How to Draw a Deer


How to Draw a Deer
How to Draw a Deer

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The king of the forest, the deer! Majestic and peaceful. Who hasn't wanted to draw one after watching Bambi?

Today we will see how to draw this beautiful animal. I won't dwell on the deer's head, which will be covered in another article. For this article, I have taken a red deer as an example. But the body structure is quite similar to that of their cousins the moose, reindeer, and other types of deer. Only minor details vary such as the thickness and length of the body, the length of the neck, etc.

 

We start with our favorite step: observation!

 

Observation of the deer drawing

 

Well, the photo I used as a reference was altered at the horns, but that's okay. It's the body of the deer that I'm interested in.

Like all ruminants, deer are characterized by a rigid and solid spine to support their rumen and digestive system. Their backs are generally quite straight and they are not very flexible at this level. Their bodies are rather thick. They have long thin legs and in the specific case of the deer, it has a fairly thick neck.

The head is generally triangular and it has large diamond-shaped ears. Not to mention the famous horns, of course!

 

 Observation for our drawing of a deer head

 

This time, I will reproduce the photo that I posted at the top (but with real horns, of course). I will also put on the hooves.

 

 

THE DEER SKETCH

 

So we will start with the basic structure.

I always start with the head, and will therefore list the steps in this order, but if you prefer to start with the legs and work your way up, the process is the same. As long as you understand the structure, you can approach the drawing from any angle, and it should work ^^

So I'm going to place a rectangle for the head.

How to draw a deer, step 1

 

 

I then place a kind of diamond shape for the neck. The neck should be one and a half times the width of the head and you should be able to fit a second head between the chin of our deer and the base of the neck / the chest.

How to draw a deer, step 2

 

Next, the body! Again, it will be a rectangle about twice the length of the head + the neck and about half as wide (and I emphasize "about", no need to measure all this precisely ^^).

How to draw a deer, step 3

 

 

I'm adding two diamonds for the ears.

 

 

I'm not going to place the legs right away because positioning them requires detailing the body a bit more first. However, I will place the ground line. Consider that we can fit the body of the deer again between the bottom of its belly and the ground and you will have roughly the distance to the ground ;)

How to draw a deer, step 5

 

 

 

 

DRAWING STEP BY STEP

Now we will go into a little more detail.

 

 

THE DEER'S HEAD

As I said at the start of this small tutorial, I won't go into detail about the head here, which will be covered in another article. So, I quickly position the muzzle and add a small detail to the ears. I also quickly place the horns (this too will be detailed in an upcoming article).

How to Draw a Deer, the Head

 

 

 

 

DRAW THE NECK

We'll go back to the neck area. I can't help but think about the movie Bambi when I draw this deer, as it simplifies and highlights the deer's body features very clearly and effectively. Particularly at the neck level. I encourage you to watch it again if you're having a bit of trouble, it should greatly help you.

Going back to the neck then, we can see that there is a kind of twist on it since the deer's body is in profile, or even somewhat from the back in relation to the photographer, but its head is squarely frontal. So, I outline the major lines of this twist.

How to draw a deer, focusing on the neck

 

 

I take this opportunity to more accurately redraw the neck and give it that special volume that gives such a majestic bearing to the deer (in addition to its antlers, of course).

 

 

THE DRAWING OF THE BODY AND LEGS

I then move on to the body. It can be divided into 3 roughly equal areas. The right part includes the shoulder blades and the front of the rib cage from which the forelegs descend.

The middle which is the paunch, or the swollen abdomen.

And the left side with the thighs and hindquarters from which the hind legs descend. Since our deer is slightly turned away from us in this photo, I will therefore transform my rectangle into a parallelepiped.

 

How to draw a deer, step 8

 How to draw a deer, step 9

How to draw a deer, step 10

 

 

The right side begins at an angle with the shoulder blades. Personally, I perceive this area as a trapezoid. At its base, I lower the right front leg.

 

How to draw a deer, step 11

How to draw a deer, step 12

 

As we are viewing from the back, the left paw is not aligned, but slightly offset. I show you schematically the structure so that you can clearly visualize what I mean. So we place it as well.

 

How to draw a deer, step 13

How to draw a deer, step 14

 

 

Deer legs are similar to those of their herbivorous cousins like cows, horses, etc. Of course, I'm not referring to the hoof, which is very different, but to the rest of the leg. Starting in a cone shape from the shoulder to the elbow, the joint is thicker and forms a very visible bulge, before tapering from the elbow to the wrist (yes, I'm using human joints to help you understand better which part I'm talking about exactly ^^).

 How to draw a deer, step 15

 

 

The hoof itself looks like this. Split in two and with a small higher nail on the leg. It structures quite easily, a tube, with a bulge at the joint and a triangular shape for the nails / hooves.

This gives us the following for the forelegs.

How to draw a deer, step 16

 

 

The belly is simpler to make, just bouncy, there's not much sorcery here.

