Tutorial - Canine faces

You guys probably know by now that I love to base any tutorial around something like, "Photos are your best friend, study lots of them." I wish I had a more varying method for technique, but photos just loan so much to me and continue to loan as I attempt to further my skills. No matter how toony or realistic your own style might be, the source material is always going to be your best friend. Once you understand how the source material works, you can skew and stylize with confidence.

Dogs have such fun heads to draw because their muzzles are (usually) long, with lips that allow so much expression. Forehead space allows room for eyebrows and the ears too, are crucial for expression on most mammals.

All of the images used in this tutorial are from Unsplash, a free image website.




Photo of a red husky by Ilya Shishikhin

I feel that ideally someone wanting to learn how to draw any animal should start by studying skulls, but that's something I'm only just starting to do myself after many years of just drawing how dogs look from appearance. So, here's how I break down visual anatomy of a real dog into my own style. Hopefully it's useful!




I always start with a circle. This circle doesn't end up showing any final anatomy. It's just a guide for the center of the dog's head.




I draw axis lines to help me understand where the dog is looking, and where the eyes might lay. One line down the center of the head's view, and one where the eyes sit.




After this comes some simple shapes for the muzzle. These are all just guidelines at this point, so don't be afraid to mess with them until they look right. I usually do this right on paper, but in this instance I'm breaking it down over a photograph.

I like to draw the nose front as a cube - Nose, jowels, and even a little of the side, right in that. Also note that in most breeds, the corner of the eye lines up with the corner of the nose. That comes in very handy for aligning muzzles.




Sometimes I'll draw the eyes before the muzzle, or the muzzle before the eyes. Whatever feels right to you. It helps to visualize the lower jaw as another box like the upper muzzle, only slightly smaller, and flatter.




With this basic construction helping your anatomy stay solid, you can lay down some sketchy lines for your character and decide which style you want to go for, whenever you study a new photo. Just don't stay boxy as the guides are - Emulate the shape of the dog's form, anatomy and fur.




You could even go in a completely different direction and toy with the possibilities of stretching and twisting proportions to find your own way of being comfortable with your style - Strong foundations will help you stay confident and knowledgable in your renditions.

Some more beautiful puppies from Unsplash:



Studying lots of angles and poses also really helps your mental library for when you're drawing from scratch. Here's my breakdown of some of the shapes visible in these faces:





Defining the axis and muzzle shapes really helps to suss out where angles go. (Note some breeds have a bigger 'box' for their nose than others - e.g. compare the retriever to the husky)





Play with expressions! A LOT!

There are so many combinations you can study with from free photos, and you can see what you enjoy exaggerating best after you know the basic structure of a dog head.

(A bit of skull study helps too ideally as I mentioned, but that's something I'm new to myself!)
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