Small introduction

Hello people! I finally have the availability to do one of these tips, and I wanted to do it with a particular type of animal that I think is the cutest of the cutest. At first the idea was to do with several animals because I realized that it would take me more time and I would not enjoy the process as much as in this case, so I decided to direct the tips that I will share with the support of a cute puppy.

The thing is that much of what I say here applies in a general way to everything, except when I talk about the structure, which does not apply to all kinds of little animals. Without a doubt, drawing little animals is the most fun, and even more fun to share with others a few things to teach.

Nothing more to say, let's go for it.

The tenderness within reach of a few eyes

That's right, when we personally want to make a cute little creature, I believe that the success of its cuteness is in its gaze, as long as it is facing the front or at an angle from where its eyes can be seen, of course, since we can well paint a canary very cute sleeping and then we won't be able to see his eyes. It would be terrifying if he's sleeping with his eyes open, by the way.

 

Although beauty is subjective, there are certain universal rules that must or must be followed to generate a nice finish in a context like this of making cute little animals, and the most important for me are bright eyes, but of course, a terrifying monster can having bright and huge eyes and not being cute at all, so that is not enough, the expression of our little animal is essential to generate tenderness, it must express kindness.

 

Now, let's do a little exercise with the following canine face:

We are going to play to try with different eyes to see which one looks better:

I think this is a very fun game. Let's give it a try, let's try eye by eye to see which one is better:

Not bad, but it looks kind of menacing, like it wants to bite me if I get too close or something. Let's keep trying.

 

Play with the second type of eye:

It looks funny, but it also denotes as if the dog is bored. Maybe he's tired of waiting.

 

Let's keep going!

This one seems very surprising. What will he have seen?

 

Following!:

 

Hey! this one looks so... so... perfect!

 

It looks very cute, that huge pupil with those reflections to give light makes it look really adorable.

 

Fifense how important the geometry of the eye is, with the first face, although it looked good, it did not inspire much confidence in me, and that is that its eye had a more triangular geometry. Those types of figures with their fine tips are not very friendly, unlike a more circular shape that is friendlier, more gentle, and is perfect for the occasion. Triangular shapes by nature are not very adorable to say. Perhaps in certain contexts, yes, but in this case, as we saw, it does not help us much.

But it is that, my mother, look at that

Not even if we decorate him with flowers does he inspire confidence. Instead, in the last face, even if it's just a withered flower on his snout, he already looks good. let's observe

But if it looks even more adorable!

 

Another thing to keep in mind is the size of the iris. If there's a lot of space left from the white area of the eye, we're going to have a finish like he's surprised or something, not very gentle tender, if we make the iris bigger, then there we will have tenderness.

 

expressiveness

Not only cute eyes will suffice, it is important that our little animal expresses itself so that it looks even cuter. Let's look, hey, boy!

Could you look straight ahead?

Now do the mean laugh!

Hehehe, how cute, not bad. But if only he would make a bigger smile and move those little ears....

That's it! How smart. Good Guy!.

 

The expressiveness makes the tenderness of our creature shine even more, you must take it into account.

 

And this is closely linked to the next point which is...

DYNAMISM: Give movement to your little animal!

Movement and expressiveness empower cuteness. We will be able to draw very static and rigid creatures and have a good finish, of course, but, personally and more when it comes to cute and tender beings, I love that they express themselves and have movement. A photo of a sitting kitten is not the same as the same kitten doing some of those feline antics that we love so much and gain millions of likes and views.

When I am going to draw an animal in motion, I like to use a structure that is easy to make and, therefore, easy to move, a structure based on basic geometric figures, which are very easy to draw in perspective and that I foreshorten

That structure is what I love to use in case all the little animals that have an anatomy similar to that of the dog. If I wanted to draw a turtle it would be another story.

 

 

It is really easy to draw movement from basic shapes, but of course and like everything in this life, the key is in practice. There will come a time when only with a basic figure based on lines only, we can already solve our drawing precisely.

Look at that bunch of puppies so happy and cute!. And it's not just the movement, we can also generate an effect of tenderness psychologically, for example that poodle, he seems arrogant, but when we know that in his mane there is a chick that lives there and leaves him and is like his pet, well, that I find it very cute and cute. Now I see the poodle with different eyes, it gives me an impression of tenderness, apart from arrogant.

 

Observe now, just by lengthening its limbs it looks like an adult dog, without the need to make many modifications as is often the case with boring humans. Look at the barkers, the one on the far right looks considerably better, that more dynamic movement in the neck totally makes a difference and for the better. Also, thanks to that necklace that wrinkles the skin on his neck, we get even more dynamism and he looks more attractive thanks to it. If we placed the collar on the one that is furthest to the left, we would only have had an ornament for the canine.

