Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Brazilian Jaguar Drawing Step-By-Step

Final step in drawing the jaguar: the drawing has been tightened up and the rendering refined

More than a year ago, I drew the Brazilian Jaguar in graphite on illustration board, in preparation for painting. This was one of my last pencil drawings from the time leading up to my cornea transplant surgeries, as my vision was degrading to the point where I needed to wear heavy magnifying glasses to even see my drawing. Eventually, I decided it was too difficult to see even with the magnifiers, so I ended up painting the jaguar in Photoshop. But I did photograph the original graphite drawing in stages, so here is a breakdown of my drawing process step-by-step. I should mention that I used several reference photos of jaguars (including photos I took at the Sacramento Zoo), but the final drawing is not based on any one photo.  


Step 1: Lay-in

I started with the basic layout of the head, focusing on rhythms and alignments. You probably notice the light lines from my previous attempt to draw the jaguar - the head was not quite centered and the drawing wasn't working so me, so I erased it out and drew right over the previous attempt. Actually, I made a number of attempts before arriving at the final version.

first attempt at the drawing, lines are light and rough, no structures are developed

Step 2: Alignments, Proportions, Structure

After the initial lay-in, I take time to carefully check proportions and alignments, before hammering out the structures and refining the line work. This is the time to correct any mistakes before taking the drawing too far. If everything is more or less working at this stage, I will develop the structures of head (hammering out the precise shapes of eyes, nose, mouth, ears).  

The initial line drawing is refined, structures are developed

Step 3: Redrawing/Refinement

If the underlying structure of the head is working, I will further refine the line work. My lines get progressively darker as I tighten down the drawing.  

The line drawing is further refined, corrections are made to previous stage

Step 4: Adding Detail

If I have a solid foundation to build on (proportions, alignments, underlying structure are all in place), I can begin to add detail. In this case, I was not concerned with copying the jaguar spots from photo reference; I tried to design spots so as to create interesting/appealing patterns.

Spots have been added to the upper areas of head

Step 6: Refinement

Periodically, I will take time to check and recheck my proportions and alignments. If everything is more or less working, I will keep developing the structures of the head and refining the drawing. Notice that my lines are getting darker as the drawing develops. 

All the spots have been added, whiskers are added as well.

Step 7: Adding Tone

Finally we get to the part where I start adding tone. Typically, I spend a lot of time on the previous stages because I feel that tonal rendering is wasted energy is you don't build on a solid foundation. If the understructure is working, then the tones should fall in to place.

First attempt to add light layer of tone

Step 8: Developing Tonal Range

At this point, I am using darker pencils (6B or even 9B lead) to push the darks as dark as graphite will allow. Also, I try to finesse the line work so that the drawing will look like as polished as I can make it (like a finished illustration, only in graphite).  

Dark values have been darkened as much as graphite will allow

Step 9: Adding a Background

Now that I'm satisfied with the drawing of the jaguar head, I need to address the background. Initially, I tried several sketches with different background designs. including many more plant shapes. However, I felt that too many plants around the jaguar head were starting to remind me of the mane of a lion, so I drew fewer plants and added a large rectangular shape to help tie the composition together. I wanted the plants and the ears of the jaguar to overlap the edges of the rectangle, because I have always loved the effect of illustrations that break out of the borders - as if they were escaping the surface of the canvas or paper. 

Plants and a rectangle shape added around/behind the jaguar's head.

Step 10: Developing the Background 

I did apply some workable spray fixative to the jaguar head to help preserve my drawing as I work on the background. Nevertheless, I do my best not to smudge the jaguar as I develop the background.  

Tone is added to background

Step 11: Refinement

At this stage, the drawing is approaching completion. Out of habit, I keep stopping to check my proportions, alignments, etc., making sure the previous steps in the drawing are working before I proceed with the rendering. When I feel the drawing is working, I will use blending stumps and tissue paper to gently blend the graphite. A kneaded eraser helps to adjust and edges, lighten any values that need to be lightened, and generally cleanup the drawing. 

Tones have been finalized, but the graphite needs blending to achieve the final finish.

As a final step, I break out the electric eraser to lighten the highlights in the eyes and on the nose. The final rendered stage can be seen up at the top of this blog post.

Eventually, I did paint the Brazilian Jaguar in photoshop. As my vision heals, I may make another attempt at painting the Jaguar in traditional media. Also, I am developing many more animal illustrations which I hope to post here in the future.

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