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Brenda Hoddinott


I-04 BEGINNER: CARTOONS & CRITTERS
If you happen to like Dalmatians or cows, you’ll love learning how to use hatching lines to draw
both the texture and pattern of spotted fur.
This lesson is divided into the following five sections:
INTRODUCTION: To capture spotted fur in a drawing, you define both the pattern and the
texture.
OUTLINING SPOTS OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES: You outline the shapes of
some spots inside a rectangular drawing space.
PLAYING WITH FURRY HATCHING LINES: You experiment with making different
values of a fuzzy texture. The hatching lines are unevenly spaced and of many different
lengths and thicknesses.
ADDING TEXTURE TO SPOTTED FUR: The base (or background) of the spotted fur is
drawn with mostly light values and the spots are rendered with dark values.
CHALLENGE: You are challenged to draw spotted fur with two additional techniques.
Suggested drawing supplies include good quality white paper, 2H, HB, 2B, and 4B pencils,

erasers, and a pencil sharpener.

This lesson is recommended for artists and aspiring artists of all skill levels and ages, as
well as home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators.
6 PAGES – 10 ILLUSTRATIONS
Published by Hoddinott Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada 2003 (Revised 2006)



Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
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- 2 -
You can create different values with hatching by:
Varying the density (placing lines either far apart or close together) of the
individual hatching lines.
Varying the pressure used in holding various pencils.
Using different grades of pencils, from hard to soft, to help with the
different values.
INTRODUCTION
To capture spotted fur in a drawing, you use dark values for the spots and light values for the
areas that are light. Values are the different shades of gray created when you draw by varying
both the density of the shading lines, and the pressure used in holding various pencils.
In addition to having a spotted pattern, spotted fur also has a fuzzy texture. Pattern refers to the
different values on the surface of your subject as identified by your sense of sight. Texture is the
surface detail of an object, as identified by your senses of touch and sight and defined in a
drawing with various shading techniques. When you draw a patterned texture, you need to define
both the pattern and the texture.
Compare the two different textures on these two identical striped patterns. The texture of the

pattern in the first drawing is definitely not fuzzy. However, thanks to the jagged hatching lines
of various lengths and values, the second striped pattern looks furry. Hatching, a classical
shading technique, is comprised of sets of lines drawn closely together to give the illusion of
values. Hatching is a very fast and simple way to create both the texture and the pattern of fur.




Figures 1and 2:
Comparing a
smooth striped
pattern with a fuzzy
striped pattern








OUTLINING SPOTS OF DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES
In this section you draw the shapes of some spots inside a rectangular drawing space. A drawing
space (sometimes called a drawing format) refers to the area of a drawing surface within a
specific perimeter, outlined by a shape of any size, such as a square, rectangle or circle. You
don’t need to have your spots looking the same as mine. Use your imagination and make them
any shapes you like. Just keep the shapes fairly simple!

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.

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- 3 -
1) Use a ruler to draw a
rectangle (a drawing space)
in which to draw your
spotted fur.
Suggested sizes include 3.5
by 6 inches, or 5 by 7
inches.
2) Draw a large spot of any
shape in the right half of
your drawing space.

3) Draw a large partial spot
on the far left.






4) Add two more partial spots
- one in the upper left and
the other in the lower right
corner.





5) Sketch a couple of smaller
spots in the lower left
section.






Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
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- 4 -
PLAYING WITH FURRY HATCHING LINES
In this section you experiment with making different values of a fuzzy texture.
6) On some scrap paper, practice drawing
some raggedy, uneven hatching lines of
various lengths to represent fur.
7) Continue practicing the texture of fur
with hatching until you can make four
different values.
Use a 2H for the lightest value, an HB for
the next value, a 2B for the medium value,
and a 4B for the darkest value.








ADDING TEXTURE TO SPOTTED FUR
The base (or background) of spotted fur is drawn with mostly light values and the spots are dark.
Examine this close-up view of spotted fur and
consider the following helpful hints for drawing a
realistic fur texture:
Some hatching lines extend beyond the
outlines of the shapes of the spots, to create a
jagged, natural looking fur texture.
The hatching lines are unevenly spaced and of
many different lengths and thicknesses.
The light values of the background are shaded
first so the dark spots can easily be added over
the lighter shading.
8) Use your kneaded eraser and gently pat
the lines outlining the spots, so as to
lighten them in preparation for shading.

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may
not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.
E-mail
Web sites and
- 5 -
9) Draw a bunch of hatching lines of different lengths in all the areas without spots.
Assuming a light source is shining from the left, graduate the values from light (2H and
HB) on the left to medium (2B) on the right. Fur tends to be a little darker the farther away
it is from the light. Graduated shading is a continuous progression of values from dark to
light or from light to dark. If you have no experience with graduated shading, refer to
lesson F-04 Graduated Values in the beginner section before you continue.

Light source refers
to the direction from
which a dominant
light originates. The
placement of this
light source affects
every aspect of a
drawing. The light
source tells you
where to draw all
the light values and
shadows.


10) Use medium
(2B) and
dark (4B)
hatching lines
to graduate
the shading
of the spots
from medium
(on the left)
to dark on
the right.


CHALLENGE
In this lesson you drew the background before the spots. However, you can draw spotted fur by
shading either the background or the spots first. You can also draw the background and spots at

the same time. For extra practice try each of the following:
Draw a section of spotted fur by shading the dark spots first, and then the light background.
Draw another section of spotted fur by drawing both background and spots at the same time.
Draw an animal or cartoon with spotted fur by using whichever method you prefer.