If you find that you have lifted too much graphite from an area you can always add a little more where necessary. It also prevents any hard definite lines between the different tones and allows me to be able to control how much of the darker area I blend into the lighter areas. I find that by carefully blending each area it helps create a more natural look. Do not get too carried away when doing this or you may end up with a mass of one tone. I carefully blend the darker tone into the lighter areas using a small circular motion so as to create the texture of the elephant's skin. To do this I will use a cotton bud/Q tip or a small piece of cotton wool. Pay particular attention to your pencil pressures also. Slowly begin to build each area either by continuing to use your 3B or 4B pencil and applying gentle pressure or by using a harder lead such as a B or 2H pencil. Make sure that you pay attention to the different tones between the lighter and darker areas. Once you have finished adding the darker areas of the section you are working on you can now start to add in some of the lighter areas. For example at the top edge and middle of the elephant's ear and on the forehead of my elephant. The reason for this is that where possible I will use the darker tones surrounding the lighter areas and blend from the darker areas into these areas. NB: When adding the lighter shades I tend not to shade into the lightest areas. How to add lighter areas of tone when drawing an Elephant. You will also be blending all the different tones into each other so do not worry if they just look like blocks of colour. In this way, you can slowly build the depth of tone by adding more layers of graphite as you go until you are happy with the end result. Slowly and carefully fill in the darker areas making sure not to press too hard at first. Using a 3B or 4B pencil and a small circular shading technique. Depending on your printer quality, some printed pictures can lack the colour clarity and sharpness of the original.Īgain begin at the top of your picture. In addition, as you are using graphite pencils to draw your elephant it helps to convert your PC image to grey scale. This gives me a much clearer visible image to look at when needed. I always keep a copy of the original picture open on my PC. You may also want to keep an original copy of the picture to hand. Do this by using your reference picture with the grid in place. Start by adding in the darker areas first. Once you have completed your Elephants body outline and are happy that you have all the outline detail you need to draw your elephant, you can begin to bring your elephant picture to life. Step 3: How to add realism to an elephant drawing.
![elephant outline easy to draw elephant outline easy to draw](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fe/b0/ae/feb0ae202e58ffcd65b3e6668da591ee.jpg)
They also act as visible guides for referencing your original picture when you begin adding your values and tones. These are only minor details but they will help you as you begin to build your picture. This can be seen on my elephant outline picture above. You can also lightly outline the areas of contrasting tone like on the ears and between the legs. For instance the detail lines on the trunk and the creases in your elephant's belly and legs.
![elephant outline easy to draw elephant outline easy to draw](https://clipartix.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/elephant-outline-2018-38.jpg)
Once you have your initial elephant body outline you can begin to add some of the inner detail outlines. It also prevents any oils from your skin from contaminating the drawing. This method enables you to rest your hand on the page without coming into contact with the graphite. You can help prevent smudging by placing a plain piece of paper on your drawing.
![elephant outline easy to draw elephant outline easy to draw](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/60/e1/80/60e18065ac5fdaf8180da9b134db6b8f.png)
So once I had drawn the top of my elephants head I then began building my picture from the left. I am right handed so I find that starting at the top left, working from left to right easiest as it also limits the amount of smudging caused when I rest my hand on the picture as I draw. You can start anywhere you want really, it's entirely up to you. However, this is not a hard and fast rule for this tutorial on how to draw an elephant. I found that starting at the middle of the elephants head, Points 2I and 2J on my grid, then working out and up over the elephant's ears was easiest for me as I could more easily visualise what I was drawing. Starting from the top left or right-hand corner you can now begin to carefully copy your elephant outline. We can now begin to draw an elephant using the simple steps provided in this tutorial. Step 2: How to draw an Elephants outline: Introduction to Figurative Art Diploma Courseĭrawing elephants-How to draw elephants How to draw an Elephant in five easy steps.Introduction to Portraiture Diploma Course.Click the image below to help support our content.