Have you ever looked at a gorgeous coloured pencil pet portrait and thought…

I’d love to be able to do that.

Maybe you’d love to draw your own pet, create something special for somebody you love, or even take on pet portrait commissions one day.

Drawing pets is where so many artists start, and I completely understand why. We know their faces, their funny little expressions and all those quirks that make them them.

And animals are one of my absolute favourite things to draw!

For me, creating a realistic pet portrait isn’t just about getting the fur or eyes right. It’s about capturing a little bit of their character too. 

But when you’re staring at a reference photograph, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

How on earth do I turn that photograph into a drawing?

The answer is to break it down into individual skills rather than trying to tackle the whole portrait at once.

5 Skills for Drawing Realistic Pet Portraits

When learning how to draw a pet portrait in coloured pencil, there are a few fundamental skills that can make a huge difference.

1. Look at your values

Before getting caught up in every individual hair, look for your lights, midtones and darkest darks.

Getting your values right helps give an animal its shape and form – and stops the portrait from looking flat.

2. Build your colours in layers

Realistic coloured pencil drawings are created gradually.

Building gentle layers gives you more control over your colours and values and allows you to create the depth you need for realistic fur.

3. Think about pencil pressure

You don’t need to use the same pencil pressure everywhere.

Learning when to use gentle pressure and when to increase it is an important part of creating different colours, textures and depths.

4. Follow the direction of the fur

Rather than thinking about drawing thousands of individual hairs, look at how the fur grows and changes direction across the animal.

Those changes can help you understand the structure and shape underneath.

5. Really look at your reference

This might be the most important one!

Try to draw what you can actually see, rather than what your brain tells you should be there.

A black dog isn’t necessarily just black. A white cat isn’t simply white. Once you really start looking, you’ll discover all sorts of colours hiding in animal fur.