Help with realistic fur
3yr
Michael Burge
Hi all,
Just finished this drawing for my son of his favourite stuffed toy. Although I am happy with how it turned out considering this is my first step into fur or fake fur I was just wandering if anyone had any advice that I could use next time.
Let's just say my daughter got jealous and has now demanded that she have one of her favourite toys immortalized by daddy 🤣.
Any advice is greatly appreciated
3yr
Squint your eyes- it'll help you see the overall impression of the texture so you don't lose the forest for the trees
Michael Burge
3yr
Good suggestion. I have seen this mentioned from time to time but have never really given it a try. As I was thinking of trying to draw trees next as they are the same kind of complexity your suggestions is strangly accurate. Thanks
3yr
This looks awesome! I would suggest 3 things for you to try:
1- Increase the value range. You could try in a separate paper how deep you can make the shadows and how much steps you can go in the mid tones
2- Render with suggested texture. If you render fur in some strategic areas (outlines, high contrast zones, changes in form) then the brain fills the rest, resulting in a more neat result with the sensation of texture all over.
3- Draw with the texture instead of lines. I can see solid lines underneath the fur in the contours. You could draw normally, and then when it's fur time, erase the lines one at a time and make that form again but with fur. This is linked with the point 2
3yr
Awesome suggestions. You are so right about value though as I have a fear of going too dark and messing up the drawing. Even though in the past when I have gone darker it works out great. Suggestion 2 and 3 are great too and things I look forward to working on. Thanks again
3yr
when painting fur I try not to draw every single hair. Than you get just edgy strokes. Here is one trick I usually use: I focus on one small area of the reference. Than I observe the flow of the fur in this area. Like your finding the 'gesture' of the fur. Draw a few indication lines as orentation. Than I draw the "clumps and clusters" of the fur in the directio the gesture takes. Not the single line you often draw when you try to draw fur gives the feeling of real fur. More the direction in which it goes. Hopefully I explained it in an understandable way :)
3yr
Yeah that's great and definitely something for me to focus on for the next drawing. Thanks.
3yr
I would say you did a great job. Fur is tough! I try to treat fur like shading with a texture. I plan out my highlights mids and darks on a separate paper with the texture I want on the fur. I think you have it here. Remember the details are in the mids the highlights a d shadows have about the same amount of detail.
3yr
Thanks. Good suggestion i really want to work on my value range as I have this fear of going too dark and messing up the drawing even though in the past it has worked for me. I have have to keep pushing passed it. I have done a quick value study of a woman's face just drawing the shadows and it works out better then I though it would. I will go back and do something like that again to break me of this habit. Thanks again.
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3yr
Aww, this is so lovely! Your kids are lucky, I would have loved to have a drawing like that then I was little!
I’m not really used to drawing fur myself, but from what I can see it’s structure looks like that of a well loved stuffed toy animal. The only this I can say is to consider values a little more, it would make this adorable drawing stand out more! For example: think of there the light hits the toy and leave those areas whiter and you could also make the darkest areas even darker.
Good luck with your daughters toy!
3yr
Thanks. Yes value is definitely an area I am lacking in as I know I don't go dark enough with fear of messing up the drawing. I think I will do some value studies where I don't mind messing up to try and break me of this bad habit. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.
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Nice model, commissions like this can be very rewarding! I suggest you try to summarise the furry texture, instead of rendering each and every strand of fur. There are many videos out there about rendering hair, which teach the same idea.
3yr
Cool thanks I will have a look at some of them before I try the next one. Thanks for the advice.
