Realtime Gesture Video - Animals (Patreon)

A special focus on animal gestures in this week's realtime gesture video. The votes are in and you voted for the Wild Cats photo reference pack for me to draw. And what a challenge! 

Although the pack is all the same type of animal, there is a variation between species, in terms of proportions, shape language and movement, however, all quite similar. 

My confidence with drawing cats is not great, so I took some time first to go to my books and practice drawing from the images in there. I drew mostly from Ken Hultgren's The Art of Animation Drawing, which has a lovely big chapter on drawing cats of all shapes and sizes in different actions. 

I tried to draw as many of the images that I thought were interesting and that would help me understand some of the anatomy better. I also did a basic skeleton study from this book, so I could get familiar with the shape of the skeleton and muscles. 

As I mentioned in the Animal Gestures Tutorial video (Conté Tier), Ken Hultgren was a Disney Animator, so I really like his approach to gesturing animals.

Also check out the preview pages for The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Cats, there are a lot of drawings shared there that can help you with drawing cats even if you don't buy the book!

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• What did you think of these big cat gestures?
• What animals do you tend to draw the most?
• Is there another animal you would like to see explored here?
• What was your favourite tip from the video?
• Do you have any animals where you live that you can draw?

Let me know in the comments below!

- GG

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(Amazon links, but please check your local bookstores first)

Ken Hultgren - The Art of Animal Drawing  

Joe Weatherly - The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Cats 

RIchard Powell - Instagram 

Satine Zillah - Art Photo Packs 

Pinterest - Animals