How to Draw a Fox
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Block in the big circle of the fox head.
It should fill most of your page, with a margin all round.
Маляваць на паперы?
Мы выправім і ачысцім фота для вас. Папера лічыцца ўсе роўна.
Пра гэты малюнак
If you have drawn the cat, a fox is the same construction sharpened. Everything a cat rounds off, a fox points: the ears are taller triangles, the muzzle is a long wedge rather than a soft bump, and the tail is nearly as big as the body.
That makes it the perfect second animal. You already know where the shapes go, so all your attention can go on the thing this lesson is really about - judging one shape against another instead of against your idea of a fox.
Крок за крокам
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Крок 1
Block in the big circle of the fox head.
Everything else gets measured against this, so draw it in one motion rather than in short careful passes. A slightly lopsided shape drawn confidently is more use than a perfect one built out of twelve nervous strokes, because you can correct a shape and you cannot un-see a hesitant line.
Асцярожна Drawing it small to leave room for detail. The big shape is most of the drawing - use the space.
Праверка It should fill most of your page, with a margin all round.
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Крок 2
Add the two centre lines, lightly.
These are the rulers for everything that follows. Without them the two halves of the fox drift apart by a few millimetres at a time and you do not notice until it is finished and subtly wrong. Press lightly - they come off at the end.
Асцярожна Skipping them because it looks symmetrical already. It will not be by the time you are done.
Праверка They should cross at the middle of the shape you just drew.
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Крок 3
Draw the muzzle as a long narrow wedge.
This is the shape that says fox rather than dog. It comes off the lower half of the circle and it is longer and thinner than feels right - compare its length to the head circle rather than guessing, and it should be about half as long as the head is wide.
Асцярожна A short, wide muzzle, which reads as a puppy.
Праверка The muzzle should be about half the head's width in length.
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Крок 4
Draw the first ear: a tall triangle, leaning outward.
Fox ears are big - roughly as tall as half the head circle - and the outer edge curves in slightly rather than running dead straight. Set the angle deliberately, because the two ears must agree.
Асцярожна Making the ears too small and too upright.
Праверка The ear should be about half the height of the head circle.
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Крок 5
Draw the second ear to match the first.
Compare it to the one you just drew rather than to your idea of a ear: same size, same angle, same distance from the centre. This is the comparison habit that fixes proportion everywhere, and a pair is the easiest place to practise it because the error is obvious once you look for it.
Асцярожна Making the second ear smaller - it usually happens because your hand is more cramped on that side.
Праверка Both should sit the same distance from the centre line.
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Крок 6
Add the inner ear as a smaller triangle inside each.
Set in from the edges and slightly lower than the outer point. This is where the dark goes later, and it is what makes an ear read as a cup rather than as a flat shape stuck to the head.
Асцярожна Inner triangles that touch the outer edges, which flattens the ear.
Праверка There should be a visible margin all round each inner triangle.
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Крок 7
Place the eyes on the horizontal centre line.
Fox eyes are almond-shaped and angled - the outer corner sits higher than the inner one, which is what gives a fox its sharp expression. Leave a full eye's width between them.
Асцярожна Round eyes set level, which looks startled rather than alert.
Праверка You should be able to fit one more eye between the two.
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Крок 8
Add the nose at the tip of the muzzle and a line back to the mouth.
A small rounded triangle, and it points down. The line from the nose back along the muzzle is what separates the top of the snout from the jaw, and without it the muzzle reads as a solid wedge.
Асцярожна A large round nose, which pulls the drawing back toward a dog.
Праверка The nose should be small relative to the muzzle.
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Крок 9
Draw the body as a rounded triangle below the head.
A sitting fox is essentially a wide-based triangle with the head on top. Overlap it with the head circle rather than butting them together - the overlap is what makes the head sit in front of the chest.
Асцярожна Placing the body directly under the head with no overlap, which reads as two stacked shapes.
Праверка The body outline should pass behind the head.
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Крок 10
Draw the tail as a long thick curve, wider than you expect.
This is the shape most people undersize. A fox tail is about as long as the body and roughly a third as thick, and it curls round the base of the body rather than sticking out behind. Draw its outline as two curves, not one.
Асцярожна A thin tail, which loses the whole silhouette.
Праверка The tail should be at least a third as thick as the body is wide.
