You Can't Ignore It: How To Draw This Tricky Part Of A Dog

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My family makes fun of me because of how much I show my love for our dog, Cowgirl. I can’t help it and, if you’re a pet-lover, I know you’ll understand. When it comes to dogs (and cats, too), they’re somehow able to show emotions that we can relate to. My favorite thing about them? They don’t talk back (parents, relate?). But curiosity, sleepiness, excitement — all are expressed through their soulful eyes, ears, and mouths.

Cowgirl’s mouth, for example, has a softness to the edges when she’s napping and her muscles are relaxed. When we’re playing, her lips are pulled back as her pearly whites snap playfully at her toys. And when most of our household is in bed for the night and Cowgirl is resting, she’ll take the tip of her tongue and give me a sweet little kiss as I rest my hand on her shoulder. Wow–I guess I deserve to get made fun of, a little. But the point is that each of a dog’s features come together to form the whole picture, of his personality or a rendition of it. That’s where Sandra Angelo comes in, with lessons on how to draw animals. Scroll down for her step-by-step demonstration on how to draw this curious little part of a dog’s face.

Shaggy Dog: How to Draw the Tricky Tongue (by Sandra Angelo)

Who doesn’t love the enthusiastic grin of a deliriously happy pooch who is thrusting his head out of the car window to soak up the wind? Dog smiles always include the very tricky tongue so I’m going to give you some pointers for pet portraits.

Before we begin, here are some key secrets for getting the tongue right on your dog portraits:

• Treat a dog’s tongue as if it was draped fabric, because it generally droops in folds.
• Notice shadows because they indicate an anatomical shift.
• Shadows can be caused by the tongue draping over teeth, the chin bone, or the ditch commonly found in the center of the tongue.

How to Draw a Dog’s Tongue: Step by Step Lesson

1. Using a very sharp F pencil, shade the tongue from the top right with soft, graduated strokes.

Don’t show your lines because this object is smooth. On the top left, use a very sharp 6B to place the dark shadow between the fur and the tongue. Remember to keep the shadow jagged like the fur.

2. With a sharp F pencil, shade the bottom of the tongue.

Notice that there are darks at both edges and light in the middle. This is because the teeth are under the tongue so it’s causing the tongue to curl.

3. With an F pencil, continue to shade the tongue, paying very close attention to the shifting shadows.

Shadows always indicate that there is something going on underneath. If you get the shadows in the wrong place your anatomy will be off.

4. The white area at the edge of the tongue won’t show up until you shade the fur that is around it.

Make sure you leave that part white, as it’s the curling edge of the tongue. If you make a mistake and shade it in, use your battery eraser to lift the white edge. ~SA