Puppy Drawing Sketch - Ink drawing video - How to Draw a Detailed Dog
Puppy drawing - Learn how to draw a dog using my ink tutorial - how to draw a detailed dog
Ink Drawings,  Tutorials

Puppy Drawing Sketch – Ink drawing video – How to Draw a Detailed Dog

Puppy drawing sketch using ink

Learn to draw a detailed dog using ink and paper

A few days ago, I intensively tested the ink I’ve been using on a previous episode from my Youtube channel. You can read more about how to draw a tree in ink here.

I used this spectacular ink to draw a puppy on paper. I recommend to anyone trying to learn how to draw a detailed dog and sketch anything, not just dogs, to start using ink. It gives you the possibility to create thin lines and you are more aware of your work. But stay tuned, cause I also mention later in this article the benefits of working with pen and ink when you learn to draw.

Coming back to our puppy, I always like to use reference photos of real animals I find on the internet. And, because I am not a fan of the safe and comfortable zone, I choose a puppy that sits with his little nose on his paws. I noticed artists usually pick photos of animals that seem to be ready for photos, like little soldiers. But I will always pick something more different when it comes to ink drawing and I did that again for this puppy drawing.

What you need to get started when creating a puppy sketch:

  • black ink (or any color you love) – I usually like the permanent black Indian ink from Winsor and Newton. Check the link to see what I’m talking about. It’s not a very expensive ink.
  • acid-free paper – I am using a regular acid-free sketchbook paper, 180 g/cm, medium fine.

Why I use this permanent black ink? 

I get the possibility to use the drawing I’m making to create an illustration. The best benefit of this ink drawing is that you can paint over it. Because it’s permanent, it’s not solvable in water. Attention! Because it’s permanent, you should be careful not to get it on your clothes or other surfaces. It won’t come off easily. I didn’t get to this performance, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Why I use a sketchbook for my drawings?

Like any other artist, I prefer to keep my drawings in one place, and what better place than a sketchbook. My sketchbook is 80 pages, so a lot of drawings will fit into it. You should keep your ink drawing and other artworks in a sketchbook with many pages, because, over time, you can see how you improved.

Why not sketch in pencils and ink afterward? 

I rarely use my pencils, unless I’m creating a pencil drawing. I recommend using ink from the start of the drawing because it will make you a better artist. How can this simple thing do this? Well, when you start your drawing using ink, you pay more attention to your drawing. Using pencils makes you slack a bit. You rely on the fact that you can always use an eraser to correct your mistakes and your improvement is slower. When you use ink to make a puppy drawing or anything you like, you pay attention to the very first line. You can’t erase ink and believe it or not, it’s a quality of the ink.

Now, going back to our drawing, I made a video for this tutorial where you can watch a time-lapse of how to draw a detailed dog.

Steps in how to draw a detailed dog:

  1. Look at your photo reference – this is something I learned from an early age and I’ve been told many times before. Always observe your reference image and this is useful for any time you draw, paint or anything else. Many new artists look more at their paper than at the reference and miss details and things that could make their drawing look better. Always observe and spend more time looking at the reference than at your work.
  2. Start with the outline – I always start with creating the outline of the entire picture: the body of the dog, shape of the eyes, nose, paws, legs, and tail. Don’t get into details until you have all the elements.
  3. Use straight and parallel lines – these lines will be your BFFs. Straight lines will always look great when hashing and shadow in an ink drawing. You will see what I mean in the video.
  4. Pay attention to light – always be careful where the light source is and try to build the shadows on the opposite side.
  5. Remember to enjoy what you’re doing – an important step when creating a puppy drawing or any kind of drawing you like, is to enjoy what you’re doing. This activity is also meant to bring you pleasure and relaxation. So there is no need to feel stressed because something is not the way you wanted it to be. (For example, the eyes of my puppy look like it’s an alien, but I had a lot of fun making it so I love it just the way it is.)

Here is the video tutorial of the puppy drawing and I hope it will help you learn how to draw a detailed dog.
If you enjoyed the video, please like and subscribe, because I will be publishing more ink drawing videos and other art-related materials.

Video Tutorial