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“Drawing” Whiskers & Fur

This post is by Heather M. Ward,
contributing writer for TheArtMentor.

(Find out how you can be a Guest Author)

The Indent Method
The basic idea is to put a deep indent into the paper, so that when you draw over it with charcoal or graphite, the indent leaves a white line. Any material that accidentally gets into the groove can be lifted out with a pointed kneaded eraser.

You can use many tools to make the indent, so long as they don’t leave a mark. Possible tools include:

• Stylus
• Empty Pen or Mechanical Pencil
• Toothpick
• Hard, Well-Sharpened Pencil over Tracing Paper

Test your tool on spare paper first to make sure it doesn’t leave any mark.

Indenting the Whiskers
This first image to the right, is of the bobcat’s whiskers indented before any drawing was done.

Since whiskers are important to leave very white, press very hard when indenting. You can get an idea of how hard by looking at the shadow on this photo. Click the photo for a larger version.

I used a 2H graphite pencil over a piece of tracing paper.

Drawing Over the Whiskers
Now you can draw with a light touch right over the indents without getting pigment inside the groove.

After the fur was drawn in, I ran the kneaded eraser along the whiskers to pull out any charcoal that got inside.

Finally, I traced along the lower edge with the 2B pencil to add a light shadow.

Whiskers in Profile
In this last image on the right, there are two things happening.

First are the white whiskers above the eyes. I used the same method to indent as for the cheek whiskers, but instead of drawing over them, I dabbed the charcoal on with a chamois. This got a lot of charcoal in the grooves, but the kneaded eraser took care of that.

Creating Fur
The second technique in this last photo is the other application of the indent method - the Small Scale.

I used an empty 0.3mm mechanical pencil to scratch fur in place. The length of the scratch is proportional to the length of the fur, and the depth is much more shallow than for the whiskers.

Now I can draw over it just like the whiskers, but the white lines are smaller. Blending with a small stump puts a little charcoal into the grooves, but in this case it is desirable because I don’t want pure white marks.

This technique will work in graphite as well as charcoal, and it is one way to make your fur drawings more realistic. Experiment with it to see what works for you.

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This article was reproduced with permission.
Copyright 2009 - Heather M. Ward

To get more of Heather Ward’s insights into art, check out her blog at:
www.HeatherWardWildlifeArt.com