If you want to be able to draw realistic dog portraits, you’re going to need to know how to draw a lifelike dog’s nose! So let me share a few simple tips and techniques to help you…

I like to start by drawing the darkest areas and really begin to accentuate these areas, and this is most likely going to be the nostrils. So, first I would just make sure they’re the correct shape and also acknowledge that they’re going into the dog’s head. Now this may sound obvious but it’s something to keep in mind so that as you’re drawing you’ve got all these lovely soft curves that make the nostrils appear as, what are essentially, holes in the dog’s head!

When drawing noses I choose to work in round strokes as it helps to replicate the texture of the nose and I find it comes together rather quickly by using this technique. This does depend a bit on the nose and the shading but it will usually save you a bit of time and works really well.

Cool Grey One is a pencil that works brilliantly for blending, particularly for noses, by lightly layering it over the top. If you follow the direction of the strokes you were using with your colours in the earlier layers, it will lighten everything but also help to really smooth everything out. This will help to make the nose look wet and more realistic. Adding the lighter colour over the top means you’re going to lose some of the darkness, but you can add that back in again quite easily. This is a process that you may need to do a couple of times so blending and then going back in with some details and you’re going to get some depth really quickly.

I also find that if you draw as if you’re drawing on a dog’s nose, that really helps! What I mean by that is drawing using gentle pressure and following the directions of the curves and the texture of the nose. It may sound a bit odd but give it a try!

If you want to see a real-time tutorial where I talk you through and demonstrate how to draw a realistic dog’s nose, make sure to watch the video at the top of this page!