Capturing Expression and Personality in Animal Portraits
Animals are often elusive and unpredictable creatures which make them challenging subject matter for still life paintings. Usually the artist will draw on a number of photographic references when creating an animal portrait. However, capturing expression in your subjects requires much more than merely copying an image.
The most important place to start when drawing any animal is to ensure that the proportions are correct. This takes practice and it is worth spending time finding photographs of a selection of animals in various positions and angles and making some simple sketches. Break each animal section down into the ovals, curves and circles that make up the animals form. These five minute sketches are vital to improving your drawing technique and providing a reference for your larger paintings.
If you are unsure whether your proportions are correct then you can employ a number of techniques used by skilled draughtsmen to check your work. The first is to imagine the skeleton inside the animal and this is a great way to establish if the limbs are correctly proportioned. The second is to observe the negative spaces between the animal's body parts ensuring every section is fitting together the way that it should. Finally, you can measure the dimensions of the animal on your photograph against the dimension ratios in your drawing or draw a grid over you photograph and replicate this in your drawing. This may seem like drawing by numbers but this technique was used by the great masters to enlarge their work into murals.
Once you have mastered the basic form of your animal portrait, well- considered mark making is the next key skill. Using your pencil in a number of different ways can create the detail required to ensure your portrait captures the expression and movement of your subjects. For example, if your animal portrait was a lion then strong flowing lines would be appropriate to demonstrate the animal's mane however, if your subject was a short haired muscular hunting dog then more angular lines would provide a better description of the animal's attributes. Soft lines and blended shading provide texture while still offering the appearance of downy fur. If you are drawing an animal with a rough, scaly skin such as a snake then cross hatching and more varied use of marks would give the impression of this type of texture. hund gezeichnet
If you want to imply motion in your animal portraits then it is worth taking the time to study and observe the animal in motion as well as using photographic references. This will give you a greater understanding for example as to the way a nimble cat can leap as opposed to a more sedate dog. It is these characteristic details that differentiate one species from another so it is important to get it right and essential if you really want to capture the personality of your subject. Motion in animals is often described through the muscular tension which occurs when the animal's body is moving at speed. The angle with which the animal is placed can suggest leaning forward and tension suggesting considerable force. It is worth considering the viewpoint of the portrait and whether you want to create dramatic poses with the viewer placed in the path of the moving animal.
In the same way that you would observe the way in which they move you can also observe their particular traits and features that make them the character that they are. Getting to know your subject if possible means you can translate their certain expressions and quirks to paper. Quick five minute sketches from life provide the extra practice which will highlight some new and interesting expressions you may not have noted before. Close observation is essential to getting to grips with the likeness of the animal. Don't be afraid the accentuate areas to provide a slight comic value to your portraits, many portraits capture the essence of the animal this way.