How to Draw a Lying Dog

In this drawing tutorial, we will show you how to draw a lying dog. Here we decided to apply the classic academic drawing method.

The steps in this lying dog drawing tutorial will be quite simple, but in the end, you will get a fairly realistic artwork if you follow our recommendations.

To depict a lying dog as in our example, you can use both pencils and paper, or a tablet. In order to most correctly understand how to create a particular detail of the dog’s body, you can first familiarize yourself with our lessons on how to draw a dog and a dog’s face.

So let’s get down to the lesson on how to draw a lying dog.

 

Step 1

First, sketch out the contours of the lying dog using very light and rough lines. These lines should be barely visible on paper, as they serve to avoid mistakes in proportions. Using these lines you will also need to correctly place the drawing of the lying dog on the paper. To learn more about this, we recommend that you check out our article on composition.

Step 2

Now it’s time to start adding details to your artwork. Start with the biggest details. First, sketch out the ears with rough lines. Next, sketch out the neck and the outlines of the tail, front and hind legs. When drawing details, constantly compare them with each other and with our example.

Step 3

Now it’s time to move on to the finer details and sketch the outlines of the face. Start with the eyes, and draw them in the upper third of the head. Next, sketch out the nose and mouth with the tongue sticking out. The details of the face should be symmetrical, and to check this very symmetry, you can look at your drawing of the lying dog through a mirror.

Step 4

Continue drawing the details of the face, giving your lying dog drawing a more complete and lively look. Using clearer and smoother lines, make the details of the dog’s face more smooth and clear. Draw details such as the nostrils, gums, and teeth.

Step 5

Draw the chin and folds on the neck with smooth and dark lines. These folds should emphasize the turn of the head. Use smooth lines to give the forelimbs a more complete look. After that draw the fingers and claws on the front paws. Don’t forget to draw folds at the junction of the forelegs and torso.

Step 6

Now move to the hind legs and do the same actions as in the previous step. Using smooth lines, carefully draw the visible hind leg and tail in more detail. Next, draw the toes of the back paw and the claws on them. To make your laying dog drawing more realistic and convincing, you can add some details, such as folds at the joints of body parts or a pattern on the coat.

Step 7

Now, carefully erase all construction lines that you drew at the very beginning of the instruction. To make your lying dog drawing more voluminous, try making the closer lines darker than the farther ones. To learn more about how this works and how to create volume on a piece of paper, read our article on aerial perspective.

Step 8

So, the last action that needs to be done is to draw shadows. Correctly drawn shadows will help make your drawing of a lying dog really voluminous and realistic. Starting from the darkest areas, gradually draw shadows using hatching. Draw shadows gradually moving from darker to lighter areas.

The team of Drawingforall.net hopes this lying dog drawing tutorial was helpful to you. If so, be sure to share it with your friends, and those who want to learn how to draw dogs.

Also do not forget to visit our other drawing lessons. For example, in our category called Animals, you will find a huge number of drawing tutorials about a variety of living creatures that inhabit our planet Earth.