This tutorial explains how to describe a wolf's face and head stride by step from the forepart view with detailed line drawing examples for each step.

Wolf face step by step drawing
Wolf face step past step cartoon

This is a adequately long tutorial but if you follow the steps below it should not be all that difficult even for beginners.

Please note that if you are cartoon on paper information technology is a practiced idea to do the initial construction parts of the drawing with very calorie-free pencil lines. For the later stages you can either depict more solid pencil lines or utilize a pen or a marker.

Pace 1 – Make a Structure Line Drawing of the Wolf'south Head

Wolf face proportions drawing
Wolf face up proportions drawing

Start the drawing by making a construction line sketch of the wolf'south head to establish it's basic shape and proportions.

Wolf basic face shape step by step drawing
Wolf basic face shape step by step drawing
  1. Depict 2 intersecting lines with the vertical line being through the middle of your drawing area and the horizontal line in it's upper part
  2. Add the upper shape of the head with 2 sets of curves getting wider slightly past the horizontal line and then curving back inward
  3. Draw the lower shape of the head with a pair of angled lines that get from the ends of the curves and bring together at the bottom
  4. Make the shapes ears somewhat similar to triangles and bring together the area between them with i curved line
  5. From the horizontal line project a pair of vertical lines downwardly and from those project some other set of lines on an angle towards the center line
  6. Draw half circle (bottom of snout) that that with it'due south open up terminate connects to the angled lines from the previous step and from these connectedness points draw two curves going upwards to define the shape of the snout

With this you should have the very basic shape of the larger parts of the wolf'southward head.

Step ii – Identify the Facial Features

Wolf facial features placement drawing
Wolf facial features placement drawing

Position the eyes with their top end slightly overlapping the horizontal line from the the first step. You can also utilise the aforementioned line to help you make certain both eyes are on the same level.

From in a higher place the "eyelids" and transition these into two "wave like" lines that become to the outer sides of the head. These will be used later to assistance describe some of the wolf's fur patterns.

Finally draw the nose (wider towards the top and narrower towards the bottom).

At this phase describe the mouth with merely two directly angled lines from the bottom part of the snout curve towards the olfactory organ (but non touching the nose).

Step 3 – Refine the Shape of the Confront & Add the Details

Wolf face shape lines drawing
Wolf confront shape lines drawing

Now refine the shape of the face by replacing some of the straight construction lines with more organic curves that better define the shape of the wolf's head.

The places where you lot desire to add these lines will be the inner sides of the ears, the upper function of the snout, the mouth, and the bottom of the head.

Wolf face details drawing
Wolf face details drawing

Now draw some of the smaller details of the wolf'southward caput.

Add some other set of "wave similar" lines forth the snout to meliorate define it's shape. Draw these starting close to the nose and end them pointing towards the inner corners of the eyes.

Eye Details

Wolf eyes drawing
Wolf eyes cartoon

Draw the eyes and surrounding details every bit shown to a higher place.

Inside the eyes bespeak the pupils along with a small set of circles for the highlights (reflections of light) as well as pair of lines near the upper halves of the irises to indicate the area that will exist shaded later.

Olfactory organ Details

Wolf nose drawing
Wolf nose cartoon

For the nose add the nostrils as shown above and give a hint of the "split" line wolf's have in the middle of their noses. You can also betoken a tiny area for the highlights to go out white when shading.

Oral cavity Details

Wolf mouth drawing
Wolf oral cavity drawing

Describe the sides of the mouth slightly sticking out from the sides of the snout as shown above. You lot tin as well draw a a hint of the wolf'due south lesser lip up above the bottom of the lower jaw.

Step 4 – Cease the Facial Features

Wolf facial features drawing
Wolf facial features cartoon

Now shade the wolf'south facial features equally shown above (or basically just fill up them in with a blackness or night color). If drawing on newspaper it may be a expert idea to use a pen or a marker starting from this stage of the drawing process. Doing then will let you easily erase the construction lines without effecting the parts of the drawing that you actually desire to go along. Just be sure to wait for the pen/marking to dry before erasing so y'all don't smudge it.

