How to Draw a Hippo

Trin for trin

1. Trin 1

   Begin with the ribcage: one oval, filling most of the upper body.

   The ribcage is the largest single mass in almost every four-legged animal, and drawing it too small is the most common structural error in the whole category. Draw it in one motion and make it bigger than feels right.

   Pas på. Drawing the chest small to leave room for everything else.

   Kontrol The chest oval should take up around a third of the body's length on its own.

2. Trin 2

   Draw the hindquarters as their own oval.

   The gap between the two masses is information: it is most of what separates a long animal from a compact one. Decide the gap deliberately rather than letting it happen.

   Pas på. Butting the pelvis directly against the chest.

   Kontrol You should see clear space between the two ovals.

3. Trin 3

   Run one curve through both masses for the spine.

   One continuous curve, drawn in one pass. The spine sets the whole animal's attitude, and a spine assembled from three short strokes reads as three different animals stitched together.

   Pas på. Drawing the spine as separate flat segments.

   Kontrol The curve should touch both masses without a corner.

4. Trin 4

   Place the head mass and rough in where the neck goes.

   Note where the neck leaves the chest before you place the skull - on most animals it comes off the front of the chest mass, not the top, and that single angle carries the species.

   Pas på. Hanging the head above the body instead of in front of it.

   Kontrol The neck guide should leave the FRONT half of the chest oval.

5. Trin 5

   Draw the neck as a solid, not a stick.

   A neck is a solid with real thickness, and on most animals it is thicker than you think - nearly as deep as the head itself. Two curves, one over, one under.

   Pas på. A thin stick neck, which makes any animal look fragile.

   Kontrol The neck should be nearly as thick as the head is tall.

6. Trin 6

   Join chest to hips with a topline and a belly line.

   This is where the animal stops being two eggs. Let the topline follow the spine you already drew and keep the belly line taut - a sagging belly is a decision, not an accident.

   Pas på. Ignoring the spine curve you drew and inventing a new back.

   Kontrol The topline should agree with the spine curve underneath it.

7. Trin 7

   Run the belly from chest to hips.

   The belly is a separate decision from the masses: it hangs below the line joining them, sagging most midway, and how much it sags is part of the animal - taut on a deer, generous on a cow. Draw it as one curve, not two arcs meeting.

   Pas på. A straight line between the ovals, which reads as a table.

   Kontrol The belly should dip below both mass bottoms at its middle.

8. Trin 8

   Draw the chest front down, and the rump around.

   Two curves seal the body into one shape: down the front of the chest into the belly, and from the top of the hips around the rump to meet it. Without them the animal has no front or back and the legs float - this is the step that turns parts into a body.

   Pas på. Leaving the ends open because the ovals suggest them.

   Kontrol You should be able to trace the whole body without lifting your pen.

9. Trin 9

   Draw the front pair of legs.

   Legs are chains of segments with a joint at each bend, and every leg bends somewhere. Draw joint to joint in straight strokes first; curves come later if at all.

   Pas på. Straight tube legs with no joints, which read as furniture.

   Kontrol Each front leg should bend at least once.

10. Trin 10

    Now the back legs, comparing them to the front pair.

    The hind legs fold the opposite way to the front pair - the hock points backwards. Compare their length against the front legs rather than judging them alone.

    Pas på. Back legs bending the same way as the front ones.

    Kontrol Front and back feet should reach the same ground line.

11. Trin 11

    Draw the ears - this is a big part of what makes it a hippo.

    Ears attach further back on the skull than feels natural, and their shape is one of the strongest species signals you have. Draw the second by comparing it to the first.

    Pas på. Planting the ears on top of the head like handles.

    Kontrol Both ears should attach behind the midpoint of the skull.

12. Trin 12

    Put in the snout, the eye and the nose.

    The muzzle projects forward from the lower half of the head mass. Its length relative to the skull is the proportion to measure - it is the one that changes species when you get it wrong.

    Pas på. A muzzle pointing down instead of forward.

    Kontrol The eye should sit in the top half of the head mass.

13. Trin 13

    Draw the tail and any remaining features.

    Detail is suggested, never itemised. Put the marks where they identify the animal and stop early - texture spread evenly everywhere flattens the drawing back out.

    Pas på. Covering the body evenly in fur marks.

    Kontrol Step back: the big shapes should still read first.

14. Trin 14

    Build the eye: iris, pupil, one highlight, and the brow.

    An eye is built in layers - iris, pupil inside it, one small highlight, and the brow line above that gives it a direction to look. The highlight and pupil must not touch, and the brow is what turns a circle into a gaze. This one feature carries more life than the rest of the head together.

    Pas på. A single black dot, which reads as a bead.

    Kontrol The highlight should sit at the pupil's edge, not inside it.

15. Trin 15

    Add the feet - one line and one split per leg.

    A leg without a foot is a pole. One short base line at the bottom of each leg, angled with the ground, plus a single toe split, and all four legs suddenly bear weight. Feet are also where the ground line will attach, so place all four bases at nearly the same height.

    Pas på. Legs ending in points, or feet at four different heights.

    Kontrol All four feet should sit within one pencil-width of the same line.

16. Trin 16

    Put the ground in and shade beneath the body.

    The ground is one line through the feet, and the cast shadow is one flattened arc beneath the body, darkest between the legs. Together they anchor the animal - without them even a perfect construction floats in white space. Keep the shadow tight under the body; a wide puddle reads as water.

    Pas på. Skipping it, leaving the animal hovering.

    Kontrol The shadow should touch at least two of the feet.

17. Trin 17

    Break the clean outline with tufts of coat.

    Fur is an edge event: a few tufts where the coat genuinely hangs - chest, belly, rump - and nowhere else. Each tuft leans the way the coat grows, back and down, and the outline should still read as one body between them. This is also where the sealed construction line stops looking mechanical.

    Pas på. Scalloping the entire outline evenly, which turns any animal into a sheep.

    Kontrol Most of the outline should still be smooth between the tufts.

18. Trin 18

    Shade under the belly and along the far side.

    Two or three patches of parallel strokes - under the belly, behind the shoulder - all leaning the same way, and the drawing suddenly has light in it. Keep the patches small: shading in a sketch is a note about where the dark lives, not a rendering.

    Pas på. Scrubbing tone everywhere, which flattens the sketch it took fifteen steps to build.

    Kontrol All the hatch strokes should lean the same direction.

19. Trin 19

    Go round the keepers heavily, then erase the guides.

    Press harder on the outline and the face, leave the small marks light, and erase the construction ovals. That weight difference is what makes the drawing look decided.

    Pas på. Going over every line at the same weight.

    Kontrol The outline should be clearly darker than the interior marks.