Drawing Fur

Shape first, fur later, I think - in other words, establish the broad elements of the picture and only when you've done that work into them to indicate detail, and then do it as lightly as possible while still conveying the furriness, the hairiness, of the creature you're drawing. I saw a series of drawings recently - can't remember where, but that's what happens when you get older! - where fur had been laboriously drawn in with broad pencil strokes in some cases, and even stronger sweeps of ink in others: I suppose it helped convey a certain dynamism and indicated the direction of growth, but to me it looked very overdone. It's always a question of how far you go with any kind of detail - the broad, "loose" approach might be preferred by many of us, but it doesn't always show all we need to show (in watercolour, for example, this approach can become extremely flat and dull); on the other hand too much detail and you can kill a picture or render it tight and static. Is your dog short or long haired, or somewhere in between? That's bound to influence things - in general, a longer haired dog gives you scope for flowing strokes, and the ability to indicate sheen; a short hair, say a Lab, enables a lot of modelling, especially when they're black: I rather like drawing black animals - a lot of people hate it.... But anyway: shape's vital - without that, you can clothe your dog in as much hair as you like but he'll be in danger of looking like a floor-mop if he's all fur and no substance. (He embraces she in this instance: which dogs all too often do, given half a chance.)

I meant establish the general shape of the animal before worrying about the fur - establish that, then the broad areas of shading, then work on the texture of the fur; if you try to draw the fur without reference to the overall shape of the animal, you're likely to end up with a ball of cotton wool with buttons for eyes: I've seen rather too many of those... And draw lightly to start with.

Gayle is drawing a cat in this extract from Leisure Painter, but the advice for drawing fur is the same for dogs too! http://www.painters-online.co.uk/articles-tips-advice/view,drawing-fur-with-coloured-pencils_5286.htm