Attempt to draw some fish in my tank, using marker pens!
I think the main challenge of drawing animals is the fact they move! The fish above moved all the time, some more than others and it was difficult to get the interesting movement where they curve their bodies to turn as it is so momentary.
I chose cats to draw because I have family with cats and I also love them as a subject. They were not so tricky as they sleep a lot but they would still be aware of me after a while and move. I tried a technique I have learnt with drawing faces and that is to break down the subject into geometric shapes at the beginning before going to add detail. This helps with animals as it enables you to get the outline and features in pretty much the right place before going for the detail.
For the cats I used soft graphite, charcoal and conte. I like using these media as they lend themselves to drawing quickly and you can get a lot of coverage in a short space of time and also rub out highlights with a putty rubber.
To draw more animals I am thinking of visiting a part which has a lot of deer. There is a small local farm too which has a variety of animals. I will continue to draw the cats and also I have a dog coming to stay for 10 days soon and that will be such a good opportunity. I haven't tried drawing a moving animal (apart from the fish above) and at the moment I wouldn't know where to start - but it is something I would love to do.