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Крок 11
Mark the white chest and the white tail tip.
These are the two shapes that make a fox recognisable without colour. They are areas you leave alone, not areas you draw - deciding now where the paper stays white is what stops you shading over them in the next step.
Асцярожна Shading the whole fox evenly and then trying to erase the white back in.
Праверка You should have two clearly reserved light shapes.
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Крок 12
Shade the ear tips, legs and muzzle tip darkest.
A fox's dark points are its ear tips, its lower legs and the very tip of its muzzle. Get real contrast between those and the white chest - a fox in a narrow band of grey looks like a stuffed toy.
Асцярожна Being timid, so the darks and the whites end up only slightly different.
Праверка The ear tips should be clearly the darkest part of the drawing.
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Крок 13
Add the few whiskers and a suggestion of fur on the chest.
Detail is suggested, never itemised. A handful of marks in the right places lets the eye fill in the rest, and drawing every one flattens the drawing into texture. Put them where they matter and stop early.
Асцярожна Adding detail evenly all over, which removes the contrast between busy areas and quiet ones.
Праверка Step back. You should still read the big shape first, detail second.
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Крок 14
Go over the lines you want to keep, and lose the guides.
This is the step that turns a construction drawing into a finished one, and it is the one most people skip. Press harder on the outline and the features; leave the small stuff light. That difference in weight is what makes a drawing look deliberate rather than traced, and it costs thirty seconds.
Асцярожна Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.
Праверка The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.
Як выглядае завершанае
Тым жа малюнкам з усімі кірункамі выдаленымі і толькі лініямі, якія вы хацелі захаваць, у патрэбным памеры. Калі ў вашым малюнку ўсё яшчэ ёсць цэнтравыя лініі і блокі, гэта кропка, якую вы яшчэ не зрабілі - і гэта займае каля 30 секунд.
Ваша не будзе выглядаць так, і гэта не павінна быць так. Гэтая канструкцыя з выдаленымі лесвіцы, а не малюнак, які хтосьці зрабіў для таго, каб яго палюбілі - мэта ў тым, каб паказаць вам, якія з вашых ліній былі кіруючымі.
Што гэтая гульня вас навучае
This is the comparison lesson. Every proportion here is set by measuring against something already on the page - the muzzle against the head, the second ear against the first, the tail against the body - and none of it by recalling what a fox looks like.
It also introduces character through shape language: pointed shapes read as alert and sharp, rounded ones as soft. Same construction, different feeling, and knowing which lever to pull is most of what stylised drawing is.
Практыкаванне: Line confidence Proportion Corners and joins
Што вам трэба
Anything you can make a mark with. If you have a red or orange pencil the last step is more fun, but the drawing works entirely in graphite and the shading step matters more than the colour.
Калі нешта не так
If it looks like a dog, the muzzle is too short and the ears are too round. A fox muzzle is long and narrow; the ears are tall triangles with a slight inward curve on the outer edge.
If it looks like a cat, you have not made the tail big enough. A fox tail is roughly the length of its body and much thicker than you expect.
Draw the second ear by comparing it to the first, not by drawing another ear. This is the single habit that fixes proportion across every subject you will ever draw.
Друкаваць крокі
Зніміце яго з экрана. Крок друкуецца на адной старонцы.
Пытанні, якія задаюць людзі
- Why does my fox look like a dog?
- The muzzle is too short and the ears too round. Lengthen the muzzle into a narrow wedge and make the ears tall triangles.
- How big should the tail be?
- About as long as the body and much thicker than you think. An undersized tail is the second most common fox mistake.
- Where do the ears go?
- High and quite close together, leaning slightly outward. Compare the second ear to the first rather than drawing it from scratch.
- Do I need colour?
- No. The white chest, dark legs and white tail tip do the work in graphite as long as you get the values apart.
- How is this different from the cat lesson?
- Same construction, sharper shapes. If the cat went well this will take you about twelve minutes.
- My fox looks flat.
- You have not put the dark down. The legs and ear tips should be much darker than the body, not slightly.
- Should the fox be sitting or standing?
- Sitting, in this lesson - it hides two legs and lets you focus on the head and tail, which carry the character.
- What should I draw after this?
- The mug, for ellipses, or the eye if you want to jump to the hardest thing on the site.