 How to draw a deer, step 17

 

 

The rear is more interesting, however. We can clearly see the two hind thighs and draw them in a vague potato/diamond shape that we divide in two.

 How to draw a deer, step 18

 

The tail will be placed about here, its base starting at a quarter of the height and its end at about half.

How to draw a deer, step 19

 

 

Then we make a nice arc for the inclination of the thigh and the first joint of the leg (the equivalent of our knee, but which bends in the opposite direction from ours).

 How to draw a deer, step 20

 

 

Then we turn to come back almost vertically, slightly tilted backwards. Same principle for the left leg, but with slight changes in the inclinations ^^ We detail our hind legs like our front legs, with a variant for the thigh and the knee joint (see drawing opposite).

How to Draw a Deer, Step 21

 How to draw a deer, step 22

How to draw a deer, step 23

 

 

We have roughly our basic structure, now we need to detail all of this.

 How to draw a deer, step 24

 

 

 

 

DETAILS AND FINAL INKING OF THE DEER

 

For this lesson, there will be no "colors" section. This allows me to explain a bit about how I proceed when I draw my final line.

Generally, at this stage, my structure is roughly in place, I just need to detail it a bit and add some fur here and there, some volume, make the muscles and bones feel under the fur. And for that, having photos on hand with close-ups or that allow me to appreciate these different details is a precious help.

So take the time, when you go to ink, to add the small details that will make all the difference, to redefine the shapes you have outlined more schematically before, to add a slight bulge here, a slight crevice there.

How to draw a deer, step 25

How to draw a deer, step 26

 

And here is our finished deer! Well done :D

 

 

RECALL OF THE DRAWING STEPS

 

So, to summarize:

 

  • We start from simple and geometric shapes after analyzing our model.

  • We detail them little by little using other geometric shapes at first

  • Then we go into detail again, using photos to add realism and substance to our stag

 

Final deer drawing

 

Illustrator and Writer: Rakjah

 

 

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by Liam

Comment(s)

  • So true, majestic and peaceful this deer 😇 and by following the drawing steps it's easy to draw it 👍
    • Rakjah Prof
      Thanks Ariana :3 I find that breaking things down into simpler geometric shapes is a good way to understand and remember things 😉
  • I'll become a professional animal artist if this goes on 😉 I feel it's easier to draw these animals than to draw houses using perspective.
    • Rakjah Prof
      I disagree haha (animals seem suuuuper complicated to me). Some animals are very treacherous and some houses are very simple.
  • Yes! Another great article :D
    • Rakjah Prof
      Thank you, hoping it makes things easier to grasp 😇
  • excellent tutorial....again! I'm going to make a herd!
    • Rakjah Prof
      I want to see that :D
  • Magnificent! 😁
    • Rakjah Prof
      The King of the Forest can only be majestic ^^
  • Here is my deer! Clearly, I missed the head.. But I'm quite happy with the body! ^^
    • Rakjah Prof
      Yes, there are issues with proportions, but it's not bad for a first try :D It needs more work, but you can recognize a deer and the body is pretty good ^^
    • Yeah, the head is clearly too small XD
  • Here is my deer, considering I am a complete beginner, your tutorials are great! Thank you! I am happy with my deer, except that I feel the head is too small, and the twist of the neck a bit weird...
    • Rakjah Prof
      The head is a bit small, the twist is a bit too strong and the belly too wide, which shifts your legs slightly downwards. But for a first attempt, it's really very good :D It will get better with practice and training ;p I can clearly recognize the deer despite these small mistakes, so mission accomplished 👍
    • Ok, noted, thank you for the comment! I'll try again! 🙂
  • Hello, Quick question, what pen do you use to go over the final lines? And then be able to erase the pencil without the pen ink smudging... Thanks in advance!
    • Rakjah Prof
      Hello Clochette! This drawing is done on computer, I rarely ink when I draw on paper. But if you want to avoid smudges, avoid gel pens with very liquid ink. Or you will have to wait until it's completely dry before erasing ^^
  • Hello Rakjah. Nice little tutorials! Here's my deer. I feel like its legs are too short and the body seems a bit long, or maybe it's a perspective issue.
    • Rakjah Prof
      In fact, his head is too big, especially. His paws are a bit short, but it's mainly the size of his head that throws everything off ^^ Other than that, it's not bad :D
  • Hello, Here's my deer, done in 1h30 :)
    • Rakjah Prof
      Well done, it's very successful :D It almost looks like he's blushing, it's cute ♥
    • Since it was successful, I took the opportunity to make an illustration :)
  • Hello Rakjah Here is my deer, I'm pretty happy with it!
    • Rakjah Prof
      Hello Neelie o/ You can, it's neat, despite some small disproportions, that will disappear with practice :) But the structure is good 👍
  • I also tried using the same method with venison, I think it turned out pretty well Otherwise, great job Rakjah, awesome tutorial😉👍
    • Rakjah Prof
      Thanks to you, this deer works well too :D

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