiger to pose for me?

Also, there’s no animal in the world that will sit still long enough  So the first part of my step by step drawing process is to obtain portrait quality photos.

Portrait Quality Reference Photos

By “portrait quality” I mean photos that are primarily not blurry. That seems like it would be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at what some people give me. I also need shots which have a nice clear, close up view of the animal’s face. Again, you’d be surprised. It is supposed to be for a portrait after all! How can I draw the animal’s face if the photos don’t show it clearly? To see exactly what I’m looking for in reference photos check out my page on Planning Your Photographs.

Once I decide on a shot (or shots – sometimes I have to use a combination of two), I decide on what background elements to include, if any. For this particular tiger drawing, the photo was black and white. The background was entirely black. In most cases, I will exercise my artistic license to edit things out. Busy backgrounds will detract from the animal, the star of the show.

Project Preparation

I prepare my paper next. Normally, after I cut the paper to the desired size, I will usually mask off the border with blue low-tack, acid-free artist’s tape. This keeps the border clean and also allows me to get a nice crisp edge on the drawing.

This tape is low-tack enough that it can be put on paper and removed without peeling the surface of the paper. It’s also acid-free, which will not cause the paper to age or yellow down the line.

This particular image didn’t require a white border, so the tape step wasn’t necessary. A white border would have taken away from the dramatic mood of the image.

Determining the Process

Next, I will decide whether I can just sketch it out freehand or if I should approach this as a grid drawing instead. The number one determining factor is if there a weird foreshortening issue.

Foreshortening is an illusion based on perspective. For example, if I point my finger out to my side and you’re standing directly in front of me, the whole length of my finger is visible to you. If I start to swing my arm around and point my finger towards you, less and less of it will be visible. This gives the illusion that my finger is shorter even though you know that it isn’t.

This same illusion happens with arms, legs, etc. It makes it a challenge to draw it out without having it look awkward. In these cases, using a grid helps immensely.

Foreshortened finger appears shorter than it really is due to your perspective of it. (Artist: Unknown)

To Grid or Not To Grid

For this tiger drawing, I didn’t use a grid. But if I did, the grid would go over the original drawing. A second grid would be drawn on my paper very lightly. At that point, I could concentrate on one square at a time. For a more detailed explanation of grid drawing, check out the How Do You Do That post.

The rough sketch drawn in very lightly. (Artwork: Myra Naito)

In this case, it wasn’t a super challenging position, so an eyeball sketch was easy enough.

More Prep

I was trying something kind of new with this drawing. Usually, I only use an embossing tool on whiskers or fur that sticks up and breaks the plane of the background. This time, I embossed the fur of the entire animal. Each and every strand.

Tiger fur prepped with embossing tool.

It was a lot more labor intensive than I thought and I had to take many breaks because my hand would start to cramp up. The paper I use is thick, so it takes a bit of pressure to dig in deep enough to make a noticeable difference. This was also a larger drawing (18”x24”) so it took a few afternoons to get through it.

Finally Putting Charcoal to Paper

Normally, I always start every drawing in the upper left corner and work my way across and down to the lower right corner. This is purely because I’m right-handed and it minimizes any smearing of the charcoal. Charcoal is very soft and will come up and/or smear very easily if it’s touched.

Started with tiger stripes (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Fur and stripes (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Adding the black background after the tiger little by little (Artwork: Myra Naito)

As you can see in the first progress photo, I didn’t do that this time around. Because the background was entirely black, I left it alone until I was mostly done with the tiger in that area. Putting that much charcoal down makes a lot of dust and I didn’t want to deal with the potential for smearing.

So I worked at the tiger left to right. When I finished a good chunk of the tiger, I’d lay in the background. Seeing the tiger against this deep black would give me a good idea of the accuracy of my values.

Also, to guard against smearing charcoal or getting oils or sweat (it’s hot in my house) from my skin onto my paper, I rest my hand on a sheet of glassine, which reminds me of a lightweight wax paper. Glassine is pH neutral and acid-free so it won’t affect the paper that I’m drawing on.

Almost there. (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Home stretch. (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Done! (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Throughout the entire drawing, I am constantly referring to my reference photo. I don’t ever really try to draw from memory unless I’m fooling around in a sketchbook. For anything that I’m investing serious time with, I always check my reference photo.

Final Touches

Once I’ve finished, I take a step back to see if my values are correct. I check to see if there are any areas that could be a bit darker or brighter and I’ll make the necessary adjustments. When I’m satisfied, I sign it, if I had used tape I’d carefully remove it, and spray the whole drawing with a workable fixative.

Ear detail. Embossing also visible. (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Face detail. Every strand of fur and whiskers were embossed. (Artwork: Myra Naito)

Tiger face extreme detail (Artwork: Myra Naito)

After several coats, the fixative prevents the charcoal from smearing. You can draw on top of it, but you can no longer erase it. And because I always have a slight bit of doubt, I always give it another look. If I have to make any changes at this point, it’s add only since I already sprayed it. If I do make changes, I’ll spray again.

And that’s about it! I hope you enjoyed the step by step journey of my tiger drawing. I’m trying to work on a time lapse of one of these fully rendered pieces. Stay tuned!

Comments or questions? I’d love to hear from you!

Further Reading:

How Do You Do That?

Free Class:

How to Draw: The Very Basics

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