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.
Dibuixes en paper en lloc d'això?
El paper compta exactament el mateix.
Quant a aquest dibuix
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.
Pas per pas
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Drawing it small to leave room for detail. The big shape is most of the drawing - use the space.
Comprova It should fill most of your page, with a margin all round.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Skipping them because it looks symmetrical already. It will not be by the time you are done.
Comprova They should cross at the middle of the shape you just drew.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb A short, wide muzzle, which reads as a puppy.
Comprova The muzzle should be about half the head's width in length.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Making the ears too small and too upright.
Comprova The ear should be about half the height of the head circle.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Making the second ear smaller - it usually happens because your hand is more cramped on that side.
Comprova Both should sit the same distance from the centre line.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Inner triangles that touch the outer edges, which flattens the ear.
Comprova There should be a visible margin all round each inner triangle.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Round eyes set level, which looks startled rather than alert.
Comprova You should be able to fit one more eye between the two.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb A large round nose, which pulls the drawing back toward a dog.
Comprova The nose should be small relative to the muzzle.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Placing the body directly under the head with no overlap, which reads as two stacked shapes.
Comprova The body outline should pass behind the head.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb A thin tail, which loses the whole silhouette.
Comprova The tail should be at least a third as thick as the body is wide.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Shading the whole fox evenly and then trying to erase the white back in.
Comprova You should have two clearly reserved light shapes.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Being timid, so the darks and the whites end up only slightly different.
Comprova The ear tips should be clearly the darkest part of the drawing.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Adding detail evenly all over, which removes the contrast between busy areas and quiet ones.
Comprova Step back. You should still read the big shape first, detail second.
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Pas 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.
Vigila amb Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.
Comprova The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.
El que sembla acabar
El mateix dibuix amb cada guia esborrat i només les línies que volies mantenir, amb el pes que els has volgut ser. Si la vostra encara té línies de centre i blocs en formes d' ella, aquest és el pas que no heu fet encara - i porta uns trenta segons.
El teu no tindrà aquesta pinta, i se suposa que no és la construcció amb la bastida agafada, no un dibuix fet per a ser admirat, el punt és mostrar-vos quines de les vostres línies eren guies.
El que aquest t'ensenya de veritat
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.
Practiteu-les: Line confidence Proportion Corners and joins
El que necessites.
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.
Si no va malament
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.
Imprimeix els passos
Treu- lo de la pantalla. Les empremtes dels fulls d' increment d' una pàgina.
Preguntes a la gent pregunta
- 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.