How to Draw a Dog
Dogs can make very gentle pets. No matter which breed of dog it is that you have at home, you can have your very own 'dog memento' by creating a sketch of your canine pal. Both children and adults alike – even those who are not blessed with artistic talent – can easily create their own masterpiece in the form of a drawing of their favorite breed of dog.
Take a look at these easy-to-follow steps on how to draw a dog.
Required Materials
- Sketch pad
- Pencil
- Protractor
- Ruler
- Coloring materials (pastel, crayons or colored pens)
- A picture or printout of the breed of dog that you would like to draw
Note: Although there are different breeds, the following steps apply to the general body form, shape of the head and structure of any dog that you would like to draw. You can just make variations in the detail so that you can draw a dog which is similar to the breed that you have in mind.
Instructions
- First, study the picture or printout of the breed of dog that you would like to draw. Once you have a picture of the dog drawing that you have in mind, you can proceed to the next step.
- On your sketch pad, draw a big enough rectangle which will serve as the body of the drawing. Make sure that the construction or reference lines that you will create in any sketch are light enough so that they will not leave any heavy markings when erased after the final drawing is done.
- Use the upper right corner of the rectangle as your next reference point. From here, draw a diagonal line which is about 45 degrees and use it as the base for drawing another rectangle which will serve as the head of the dog.
- On the bottom part of the first rectangle that you have drawn earlier, draw two long rectangular shaped blocks on both ends which will serve as the four legs of your canine drawing.
- Now that you have the basic shape of the dog sketched, you can start detailing the drawing of the dog. You can initially work on adding details to the head of the dog. You can draw an intersecting line dividing the rectangular shape into two parts. Use this is as a reference point to draw the final shape of the dog's head. On the upper rightmost part of the rectangle, start drawing details for the dog's ears. From here, you can add the eye, the nose, the mouth and the chin. This is also a good point to work in additional details like the spikes of hair on the dog's head, its whiskers and a dark shade on the nose .You can even add in the dog collar.
- After finishing the drawing of the head, you can connect the head with the larger rectangle that you have drawn earlier to serve as the neck of the dog. Add curves to the body in order to shape it like the dog breed that you have in mind. Draw a tail at the end of the dog's body, and add details to the feet and the body.
- Finalize the details, erase the reference lines, color your drawing and voila – you now have a drawing of your good old canine friend!
Additional Tip
- The secret to creating a realistic drawing of the dog is in the details. If you are drawing a Dalmatian, for example, you should work in the spots on the head and the body of your drawing. The color of the dog and the form of the body will also add depth to the details of your drawing.
