Drawing the Basic Body Shape of a Dog

In all my previous blog posts, I have only drawn the face of my subject, Hiwakea. There was only one attempt of me trying (and failing) to draw part of her body. However, Hammond has a specific section in her book dedicated to drawing the shape of a dog, cat, reptilian, and even rodents!

It peaked my interest to see that cats and dogs have different outlines when drawing them. Hammond compares the two animals and implies that dogs are more angular, whereas cats are more round (67).

In her section on cats and dogs she provides examples of how the two differ, a cat having more of a egg shape whereas a dog is more pointed. Hammond states, "Dogs, however, are more muscular than cats and that makes them generally boxier in shape" (67).

The way I see it, when outlining a dog and its basic shape, using rectangular structures make it easier to add in details like fur and markings.

Do you think there are other methods to outline a dog when drawing?

This evidence made me worry less on having the perfect shape of Hiwakea. I learned to use a rough foundation and to build from there by adding details to their facial features, body, fur, and background. I then began to build up the tones and blend them together as well.

As you can see, there were parts of my pup that were lighter, or were darker than most of her fur. Doing this portrait took lots of shading, blending, and erasing when I put too much on the paper.

Adding parts of her like her tail and her belly that were furry were also a challenge in itself, due to the fact that it needed to stand out, but not to harshly. Looking at the finished drawing below, you can see parts of her body like her tail that I tried my best to replicate real fur.

Side by Side comparison. The original photo features the model Hiwakea, and my little sister

Hammond, Lee. Drawing realistic pets from photographs. North Light Books, 2005.