Realistic Forest Animal Drawing: Beginner Tips

Written by Daisie Team

Published on 11 July 2023 6 min read

Drawing of animals in forest sceneries is a fantastic way to improve your artistic skills and capture the beauty of nature on paper. This guide will provide you with beginner tips on how to realistically draw forest animals. Let's dive into it!

1. Gather Your Tools

Before we start drawing, it's important to gather all the necessary tools. Choosing the right tools can make a big difference in the outcome of your drawing.

Choose Your Pencil

Start by selecting the perfect pencil for your drawing. A good choice is the graphite pencil, popular among artists for its versatility. Art companies like Faber-Castell and Staedtler offer a variety of graphite pencils. Here are a few tips for selecting the right pencil:

For outlining your drawing, an HB or 2B pencil will work great.
If you're planning to add shading, consider using a darker pencil, like 6B or 8B.
To add fine details, a harder pencil, such as a 2H, would be ideal.

Select Your Paper

Next, choose the right paper. You might think any paper will do, but trust me, the paper type matters! When drawing of animals in forest settings, a heavier paper like Bristol board is a great choice as it can handle erasing and shading without tearing. It's also smooth enough to capture the fine details of fur and feathers.

Organize Your Space

Have you ever tried to create art in a cluttered space? It's not fun. Organizing your workspace before you begin can help you focus better on your drawing. Here's how:

Ensure that your drawing tools are within easy reach.
Have a clean cloth or paper towel handy for wiping your eraser or smudging pencil lines.
Keep a sharpener and extra pencils nearby—you don't want to run out of lead in the middle of sketching!

Now that we have our tools ready, we are all set to dive into the fascinating world of drawing animals in forest environments. Let's move on to understanding animal anatomy, the foundation of any realistic animal drawing.

2. Study Animal Anatomy

Once your tools are in place, the next step in creating a realistic drawing of animals in forest scenes is to study animal anatomy. Understanding the basic shapes and movements of animals will bring life to your drawings and make them more believable.

Observe Animal Shapes

When we look at animals, it's easy to get lost in the details of their fur, scales, or feathers. But to draw them accurately, we need to start with basic shapes. For example:

The body of a bear can be seen as a series of ovals and circles.
A deer's body can be broken down into rectangles and triangles.
A bird in flight is a combination of streamlined ovals.

By breaking down the complex forms of animals into simpler shapes, you'll find the task of drawing them less daunting. It's a little like piecing together a puzzle!

Analyze Animal Movements

In addition to understanding animal shapes, it's also vital to study their movements. Animals are rarely still, especially in the wild. Observing how an animal moves can help you capture its behavior and personality in your drawing. Consider:

How does a squirrel scamper up a tree?
What does a hawk look like when it's soaring through the sky?
How does a deer leap over a forest stream?

By studying these movements, you can capture the dynamic nature of wildlife and make your drawing of animals in forest scenes more realistic. Now, let's put these observations into practice as we start sketching.

3. Start with Basic Shapes

With a solid understanding of animal anatomy and movement, you're ready to start drawing. But don't rush into the details just yet! Beginning with basic shapes will give your drawing structure and make the process more manageable.

Sketch Outlines

Start by lightly sketching the basic shapes that make up the animal's form. This isn't about perfection, it's about finding the right proportions and placement. For instance, if you're drawing a fox, you might start with:

A circle for the head
An oval for the body
Rectangles for the legs
A long, thin triangle for the tail

Remember, these are just guidelines. Feel free to adjust as you go along. The key is to keep it simple and avoid getting bogged down in details at this stage.

Define Structural Details

Once you're satisfied with your basic shapes, it's time to start adding structure. This involves refining your shapes into more specific forms. For the fox example above, you'd start to define areas like:

The snout
The ears
The paws

Remember to keep your lines light. You're still in the early stages of your drawing, and things can change as you go along. With your animal's basic structure in place, you're ready to start adding texture and detail to your drawing of animals in forest settings. So, let's dive in!

4. Add Texture and Detail

Now that you have your basic shapes and structural details defined, it's time to breathe life into your drawing with texture and detail. While this can seem daunting at first, with practice, you'll find this stage to be one of the most rewarding in creating realistic drawings of animals in the forest.

Create Fur Effect

Fur can be tricky, but with a few key techniques, you can create a convincing effect. Here's how:

Start by lightly sketching the direction of the fur using short, gentle strokes.
Then, gradually build up layers to create depth and volume.
Remember that fur isn't uniform. Pay attention to areas where it's thicker, thinner, longer, or shorter.
Finally, use a clean pencil or a blending stump to smooth out the fur, giving it a soft, realistic texture.

With time and practice, you'll soon be creating fur that feels almost real enough to touch!

Draw Animal Eyes

Animal eyes are windows to their soul, and getting them right can make all the difference in your drawing. Start with a basic oval shape, then add highlights and shadows to give the eye depth and sparkle. Remember to be mindful of the animal's unique characteristics — a deer's eyes will look different from a bear's.

Render Animal Print

Animal prints — like the spots on a deer or the stripes on a tiger — can add a lot of visual interest to your drawing. When rendering these, pay attention to their size, shape, and distribution. Remember, nature isn't perfect, so don't worry about making every spot or stripe identical.

Adding texture and detail takes patience, but it's well worth it. With these techniques, you can create drawings of animals in the forest that are rich, detailed, and lifelike. Ready to keep improving? Let's move on to the next step!

5. Practice and Improve

With the basics under your belt, the real secret to mastering the art of drawing forest animals lies in practice and improvement. The more you draw, the more familiar you'll become with animal anatomy, movements, and textures. So, let's dive into how you can effectively practice and consistently refine your skills.

Try Different Animals

Each forest animal comes with its unique set of challenges: the sleek lines of a fox, the brawny build of a bear, or the delicate features of a deer. Trying your hand at drawing different animals will not only keep your practice sessions fresh and interesting, but also help you develop a broad range of skills. Remember, variety is the spice of life — and of art!

Challenge Yourself

While it's comfortable to stick with what you know, growth often comes from stepping outside your comfort zone. Try drawing animals in different poses, in motion, or at varying perspectives. This can be a real game-changer in boosting your confidence and skill level in creating realistic drawings of animals in the forest.

Evaluate Your Work

One of the best ways to improve is to take a step back and evaluate your own work. Look at your drawing: What did you nail? What could use some more work? This reflective practice can provide you with valuable insights about your strengths and areas for improvement.

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your skill in drawing forest animals. Be patient with yourself, and most importantly, enjoy the process. With these tips in your artist's toolkit, you're well on your way to mastering the art of drawing animals in the forest. Happy drawing!

If you're eager to take your realistic forest animal drawing skills to the next level, make sure to explore the workshop 'Basic Animal Anatomy for Artists' by Viktoria. This workshop will provide you with essential knowledge and techniques to understand and accurately depict animal anatomy, giving your artwork a more realistic and impressive appearance.