How to Draw a Tiger
I am the largest wild feline,
I am the mount of a Hindu god,
I am an iconic character from a Rudyard Kipling novel.
I am...
I am the tiger!
STUDY OF A TIGER'S ANATOMY FOR DRAWING
And yes, the tiger is the largest of the wild cats. There are several subspecies among which the differences in behavior and size are minor. It is also one of the largest terrestrial predators, just behind some bears. The weight record is held by a Siberian tiger weighing 384kg (source Wikipedia).
Compared to the lion, the tiger has a longer body. It has a large bulky appearance while still being very graceful. To compare, you can see the article how to draw a lion which is on our blog ;)
THE SKELETON
Let's start our study by examining the animal's skeleton.
First of all, as is very often the case with mammals, it can be noted that the structure of the tiger's limbs is the same as ours.
Annex 2 reminds us that the tiger is digitigrade (whereas we are plantigrade). This means that, like our domestic cat, it walks on its "toes", the light blue part. Speaking of cats, did you know that there is an article on our blog about how to draw a cat? If not, don't hesitate any longer and read it! :)
Having a general view of the leg bones will help you avoid some basic errors (especially regarding the placement of the "wrist - pink/blue joint").
You will also see that the back is relatively straight. It can be noted that the shoulder bone creates a mass slightly higher than the line of the spine and that the rear end is slightly higher than the front. The pink line is horizontal and the black line follows the line of the back. In 1, we can see that the hip is higher.
Now, if we quickly cover the skeleton, we find the main body areas that form the silhouette of the animal.
In blue, the head is quite compact (we'll come back to this later) with a slightly domed forehead. In pink, the neck is wide. In green, the muscle mass of the shoulders and hips. In orange, the torso with a very deep ribcage. In red, the very long tail.
It should be noted that if you frame the thorax area and the top of the legs, you get a rectangle (A) which will be slightly taller than the equivalent that includes the bottom of the legs (B).
The "elbow" and "knee" joints (connectors between the green and pink bones) are located at the belly line level.
In the attached diagram on the right, a small reminder concerning the back line. In 1, we note that the neck continues over the shoulders and that the back begins slightly lower just after this point. In 2, the hip also creates a change in level.
THE TIGER'S SKULL
We will take the time to zoom in on the skull with a frontal view and a profile view.
Diagram A front view:
You will observe that the lower fangs are on the inside and the upper fangs (longer) are on the outside. Moreover, be aware that the tiger has the longest fangs of all present day felines.
In blue, there are two lines that define the forehead (the orbits in green are on either side of these lines) and the muzzle (the area framed by these lines includes the nose and teeth). This area is quite wide along the entire length of the skull.
Side view of Diagram B:
In red I draw the line of the bone filling the space of the nose. This gives you the basic profile of the animal.
In blue, the length of the skull. It can be noticed that the eye will not be positioned exactly at the halfway point of the length, but slightly forward towards the nose.
Here we observe that the lower fangs are very slightly forward compared to the upper fangs.
On both diagrams, you can enclose the skull in a circle. This should be kept in mind for the general shape of the animal.
Now let's study the animal in flesh and fur!
DRAWING THE TIGER'S HEAD FROM THE FRONT
Diagram A will be our reference.
Diagram B:
In blue, the lines surround the snout, and the outlined area is clear. In green, the lines encompass the entire mouth. You can see that the eyes are placed between the blue and green lines.
In red, a triangle starting from inside the eye and extending to the top edges of the head helps place the ear. The ears are quite round, with a very small irregularity on the lower outer edge. Inside, they are covered with quite dense light-colored fur. From the back, they appear black with a distinct white spot.
Diagram C:
The coat without stripes. The base is fawn but the fur is very light on the cheeks, the neck, and above the eyes. We can also observe that the nose, rimmed with black, is enhanced with a few lighter areas. The nose will be the same as that of a cat with a slight ripple on the top and deep nostrils. It will be pinkish, sometimes with a few black spots.
Diagrams D and D':
We isolate the stripes here. In addition to the whisker attachments, which are very visible and quite black on the upper part of the muzzle, we can isolate 3 areas.
In blue around the eyes, there will always be more or less the same marks, three spots on the top, a larger and longer one that flows from the outer edge of the eye, and some marking under the eye.
Purple markings surround the jaws on the cheeks.
In pink are the spots that will continue to run along the entire length of the back. They are roughly symmetrical, placed on either side of the spine.
DRAWING THE PROFILE OF THE TIGER'S HEAD
Diagram A will be our reference.
Diagram B:
In red we have the profile line with a small irregularity created by the nose at 1.
In blue is the forehead area, which includes the well-defined nose.
The eye is positioned slightly forward of the middle of the head length (pink lines), and this enables us to place the ear (green lines).
Diagram C:
The coat without the stripes.
We find the lighter areas already seen, the neck, the muzzle, the top of the eyes. In addition, we can make out the white patch on the back of the ears.
Diagram D and D':
We only keep the stripes with just the attachment points of the whiskers in yellow.
We find the same groups, in blue the fairly round marks that disguise the eye, in purple the lines framing the cheeks. In pink, the lines that start on the forehead continue on the neck and back. In green, the very black design that partially covers the back of the ears.
Whether viewed from the front or the side, you will notice that the whiskers are abundant and clearly visible, primarily on the upper part of the muzzle but also above the eyes and under the chin.
The lower lips are very dark and are partially visible.
Another detail is the eyes. They are well set on the animal's face. From the front, they will face you and from the side, they will be in profile. The pupils are black and round. The iris will be golden, amber, even green, and blue in individuals with white fur.
