How to Draw a Dog House

In this lesson, you will learn how to draw a dog house in a realistic style and how to give it exactly the look you want.

Previously, we showed you how to draw a dog in a realistic style using the classical technique of building construction and adding volumetric shadows.

Now we will show you how to draw a dog house using exactly the same style and techniques to create volume and realism in the drawing.

Dog houses can be completely different, just like the design of a house for a person. But here we decided to choose the most classic and recognizable form that almost anyone can repeat and apply the technique to drawing another type of house.

To make your drawing of a dog house realistic enough, it is advisable to know the rules of perspective and be able to draw a cube. Earlier in our lessons, we have already talked about this.

How to draw a dog house step by step

Step 1: Mark the bottom edges

As with drawing any cube, you should first start with one of the faces. You can begin with the side or the bottom face, as in our example. First draw the front bottom face, then the side face at an angle, keeping perspective in mind and trying to keep the lines straight.

Step 2: Draw the corners of the dog house

Once the bottom face is ready, it is time to build the walls. From the corner and the sides, draw three lines going upward with approximately equal height. These will be the three visible corners of the future dog house. Then connect the lines so that they also follow the perspective.

Step 3: Begin forming the roof

Begin gradually forming the roof by starting with the front part. From the two nearest corners, draw two lines extending upward. Then draw the back edge of the dog house roof with another diagonal line that repeats the edge of the front part.

Step 4: Complete the roof shape

Now draw the top and lower edges of the dog house roof, making sure that these lines slightly move closer to each other due to perspective compression. Give the front part of the roof volume with additional construction lines. Also pay attention to aerial perspective so that lines farther away are slightly lighter than those closer to the viewer.

Step 5: Draw the door of the dog house

Move on to the details and draw the door on the front wall of the dog house. First draw the side edges of the door, then the top crossbar. Make sure that the door lies in the same plane as the entire front wall. Give the door thickness by drawing part of the inner frame.

Step 6: Add the decorative corner boards

Begin gradually decorating the drawing of the dog house by adding elements. First, draw the decorative corner boards of the house by adding vertical lines along the sides of the previously drawn edges. Like the actual physical corners, they should lie in the same plane.

Step 7: Draw the wooden planks of the dog house

Finish adding details to the dog house by drawing the wooden planks, first on the front wall, then on the side wall, and finally on the roof. All these planks should lie in the same planes as the surfaces they are on, and the lines themselves should follow the edges of those surfaces.

Step 8: Erase the construction lines

In the first stages, you drew many lines that now show through the main outlines of the drawing and are no longer needed, so erase them, leaving only the main lines of the drawing. Check the symmetry and proportions of the drawing, as well as the perspective – both linear, so that all lines gradually converge as they move away, and aeria perspective, so that the lines themselves become lighter with distance.

Step 9: Shade the planes of the house

Draw the shadows on the dog house using the same principle you used when working with a cube. After establishing the light source, begin adding even, clear hatching to the shaded areas. Make the shadows darker depending on how little light reaches each specific area. To draw shadows as correctly as possible, study our article on light and shadow.

Step 10: Add more additional halftones

Finalize the drawing of the dog house by checking the remaining areas, finding any inaccuracies or mistakes, and correcting them if possible. Check the tonal relationships in your drawing and add more halftones and shadows if necessary.

In our example, the dog house looks like a canonical house when we imagine this word – that is, walls with horizontal wooden siding, a triangular roof, and an entrance.

This shape, essentially a cube with a triangular top, is very easy to repeat and give a three-dimensional appearance.

For additional practice, you can try drawing a dog house from different planes and points of view. You can also create a more complex composition by drawing a dog lying inside or next to the house. All of this is very good practice for making your drawing skills stronger and deeper.

We hope that this dog house drawing lesson was interesting to you. Visit our other lessons and continue learning. Also, do not forget to subscribe to us on social networks so you do not miss new guides.