How to Draw a Fox Head

It frolics in fables and tales allo over the world, cunning, sly, benevolent, sometimes getting very close and never leaving one indifferent, I speak of the noble fox! Here we will take a closer look at the study of its head.

FIRST THE BASICS ABOUT THE ANIMAL

The fox has an elongated silhouette, with legs relatively short compared to its size. I know, I told you we would study the head, but even if you only represent the head, you need to keep the whole animal in mind, you need the sketch of its general appearance to avoid mistakes, like an improbable posture (a head posture such that the vertebrae break) or an appearance that is too massive (compared to the rest of the animal's body). It is a light and lively animal, all in fur.

The fox is also a predator, and as is almost always the case, its eyes are oriented forward (to best estimate distances) and not to the sides (as in deer, cattle, sheep, etc.). So when you see it from the front, the eyes face you, and when you see it from the side, the eyes are also in profile! We will return  to this point later.

But let's get down to business, it's always very interesting to take a look at the skeleton of your subject. Without necessarily having a passion for zoological anatomical tables, consulting skeletons can often provide an accurate basis. For this reason, we will look at the skull. In some cases or for hyperrealism, it may also be wise to study the muscles and their attachments.

LET'S FOCUS ON THE FOX'S SKULL

Let's start with a side view.

In general, it is observed that the cranial box is underdeveloped; the forehead will not be very high.

On diagram 2 I have highlighted some features.

In green we can clearly see where the muzzle will go.

In blue I highlight the length of the canines.

In pink we see where the eye will be placed. You will notice that it is not on a very high axis compared to the line of the muzzle. Do not position them too high in relation to the purple axis.

In yellow the visual field, as previously mentioned the fox sees in front of him.

In Red the hearing field. The width of the ears must cover this area. Big ears are made for this!

On diagram 3 a quick dressing of the animal. Let's continue with a top view and a front view.

From the top view, it is evident that the snout is elongated and thin. The eyes (round in purple) are distributed on each side of the snout and, as seen above, positioned just above.

DETAILS OF A FOX'S HEAD

❖ THE TRUFFLE

The snout will be the same as that of a wolf, a lycaon, or a dog. Two identical and symmetrical parts are clearly visible. The muzzle is slightly convex at the top. The fold of the nostrils rises slightly. In simplified terms, it can be thought of as being built inside a cube.

You can see the texture of the truffle, which is not completely smooth. Due to its deep black color, it is necessary to properly emphasise the light. Even if the border with the fur is quite clear and well-defined, in a realistic drawing one should not hesitate to depict the fur border in a more sparse manner.

✖ DRAW THE EYES

The fox has a vertical oval pupil, somewhat like a cat but less pronounced. The eyelid rim is very light and slightly thick, dark brown in colour, almost black but not quite.[green arrow]In the context of a colour design that wants to be somewhat realistic, avoid using black for the rim of the eye, as this would be too harsh, and favour a deep brown instead. Do not hesitate to emphasise the eyelid with a light glow.

Eye colour may vary from one species to another, even from one individual to another, but usually varies from a subtle amber yellow to a greyish green.

You'll notice that the corner of the eye is rather wide.[red arrow]. We also distinguish the white of the eye in the corners[blue arrow]The upper eyelids are lined with black eyelashes.[pink arrow], which blend in with the fur. These details will need to be treated differently depending on how realistic you want your drawing to be.

⛭ THE EARS

For the ears, we find the same external folds as in the cat[purple arrow], more or less detailed. They are triangular and very mobile, covered with inner hairs along all edges. For proportions, the base should run along the area of the ear that I have already mentioned, and then rise into an isosceles triangle.

In the drawing, you can see the direction of the inner hairs going upwards. Round off the tips of the ears for a more natural finish. I have highlighted in pink the base of the ear, against which the jaw hair fits.

✏ OTHER DETAILS OF THE DRAWING

Again, like the cat, the fox has whiskers (beautiful whiskers!) which are black on the side of the muzzle, above the eyes, and below the chin. Those under the chin should be depicted primarily for a realistic drawing, otherwise, the image might be too bulky.

