How to Draw a Realistic Cheetah

Artist: finalprodigy / April 24, 2012

7 votes

Step 1.

Start out by picking your materials. I used mainly HB and 2B charcoal along with a stick of 4B charcoal for the background. Instead of using white charcoal I used a kneadable eraser to add highlights. Rough shading was done using soft willow charcoal

Step 2.

Start out with a light and basic sketch using HB charcoal. Use the guidelines if you need them.

Step 3.

Your sketch may end up looking something like this.

Step 4.

Roughly and lightly shade over the drawing using soft charcoal.

Step 5.

Smooth out your shading using a cloth or a paper towel.

Step 6.

Start defining the sketch starting around the eyes. Use HB charcoal.

Step 7.

Move down to the nose.

Step 8.

Sketch the mouth and chin.

Step 9.

Sketch in the top half of the head.

Step 10.

Add a layer of rough shading to the background using soft charcoal.

Step 11.

Blend in your shading with a blending stump or paper towel.

Step 12.

Now blend in a layer of 4B charcoal to the outer edges.

Step 13.

Now start building your layers by starting around the eyes again. I used a 2B pencil to build up my dark shading.

Step 14.

Add details using HB and 2B charcoal. I relied on HB for for regular fur and 2B for the spots. Use a blending stump to smooth out your shading if it's too rough and a kneadable eraser to add highlights.

Step 15.

Use a 2B pencil to define the muzzle area. Sketch in a few whiskers as well.

Step 16.

Add details to the muzzle. You can also start cleaning up your background as you move along.

Step 17.

Use 2B charcoal to define the dark shading and spots on the rest of the head.

Step 18.

Start add details from top to bottom. Define the background above the cheetah as well.

Step 19.

Shade in the rest of the head.

Step 20.

Use 2B charcoal to define the rest of the cheetah.

Step 21.

Shade in the rest of the cheetah and finish up by cleaning up the background. Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

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Details

Artist: finalprodigy
Date Added: April 24, 2012
Steps: 21
Favorited: 24 (view)
Views: 0 in last hour, 1 in last day, 10 in last week, 53076 total
Comments: 0
Tags: how to draw cats, draw realistic animals, how to draw realistic, draw realistic, how to draw felines
Description: Here's another charcoal tutorial for you all. This time I'll be showing you how to draw a cheetah. I've always always had a soft spot for these majestic hunters and finally creating a tutorial of one was a big treat for me!