I continue my challenge to draw realistic animals. Today I drew this chimpanzee and I would like to show you the process of how I made it and what equipment I used. I used to draw alot of animals when I was a kid but I haven't been doing it for many years, until recently.
This is the drawing of that chimpanzee. Scroll down to see the process
First I make a rough sketch by freehand. If you are new to drawing you can use the grid method which is a good way to get the proportions right. I use a 2H graphite pen to draw the contours and press gently if I have to erase something. I don't want any marks that shouldn't be there. To get the proportions right I use a ruler to measure the distance between different spots and lines. I look closely on the reference photo to get everything right.
When I'm satisfied with my sketch I start drawing the face of the chimpanzee. It has alot of detail and I try to get it as close as I can. For this I use a 2B and a 4B graphite pen .Patience is a key thing when drawing, the more patience you have the better the drawing gets. I still need to practice to draw different structure and details so this was a good exercise for me.
Every now and then I use a paper stick to blend the graphite and shade the face. You can also use an ear swab if you don't have a paper stick at home.
When the face is good enough I start with the fur. First I make a light shade over everything and blend it out with some toiletpaper. This is to get the base shade of the skin below the fur that is visible in some parts. After that I start making black lines inline with the direction of the hairs in the reference photo. I use both a 4B graphite pen and a mechanic pen with 0,5 mm pins to get the really thin hairs. I use the toiletpaper a few times to blend the graphite and get some shade to the structure of the fur.
When the fur is done I start shading the ear and hand. For the ear I mostly use my paper stick and and a 4B pen. I use a eraser that is sharp to highlight the parts that is almost white. For the hand I also use the 4B pen, the hand have some wrinkles and details that I also try to create in my drawing.
Before I'm done I go over my drawing to see if there are some details that I've missed. I also make the fur darker in some areas to get a better depth.
The finished result you can see below :)
