How to Draw a Hippo

Céim ar chéim

1. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Drawing the chest small to leave room for everything else.

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

2. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Butting the pelvis directly against the chest.

   Seiceáil You should see clear space between the two ovals.

3. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Drawing the spine as separate flat segments.

   Seiceáil The curve should touch both masses without a corner.

4. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Hanging the head above the body instead of in front of it.

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

5. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! A thin stick neck, which makes any animal look fragile.

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

6. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Ignoring the spine curve you drew and inventing a new back.

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

7. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! A straight line between the ovals, which reads as a table.

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

8. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Leaving the ends open because the ovals suggest them.

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

9. Céim 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.

   Bí ag faire amach! Straight tube legs with no joints, which read as furniture.

   Seiceáil Each front leg should bend at least once.

10. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Back legs bending the same way as the front ones.

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

11. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Planting the ears on top of the head like handles.

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

12. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! A muzzle pointing down instead of forward.

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

13. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Covering the body evenly in fur marks.

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

14. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! A single black dot, which reads as a bead.

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

15. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Legs ending in points, or feet at four different heights.

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

16. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Skipping it, leaving the animal hovering.

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

17. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Scalloping the entire outline evenly, which turns any animal into a sheep.

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

18. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Scrubbing tone everywhere, which flattens the sketch it took fifteen steps to build.

    Seiceáil All the hatch strokes should lean the same direction.

19. Céim 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.

    Bí ag faire amach! Going over every line at the same weight.

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