For the optics shade the following areas:

  • The main areas of the optics surrounding the irises
  • Summit part of the iris
  • The pupils

Leave the reflections and the bottom parts of the the irises white.

For the olfactory organ shade every bit follows:

Go out the primary highlight area defined earlier white. You lot will also want to create a sort of "broken upward" white outline to define the nostrils. What you are basically cartoon is a set of highlights that will aid define the shape of the nostrils. You tin can likewise exit a tiny white highlight line in the middle to show the split in the nose.

For the mouth:

Completely shade both the bottom area of the mouth below the nose every bit well equally the sides.

Stride 5 – Draw the Fur for the Inner Area of the Confront

Wolf face inner fur drawing
Wolf face inner fur cartoon

For this step add some fur patterns for the inner office of the wolf'due south face.

If y'all are going to exist cartoon the clumps using pencil over superlative of the construction lines y'all may accept to erase the structure lines a small part at a time and and so add together in the clumps. Alternatively yous tin also lighter the entire line with an erase to the indicate where it's barely visible so that you can keep information technology in the final drawing.

Depict the fur equally follows:

  • Brow – as a set of stacked up small curves
  • Areas below eyes –  a sort of "swirl" that follows the shapes defined earlier
  • Higher up eye "moving ridge shapes" – random clumps that point in the full general direction of the moving ridge
  • Around eyes – some minor hints of fur in a higher place the eyes and almost their inner ends
  • Inner parts of face – varying length small strokes pointing slightly downwards and to the sides of the face

Step 6 – Describe the Fur Effectually and Inside the Ears

Wolf face ears drawing
Wolf face ears drawing

Draw the fur for the outer parts of the ears with very tiny strokes forming a set up of very small fur clumps.

For the inner function of the ears you will generally want to draw much longer lines and larger clumps.

Step seven – Draw the Fur Around the Head

Wolf face fur drawing
Wolf face fur drawing

Finally draw the terminal set of fur clumps that will eventually define the outer shape of the wolf'due south face up. These tin can pretty much be split into tree parts. One is the area at the top of the head between the ears. The second is the areas at the bottom of the ears. The remainder is going down from the lesser of the ears and meeting at the lesser of the face.

  • Draw the fur at the elevation of the head (betwixt the ears) fanning out upwardly
  • Add the fur below the ears in adequately small clumps that generally indicate to the sides and slightly upwards
  • The rest of the fur transitioning to point more and more downwards as it goes forth the face up

Over again try and draw the fur lines to create an advent of small clumps. Draw smaller or simpler clumps with just 2 lines. For larger clumps or more circuitous clumps depict two longer lines with some shorter lines in between them.

Step 8 – Make clean up the Drawing

Wolf face line drawing
Wolf face line cartoon

One time you are done with the fur make clean up your drawing and/or brand any pocket-size tweaks that you need to.

If you lot've been drawing with pencil and experience you nevertheless demand to clean upward/lighten some of the construction lines it may be a proficient idea to utilise a kneaded that you tin mod into various shapes and employ it to go in between the fur clumps.

Step nine – Add together the Whiskers & Finish the Drawing

Wolf face drawing
Wolf face drawing

To finish the drawing you tin requite the wolf some whiskers. Mostly these are fairly brusk and thin when compared to other animals such as cats. Draw them with just a few curved lines around the bottom outer sides of the snout.

Once you are done you should accept a finished line drawing of the wolf's head.

Conclusion

This tutorial shows how you can use lines and very minimal shading to create a fairly realistic looking animal. Though drawing the strokes for the fur tin be quite time consuming you lot can terminate upwards with a much nicer looking drawing when yous are done so if you were to draw with only uncomplicated outlines.

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