GENERAL APPEARANCE IN PROFILE VIEW
Diagram A will be our reference.
Diagram B:
We remove the markings.
We see the proportions we've already observed: in red the placement of the eye along the length of the skull, in blue the proportion of the body with the top rectangle slightly wider than the bottom rectangle. The black arrow reminds you that the hip is slightly higher than the back line.
In addition to the lighter areas of the head, you will notice that the insides of the legs, the tail, the belly and the tips of the paws are also covered by light fur.
Diagram C and D:
We only keep the stripes. For more clarity, diagram C shows you the layout without annotations and diagram D aims to simplify the formation of stripes.
The stripes in pink start from the back and flow down the entire side of the animal, as well as the upper parts of the legs and along the tail. Note that the tail ends with a rounded black tip.
You can see the blue and purple lines that mark the head. In green are the lines that cover the legs. Note that the ends of the legs have almost no stripes.
OVERVIEW OF THE TIGER FROM ABOVE
Here, the top view allows us to better observe the composition of the back lines.
Diagram A:
This viewpoint allows us to appreciate the slender shape of the animal. In 1 we have the mass of the shoulder/front leg, in 2 the rib cage that outlines the shape of the flank, and in 3 the mass of the hind leg.
Diagram B:
The animal without stripes. There is white fur on the ears, on the tail, and above the eyes. You can also roughly estimate lighter areas on the sides and legs. The top of the back is slightly darker.
The condensed form of the skull is clearly seen within the red circle.
Diagram C:
We only keep the stripes. The pattern of the fur is constructed from the axis of the spine (in red). But you may notice that the stripes are not really distributed symmetrically. Moreover, the lines on the top of the animal tend to split in two (refer to zoom and lines in pink).
A quick note on the tiger's coat. Usually, the fur ranges from amber yellow to dark orange. The stripes are black. The lighter areas vary from cream to pure white. The stripes will vary in thickness and number depending on the subspecies and, as we have seen, they are not perfectly identical from one side to the other.
The white tiger is not a distinct subspecies but a mutation that is not albinism. Tigers with white fur can have stripes ranging from black, to various shades of light brown on an off-white base. Their eyes will be blue. Entirely white tigers have been observed, which in reality had extremely light stripes.
We can also find a variant called "golden". The base of the coat will be a not too dark orange, the light areas are more extensive, and the stripes will be reddish.
DRAWING THE LEGS
Before the step-by-step drawing, we’ll just make a small point about the "paw tip". If you have a cat at hand, just observe the little feline, it has the same structure as its big cousin.
For information, if you are not lucky enough to have a feline companion, the front paws have 5 digits with retractable claws and the hind paws have only 4 digits with the same retractable claws. The only difference between the hind and front paws is this fifth digit which is slightly higher on the front limbs.
In diagram A, we see the front paw from underneath, and in diagram B, the front paw from the front view.
In A' and B' in green, the toe is slightly higher than you will find on the hind limbs. The claws, in red, are not quite positioned in the middle of the "toes", but are slightly offset towards the inside (orange marks on the diagrams).
In the two diagrams, I quickly placed the bones following the color code used at the very beginning, mainly so that you could identify the "wrist" joint (junction of pink bone/dark blue bone).
DRAWING THE TIGER STEP BY STEP
Now you should be quite capable of drawing a fairly accurate tiger. For the step-by-step drawing, I've chosen a view and a pose that will present a small challenge. We will draw a tiger in profile, slightly angled forward, coming towards us with a "bent" paw that perspective will make a bit tricky to execute.
Leg B1 has touched the ground and has "pushed out" leg A1. It is this leg, A1, which will be more delicate to draw. Leg B2 is slightly behind, if we were making an animation it would be its turn to lift while leg A1 touches the ground.
Last point, our tiger will be a Siberian tiger. This subspecies has a slightly larger build than others, with particularly dense fur (especially around the neck and belly).
Let's get started!
Step 1: I start with the top line of the head.
Step 2: And then I draw the back line and the volume of the head. Based on a round shape, I already start forming the muzzle.
Step 3: Starting from the back, I position the muscle mass of the legs.
Step 4: I roughly sketch the legs. We remember that they should not be too long and that the 'elbow' and 'knee' joints are just below the belly line. I draw the tail, slightly curved and long.
Step 5: I quickly place the leg bones to check the structure a bit. I'm pretty accurate.
Step 6: I draw the nose and place the eyes (about halfway down the head) and the ears (starting from the inner corner of the eye). I keep the forehead broad and clear.
Step 7: I trace over the sketch lines cleanly for the outlines. The fur on the cheeks, neck and belly is long and dense, which I suggest with some hatched lines. At the lower jaw, I draw the curve of the lip that "hangs" slightly.
ADDING COLOR TO THE DRAWING
Step A: I start with a tawny flat color, a dark orange. I slightly adjust the tail so that it does not show any thickness variation (detail in green).
Step B: I lighten the belly, the insides and ends of the legs, the tail, the neck, the cheeks, the chin and a part of the upper jaw, the top of the eyes, and the ears.
Step C: I add the stripes following the patterns we saw earlier. I'm adding the whiskers. Oops, I just realized I forgot to lighten the cheeks on the other side (blue arrow)!
Now I place the animal in a winter setting. I press its paws slightly into the snow. I lightly cover the back, the top of the forehead, and the muzzle with a thin layer of snow. I choose natural lighting from above, and adjust the shadows accordingly on the animal and on the ground. I finish with a few snowflakes in front of the subject.
Done!
Obviously, it can never be said enough, but observation and practice will remain essential steps. However, knowing the general structure of the animal should help you. There's nothing left to do but go for it!
Illustrator and writer: Hello Illus