Create a Realistic Camel Drawing!

What's the best way to create a realistic camel drawing? It's easy when you block in shapes and form! Hence, we are going to learn the blocking method of how to draw a camel!

I think a camel is fun to draw digitally because, aside from the weird shapes and angles, there is a lot of variety of skin and fur textures on the animal.

This means that you can use just a few tools and see just how effective the blocking method is for creating a variety of textures!

So whenever you are ready, start up you drawing software, create a new digital canvas, and let's learn how to block in a camel drawing!

1. Gesture drawing

Your camel drawing should always start with just a simple gesture sketch. This sketch should allow you to see how the entire body flows and getting the right proportions down.

You should focus on the saggy neck, the thin legs, a small tail, and of course, the hump on the back of the animal!

After you're done that, create a new layer underneath it and fill it with a neutral color in the shape of a camel. Then, lock the layer down so you don't accidentally paint outside of it.

Here's where you will start blocking in the form! Using a chalk brush, gently dab spots of light and shadow to highlight the limbs, the body, and the face. When you are done that, go ahead and merge the layers together!

2. Smudging

The advantage of using the smudge brush for your camel drawing is that it allows you to create simple suggestions of fur. I recommend a spatter or chalk brush as that will get you the proper fur textures as you smudge!

The beauty of your gesture sketch is that it will create patches of fur in a variety of tones when you smudge everything together!

Once you are done that, go ahead and clean up the camel drawing! I recommend using a solid eraser around the legs and hooves. Around the body, continue to erase using the chalk or spatter texture brushes to retain or create additional fur on the outlines.

From there, lock the camel layer (again, so you don't paint outside of the object boundaries) to get it ready for some detailing work!

3. Blocking in form

You will be adjusting your brush sizes constantly in this step of the camel drawing! For larger sections, use a large chalk brush and gently dab in light colors to depict muscles and bone structures.

Near the face, switch to a smaller chalk brush and dab in the chin structure. Then, switch to a darker tone to stroke in the nose and mouth openings.

As for the hooves, just block in a light tone to suggest the two toes. Do so for the muscle groups and direction of where the fur is flowing. Finally, switch to a very small brush and gently suggest fur.

Once you are done that, switch back to the smudge brush (still using the chalk shaped brush) and lightly smudge in the fur to unify it with the rest of the body.

4. Finishing touches

Your camel should almost be complete! All that is left is to bring out the color contrast and color tones!

I recommend using the dodge and burn tools here to glaze in areas of light and shadow on the camel. Try to focus on the underbelly, the neck region, and the inner legs where the light doesn't hit.

Another method is to create a clipping mask (Photoshop only) to paint the light and shadows on a separate layer that conforms to the camel layer's shape. And since it's on a separate layer, you don't have to worry about the hard work done on the camel object!

One more method is to duplicate your camel object, lock that layer, paint in the light and shadows, readjust the transparency, and then merge it back to your camel drawing.

Otherwise, you can use any other internal color correction options in your digital art software of choice to bring out the right balance of contrast!

I hope you enjoyed this lesson on how to draw a camel using different blocking methods to get the right textures. The techniques you have learned here will be used in all forms of digital painting so make sure you spend some time perfecting it!

Other than that, it's all about practice makes perfect!

P.S. I look forward to your own camel (or any other artworks) in the site galleries so make sure to upload it when you have the time!

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