Drawing white fur

I have drawn many animals with white fur. From horses to polar bears but the one thing to remember when capturing animals such as these is white fur is never white. There are many tonal changes and values to capture to create as much depth with a fur type like this.

I speak about it a lot but I feel the contrast is so important regardless of the subject but this will be especially the case with lighter fur colours. Take Alfie here, a West Highland Terrier but even though he has been drawn in graphite on white paper he shows up perfectly which you may not think would be the case.

There is not one set rule and correct answer for which medium should be used. It can very much depend on the reference photograph, the lighting plays a huge part. I also love drawing this type of fur in colour with pastels or acrylics working from dark to light to build up as much depth as possible.

‘Alfie’ A4 (8.3″ x 11.7″) graphite portrait

I offer pastel tutorials with in depth voice overs over on Patreon. Soon to be launching my acrylic tier :).
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