The canines are developed, long, sharp, and slightly concave. When the jaw is closed, the tips of the upper fangs can be seen. To accurately represent the open mouth, I cannot recommend enough references to the bones.

In this summary drawing, the lower lip can be seen and the tip of a tusk can be glimpsed. The muzzle whiskers, indicated in pink, are placed, shortening upwords. The whiskers above the eyes and on the chin, indicated by the green arrows, are very slightly sketched out.

In blue, the muzzle, avoid a straight line and prefer a very slight upward protuberance of the muzzle for a softer effect. At the junction of the nose and the forehead fracture, you can slightly roughen the hair for a simple and natural look.

Indicated by a brown arrow, the corner of the lip, which ends with a gentle downward slope. Similarly, as with the muzzle, you can gently mark the bulge caused by the fangs.

The mouth widens at the junction with the neck.

In red the hearing area is well covered by the width of the ear. Finally, it should be noted that the eye is positioned at the upper edge of the muzzle.

DRAWING A FOX'S HEAD STEP BY STEP

So it probably seems strange to discuss the "general construction" just now! Because in fact, if you have correctly understood the directions the skull gives us, you don't really need it. But let's go ahead cheerfully all the same:

1*To begin, I recommend starting with the truffle which will be a cube slightly deformed on the sides.

2*From there, draw the snout, which will be longer than it is wide. To keep the structure consistent, you can draw a line to mark the centre of the snout, which will be the centre of the skull.

 The skull will be a somewhat flattened circle. As we have seen, the fox does not have a large, round skull, but rather a long one. It does not have a high forehead like us. That is why the sphere should be slightly flattened.

4*Now, for the front view, draw lines on each side of the snout. Start slightly inside the edges, taking into account the thickness of the fur to determine the edges of the bone.

5*These lines help you to position the eyes. From the top view of the skull we saw that they are positioned on the sides of the snout. A new purple line has appeared, running from the outside of the eyes to the line of the sphere. The areas defined by these purple lines give us the hearing area, in red.

6*This allows us to place our ears, the bases on the junctions of purple lines/sphere. We build triangles rounded at their tips.

7*Now we turn our sphere into fur. We cover the round of eyeballs with eyelids. Note the features indicated by the green arrows, which represent the volume of the eyelids.

8*All we have left to do is to lay down our colours!

DRAW FUR

The fur of most breeds is dense and rather long, but the thickness may vary depending on the season. In winter, a slender individual will appear much more compact. In addition, very thick fur will blur the distinction between head and neck.

The most commonly represented species, which we may also encounter, is the red fox. The coat may vary from a yellow-beige to a very saturated orange or light brown.

The truffle is black, the throat and mouth edges are white or light grey. There is often a more or less pronounced black mark on the side of the muzzle. The lips are black. The back of the ears is dark brown/black. Some individuals have a silvery coat or the red is replaced by various shades of light grey and the white of the coat by pure black.

In other species, we can find different coats, grey, white, speckled with brown and grey, with a different head pattern than the red fox, with or without a marked area at the back of the ears.

First, the direction of the fur. Look at least once at the direction of the fur, and this for all applie to all our furry friends. For a drawing with simple flat areas, this will show you the location of imperfections, while a more detailed picture will save you time.

It may seem obvious, but the more realism you want, the more you will need to work on the fur to give it density.

Firstly, the fur is not of a uniform color and the shades of the coat will be complemented by lighting effects.

Secondly, fur is not composed of hairs of the same length. If you aim for realism, do not forget to “pluck” a few hairs here and there. Not too many, otherwise the fox will look like a poodle just out of the grooming. In the illustration, this is represented by cross-hatching where the fur is long and shaggy, and by more linear strokes where the fur is shorter (ears and muzzle).

Thirdly, I cannot give you basic rules on how to proceed, as the method will depend on the technique used. Representing fur is not done in the same steps as when working with watercolour or digital painting.

Finally, have fun, the fox lends itself easily to interpretation. It will always be recognizable if you follow some rules, such as the large triangular ears and the snout longer than it is wide.

 Illustrator and writer: Elo Illus