It is impossible to have a faithful knight without his noble steed, or perhaps your character is a farmer and needs some animals? This is a quick reference that, more than enabling you to draw a specific animal, teaches us that it is the square and not the dog, which is our best friend when it comes to drawing the animal kingdom.
Using a combination of squares, we can map out the space for a body plan of almost anything. Here I will use the horse as a detailed example.
The body of a horse fits roughly into a square.If you subdivide this square into another four squares, the upper two will be the body and the lower the legs. The withers (highest point of shoulder) is halfway along one of the smaller squares (same for the highest point of the rump). The legs were drawn a little thick here for the type of horse the head and neck would suggest (head, rump and neck are more Arabian whereas the legs and shoulders more heavy warmblood). The head here is also a little small (making the horse look more feminine despite it being male… oops XP). For a more masculine horse the head should be about the length of it’s scapula (shoulder blade, google horse skeletons). The front of a horses head is drawn using a diamond as a guide.
Also on a more random note, if the horse is male, don't be shy, draw his sheath! There are many species where nothing is visible at the usual angles due to legs or fluff, but drawing a male horse without his sheath is like drawing a cow without her udders... it just doesn't look right. Also, ignore my terrible udders, she does have four teats, I forgot to draw the other front one and the hind are behind her legs. XD
Looking around you can see that the dog, cat and cow have similar body plans but body size makes the legs look longer or shorter. One point to note, the cow has cloven hooves, not round single hooves like a horse.
When it comes to rodents and lagamorphs (yes, bunnies are NOT rodents people) two squares side by side works to demarcate a space for rabbits and guinea pigs. Rats are a bit slimmer so about two thirds to three quarters of the height. Mice are chubby little beings and I couldn’t get one to look right so there is some homework for you. Draw a mouse in a box for me! Two boxes also works for a rabbit sitting up (notice how the rabbits and rodents all seem to have roughly diamond shapes heads) but obviously the whole width isn’t taken up (unlike the horse). Don’t count the toes on the guinea pig from below… I forgot how many they are supposed to have. XD The squirrel is similar with a big fluffy tail, see the picture? Lots of common animals are very similar in body plan.
Birds perhaps vary the most. The full bird drawn here is distinctly ‘average’. Probably a sparrow or something. Some wind examples are shown, long and thin being for falcons and gulls, deep fingered for crows and hawks, rounded for an owl etc. Also a swifts tail (forked) and a parakeets in flight (they are a lot pointier when not fanned out at rest but are held like this for flying).
Take away the ‘box theory’ and see what you can make of it. Tall animals, short animals, all animals! Perhaps use two boxes on top of one another to draw the body and legs of a giraffe, adding the head and neck on like with the horse? As you get more experienced you can drop the boxes and sketch the animals from photo's/life instead to get a more natural feel for variation.
Surprise me with what you can do and drop me a link in the comments or at my deviantart (VulcanVet).
See you next week!
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