Furry Friday: Heroes of the Tall Grass

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Heroes of the Tall Grass by Kelly Hamilton. I was so happy to when Kelly agreed to participate on the book, because she has long been an inspiration for my own work. Her characters are always so wonderfully expressive, and her style has the perfect blend of cartoony realism that I love.

For this illustration, I asked her to depict a ragtag group of adventurers out on the savanna, embarking on a journey. I gave her the hyena's character design to start with and she designed from scratch the meerkat and agama lizard to be his companions. You can really get a sense of their personalities from the body language and facial expressions.

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"My process starts with research, usually by finding photos online to inspire the characters, environments, and costumes in the image. Next, I sketch out a series of tiny thumbnail drawings, to plot out the basic composition and poses. That's followed by a larger, more refined sketch where I try to solve any remaining composition problems. I also like to add shading at this step to plan out the values in black and white. Inks and flat colors are done digitally in SAI Paint Tools, with final touches and textures created in Photoshop. Along the way I like to check my drawing by mirroring the sketch, and check values by converting the image to black and white. When the basics are solid, the final steps of inking and coloring are a breeze." - Kelly

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

New Book – Draw More Furries!

Arriving in bookstores November 23rd! The follow-up book to Draw Furries, Draw More Furries is packed with more fantastic furries and scalies to draw!

 

This book shows readers how to create anthropomorphic characters (animals with human-like characteristics) that effectively convey various personalities, combining elements of people with those of furry (or feathered or scaled) animals, reptiles and mythical creatures.

Here’s a few sample spreads:

Signed copies of the book are available through my online shop! Go here to order your copy.

Furry Friday: Serpent Versus Saurian

With the release of my newest tutorial drawing book Draw More Furries right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the talented artists who contributed illustrations. Here's Serpent Versus Saurian by Nimrais. Her ability to tell a story through excellent composition, strong figures, and vivid colors is breathtaking. I entrusted the most action-packed of the chapter openers to her care, an epic battle between a Triceratops Warrior and a Cobra Queen for Chapter 3: Scalies, and I couldn't be happier with the results:

Here’s what she had to say about her artistic process:

"I'm a female illustrator and designer from Germany. I've always been pretty creative and enjoy not only drawing but many other activities like crafting, photography and design. Now I'm a professionally trained Media Designer and I have a Bachelor's Degree in Design. For my digitally drawn pictures, I use Adobe Photoshop for both the sketches and coloration. I start with basic flat colors, then I add the shadows and highlights and continue with the details after that. At the end, I make any necessary color corrections to give the picture a balanced look." - Nimrais

Draw More Furries arrives in bookstores on November 23, 2012.
Signed copies are available through my online shop!

How to Draw an Arctic Fox

Arctic foxes are nimble and curious animals, bursting with energy. They have thick fur to protect them from the cold, which makes them especially puffy and adorable. In the winter, their fur is white to camouflage them in the snow. It thins and turns brown in the summer. For this tutorial, we'll be drawing their winter form.

The key to drawing anything is to break it down into basic shapes. If you can draw circles and ovals, you can draw a fox.  Don't be discouraged if your first attempt doesn't turn out exactly like the picture. Practice makes perfect, so let's begin!

Click the image below to view the step-by-step arctic fox drawing tutorial.

Don’t give up if your first drawings aren’t perfect. Art is not something that can be learned overnight. Drawing is a skill that must be practiced and supplemented through observation, so keep a sketchbook, and take it with you everywhere. Look around you, draw what you see.  Visit the zoo and sketch animals. Sketch people at the mall. The more you draw, the better you’ll get. Good luck!


Here's another article written by me with more animal sketching tips and resources.