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Drawing Hares

Drawing Wildlife.
When asked to present a wildlife art demo in March, one animal sprang to mind! The month has been all about March hares!

Here's a work in progress study of a hare using coloured pencils.

Getting ready for an art session.
As preparation is key for any art demo, several images of hares were selected to be used as reference material - and so the wildlife sketching and drawing was ready for working on the easel at home.



Drawing Hares and other Wildlife. Sussex, London, Surrey, Kent.
Drawing Hares and other Wildlife.

Planning time to a hare's hair's breadth!
The aim of the art demo was to go through the stages of completing a pencil drawing of a hare using coloured pencils. The demo was scheduled for about 2 hours' drawing time...

Detailed, realistic coloured pencil drawings can take a very long time to complete, even in the comfort of an artist's usual studio or dedicated art space. Natural nerves in drawing a hare, or any animal, in front of members of an art group (in this case, consisting of already enthusiastic and excellent artists), are not to be underestimated when planning for an evening's demo! A clear roadmap, step-by-step approach is vital if a demo is to run to a tight schedule.

As such: preparation, preparation, preparation!
Time spent reading up about an animal subject is important - even if you feel familiar with it. It can be quite interesting to find out more than you thought you knew on, even on a familiar subject - and it can be very useful too.

Better knowledge of details, such as claws, fur direction, even specific gestures, features and behaviour, can capture the qualities that can help make a wildlife drawing look more realistic.

Sketch, sketch sketch!
The first practice sketches of a European brown hare began. Relying on a photographic reference, without recent observation of an animal subject in life, can result in misreading essential detail, which can end with a significant feature being captured incorrectly, or omitted entirely.

Through sketching and discovering more about different wildlife animals (in this case hares) and practising the applications of the coloured pencils, a deeper understanding of the subject can be formed than one based on a photograph alone; the limitations of any photographic reference material can be overcome to create more realistic wildlife paintings within a set time.

Demo Day! 
With careful pre-demo preparation carried out before the day of the demonstration, the chances of a successful demo on the day/night will increase - although there will always be small hurdles to overcome, knowing the subject matter in detail, as well as working with a clear approach during the demonstration, will help ensure the evening runs as smoothly as possible.

The image of the brown hare, above, is one of several that were sketched and drawn in March. More hares coming soon plus step-by-step guides to creating realistic wildlife drawings and paintings. Further hare art workshops planned.

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