Drawing a majestic bighorn sheep
The bighorn sheep is a majestic animal living in the wilderness of North America’s mountains. It weighs up to 70 kg! But its most succinct characteristic is of course its huge horn which makes it an amazing motif for practicing your sketching skills. Give it a go!
An article by Sine Hagestad
Sketch the baselines of the big horn sheep with your Mars Lumograph pencil, draw gently light pencil strokes. In this case, use a hard pencil degree (2H or H) to prevent visible pencil lines if you need to erase some parts of your motive while sketching.
Outline your motive with a thin pigment liner (0.3 mm) when you are done with your baselines. Do not forget the greaseproof paper under your drawing-hand, this will protect your artwork from smudging!
Shade parts of the head to create an illusion of form and light. Use a hard pencil (2H or H) at first. Put more pressure on the pencil when you shade under the head, behind the ear, and especially around the jaw to accentuate it. Smooth out your pencil’s strokes with your q-tip. Or simply keep all/some of the pencil strokes, if you like it more furry!
Darken your shades by selecting a softer pencil (for instance HB). Take your q-tip and smooth out your strokes again. For even darker shades, choose your Mars Lumograph jumbo pencil (4B, 6B or 8B) and repeat step 3.
Use your eraser to highlight around the eye, nose and both horns.
Give your big horn sheep a unique expression by creating your very own environment. What are your favorite parts of nature? What about trees or water? Maybe flowers? Create whatever you like.
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