Anthropomorphic Animal Masterclass
Learn how to draw Australian Animals in Victorian Costume with Zinia King.
In my second year of University in 2014, I created a series of Australian Animal drawings that kicked off my Illustration career. At first I drew them thinking that they would be cool artworks on playing cards, but the illustrations were too detailed for the small format. At the end of 2015 I was invited to take part in my first shared exhibition at the Hahndorf Academy with two amazing illustrators who I idolised - Linda Catchlove and Sally Heinrich. The Anthropomorphic Animals featured in the exhibition and I even sold a couple of original artworks!
The series of artworks depicts Australian Animals wearing Victorian style clothing that would have been worn my the first colonial settlers who did a very good job at destroying their habitat and releasing highly destructive feral species. The animals stare defiantly at the onlooker as if to say ‘we’re still here, don’t forget us’.
I’m currently in the process of retiring the series, meaning that all of my remaining prints are now 75% off on Etsy. Feel free to browse the series here.
In today’s lesson we will be looking at drawing our own animals in costume using pens and coloured pencils. All you’ll need is a graphite pencil, and eraser, a black pen and some coloured pencils. The class might take as little as 1 hour or as long as 10, depending on how detailed you want to get!
Find a reference image for an animal you’d like to draw. Consider whether you’d like to draw your character straight or side on and choose your reference accordingly. Here are some ideas, but you can easily find your own.
Australian Animal References Using your graphite pencil very lightly, start by sketching out the head of your chosen animal in the top half of your page. If you’d like to include more body, make your head smaller and if you’d like more of a head/shoulders artwork, make it bigger! Consider at this stage whether you’d like your character to wear a hat or flowers in their hair.
Looking to the side full body with hat vs head and shoulders straight on. Now it’s time to think about costume! Imagine your animal head is a human head and place it on a body accordingly. You might need to add a human neck to make this work. Sketch out a body and start adding clothes. Don’t get too caught up in details with your pencil, just basic outlines will do at this stage. You can easily do a google search for ‘victorian style costume’ for ideas. Try and mix and match the ideas you see, so you’re not copying from only one image.
Victorian style costumes. Once you’re happy with your design, it’s time to start adding pen. Draw slowly and carefully, be confident with your lines. Add patterns wherever you think is suitable. Here’s a picture and video of some pen work in progress.
Yahoo! You’ve finished your line work. Now carefully rub out your pencil lines and take a photo before you start colouring.
Think about your colours carefully before colouring lightly between your black lines. Maybe choose a up to 10 colours that you like and play around with how they look next to each other. Don’t press too hard and cover up your beautiful line work. Maybe you can press a bit harder in some places and lighter in others to add some depth.
That’s it! Congratulations on your wonderful artwork. Give them a name and maybe even write a story about them.
If you enjoyed this little lesson and would like to do more, every month I post at least one art class here on Substack. This month, paid subscribers will receive a colouring-in sheet featuring this lovely gecko lady. It only costs $5 per month or $50 per year (AUD) for this and a bunch of other lovely stuff, why not consider subscribing?
I also teach in person classes around Adelaide (South Australia) and am available to visit your School or Library. Contact me here and check out my upcoming workshops here.
With love and a dose of whimsy,
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Zinia’s Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.