Draw A Ram With Me

In this post I will take you with me as I draw a mountain ram. I love drawing and animals are my favorite subject matter. I like to break my drawings into three phases. The initial scetch, color blocking, and the fun part, adding the colors that bring it to life. It’s definitely a “trust the process” kind of thing. I will include all of the Amazon links that I will be using. I do like going to art supply stores but I find that just purchasing my stuff from Amazon is much easier. Please help sponsor this site. When you click on one of my links and purchase I receive a small commission that helps fund this site. Thank you.

Arteza Everblend alcohol markers https://amzn.to/3x8q45v Amazon

Prismacolor Premiers https://amzn.to/3PAfyKv Amazon

Tul mechanical pencils .5 https://amzn.to/3IQK8vD Amazon

Prismacolor Kneaded eraser https://amzn.to/3VxawSF

Prismacolor erasers https://amzn.to/3VOSdZF Amazon (these are a game changer)

So when I do my sketches I do not add very much detail because all of that happens in the last phase of my drawings. This is just to get the basics sketched out and the proportions correct.

Once this is done and you are happy with it you will now take your kneaded eraser and remove as much pencil as you can from the page without loosing your details completely. You want it as faint as you can get it, almost to the point where there is just a whisper of a sketch.

Looks completely gone doesn’t it? Zoom in, it’s still there.

Now comes the scary part. I use my alcohol markers to color block my drawing. I find that this does many things. The alcohol markers smooth out the texture of the paper leaving a good surface for pencil blending, the marker underneath the colored pencils prevents having the color of the paper come through and finally it helps my mind have a clearer impression of what color graduations to use. But man, does it look messy. You even think that I may have ruined my sketch. This is where “trust the process” comes into play.

I usually use the area of the paper between the spiral of my notepad to the perforated line to test my colors. As you see in the next picture on the left side of the paper. I will also list the Prisma color pencils that I use in the drawing as well as the colors of the alcohol markers at the end of this post.

I decided to start with the horns. I wanted to make sure to keep the growth lines quite prominent so I went in and darkened those lines so when I added my other colors I wouldn’t loose them. The whole key to this drawing is adding layers and layers of color before trying to blend. The more color you have down the better the blend will be. I add the highlights at the very end of coloring in the horns so that the white blends into the brown and still looks like horn. I will add more detail in the end to clean up the look.

In the next picture I started laying out the fur and decide which direction to the hairs will be laying. Remember to use small light strokes at first to map everything out using the lightest color first and then adding the darker tones. I left the chest hair blank for now, those layers I want to be more pronounced on top of the other fur.

Now I start adding color to the face and defining the mouth and nose area remember to start off with the lighter tones first and adding many layer as I continue. This is where I start adding some color to the chest hair and start to darken the shadow areas around the face and neck establishing the light source as I go. I also go ahead and line the eyes and define the eyeball. The ears are beginning to take shape as I add shadow and highlights. I use light stroke of my pencil to create the beard using lighter colors first and building up the dimension with darker tones.

After I darken the tones, shadows, and highlights on the face I moved to the chest hair again and add more depth and dimension to the longer hairs. I also, with short strokes, add the tuft of hair coming off of the top of the head making sure to capture the shadows and highlight the hairs on top. Ok so once all of your colors are layered quite heavily make sure to blend where the different tones and colors touch each other using a slightly lighter colored pencil than the color that you have already laid down. This is very important for the next step, which I find is the most fun when doing fur. You are going to take an exacto knife, a nail, or anything that you can use to “scratch” the paper with, the goal is to remove small amounts of the colored pencil to give you your fur textures. When you “scrape” you want your pressure to be firm but not so hard that you damage your paper and ruin your hard work. Keep in mind the direction and flow of the fur. Is it short strokes for short hair? Or longer strokes for longer hair? Using this technique will remove the color and leave a lighter series of lines. I like to use a paper towel to gently brush away the pigment scraps that were scraped away. This prevents depositing color back where you don’t want it.

Look closely at the detail that his technique lends to your drawing. Very cool indeed! Now it’s time for the small details such as the eyelashes and roque hairs you wish to add. I also took this time to add more darker tones to the mouth and blend them out to make it appear more fluffy like the soft fur found around the mouth.

Take some time perfecting your drawing and making sure that you are happy with every detail. Then take your Prisma Color eraser and clean up your paper paying close attention to the perimeter of your drawing to remove and rogue marks that may have appeared. Now sign your masterpiece.

I hope you enjoyed this piece of artwork and try it for yourself. Below I have listed the color names of the markers and pencils that o used to achieve this drawing. I encourage you to play around and fin the color schemes that work best for you.g