Look at your pet, see what angle it looks cute at and use it as a reference. If you don't have a cat or a dog or anything, the internet does. You must be very voyeur.

Yes, you must be very voyeur and curious. I put my puppies to pose, sometimes they look at me with faces of "But what is happening, what do you want from me?" but nothing, then I caress them and they, super happy, begin to want to play with me.

 

So remember and keep in mind: Expressiveness and movement empower tenderness.

Color

We reach the final stretch, this part is very fun (well, everything has been, laborious but fun). I'm not going to use filters or crazy ClipStudio options, I'm just going to use a few brushes that you probably have but that I'll leave as a file in Drive for you to download anyway.

 

First step, let's go for the drawing to color

We designate a point of light and start with the shadow

I make the shadows with the Hard Round 2011 brush

Oops, I left a lot of white space for such a small image. In the end, nothing happens. What I like about that brush is its ability to blend without being a blender brush.

 

The best way to use this brush is to press alt, which activates the dropper, as we brush strokes to integrate the colors and achieve smooth gradients, so that the transition from one color to another is not so abrupt, because the coloring is ugly. .

 

Then, choosing the desired tone, I pass the brush with little pressure to get the tone I want.

That brush allows for a finish that I love and it's not difficult to use at all. I repeat, you put the stains of the colors you want and then you mix them with the same brush making soft strokes and changing from one tone to another nimbly with the dropper tool thanks to the alt command.

 

Before continuing with the body, let's go with the nose

With the brush that can be seen, we pass it gently and generate that kind of texture, do it in different shades to have a better finish. That is the same brush that is used to sketch, but when painting with it, it generates that effect that serves as a texture and I love how it looks on the nose.

We shape the hole of the nostrils to better define them and, with the Hard Round brush, we gently go over it to generate shine and that porcelain-like effect. The Pressure Opacity and Flow brush can also do just that. In the front part of the nose we use lighter tones for the shine effect.

 

Let's go with the ears

Again, we put the stains and with the Hard Round brush we mix by merging, I repeat once again, for this we must constantly change between shades as we brush strokes and with alt we do it without problems thanks to the drop counter.

 

Let's go for the eyes now

Isn't the finish cool? I did it with the Hard Round as I have already said, it may cost you a little but don't worry, it's just a little bit of skill, and I assure you it's not difficult at all. Take a good look at each version of the eye so you can see how it evolves little by little until the final finish.

 

The glow in the white area is done with the Light Pressure Opacity and Flow brush, blurring the edges of those white patches to give them that glow effect. That gray spot in the pupil in the last eye that helps to emphasize the brightness is also done with said brush, going soft so that the tone is not too white or too black. With just a few spots on the white area of the eye to brighten it, you are left with a great result. Try not to overdo it with spots for the light because it will look more like a strange eye, like dirty or, simply, poorly drawn.

 

If we put a flat white stain, it will not look good for this type of finish, its edges should be blurred so that it looks shiny.

Let's go now with the necklace

Same technique we have been using.

We shade the necklace to get volume. In addition, the dog's neck will generate a lot of shadow on the collar.

 

It's going pretty well!

With the pendant you will notice that kind of texture, lightly brushing the kyle drawing box brush, the same one we used for the sketch and paint the nose.

Leaving the border of the medal with lighter tones for the shine gives a realistic and cool touch.

At the edges of the logo we add light tones to generate that relief effect that is quite cool.

 

Let's see how it goes

I'm lovin 'it!. We already removed the lineart because it is no longer needed.

 

We are going to continue retouching the shadows, we will do it with the same Hard Round and the same technique that we have been using

No complex changes, just look at each one and you will see the subtle changes, emphasizing the shadow more and retouching some parts, such as the light on the cheek to add volume in the area.

I had been working with somewhat yellowish tones and at this point I wanted to use more greys. Now it only remains to add a little reflected light and little else. let's go with it

Hears! It really looks cute.

 

With the soft pressure flow and opacity brush, on the edge of its body, especially where the light hits, smudge it to create a light shimmer effect and it looks really cool.

 

I want to make a quick background, I feel that it cannot stay like this, it must have a background, it will not be complex at all, but it will help the final finish to be better. Go for it

I really find it cute!

 

I think that's all for now, our dog has behaved wonderfully. Good boy!

Extra: Little animals by simple shapes

There's still something I want to share