The Shape Secret
Here is a secret that every artist knows: every animal can be built from simple shapes! Circles, ovals, and rectangles are the building blocks of animal drawing.
A dog? That is a big oval for the body, a smaller circle for the head, rectangles for the legs, and a curved line for the tail.
A cat? An oval body, a round head, triangle ears, and thin rectangle legs.
A bird? A circle for the head, an oval for the body, triangles for the beak and tail feathers.
A fish? One big oval! Add a triangle tail and fins, and a circle eye.
When professional artists draw animals, they always start with these basic shapes. They draw light circles and ovals first to get the size and position right. Then they add details on top. Finally, they erase the construction lines and what is left is a beautiful animal drawing!
This is called the shape skeleton method. The shapes are like the skeleton hiding under the skin — they give the animal its structure.