Hi! I'm David Derrick, a Head of Story for anupcoming feature film at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Today, I'm going to teach you how to drawa lion.
When you're done drawing your lion, I wantyou to share it with your neighbors by putting it somewhere where they can see, the balcony, the mailbox, the front door, wherever to participate in National Geographic'sEarth Day Neighborhood Safari.
Don't forget to snap a photo of your creationand share it using the hashtag #NatGeoEarthDayAtHome.
I can't wait to see your drawings! Okay, let's draw a lion! Thank you for joining me.
I am only going to use a Sharpie, but I'mgoing to draw slow and I hope you guys can follow along.
Use whatever drawing tool you are most comfortablewith – a pencil, a marker, charcoal.
So when you draw a lion, the first thing Iusually start with is the head.
I'll try to feel out where the top of thathead will be and I'll kind of lightly draw a rough shape.
Now down the middle of that lion will be aline.
It goes right down the middle of their foreheaddividing it nicely.
Then, right below it, you'll have the eyeand you have a big mark right here to look for it's called the zygomatic arch.
And they have nice, big muscles right thereabove their eyes.
Lions are amazing creatures, very powerful, very stunning, very beautiful and it's really a treat to draw them with you guys.
They have a nose almost shaped like a birdflying away, like these are wings.
Now, when I draw, I try to imagine what'sgoing on underneath.
There's a big mouth, full of teeth.
You want to make sure that mouth feels likeit has kind of some roundness to it.
And you can put the whiskers spot, so thatthey kind of curve around.
Now lions they have little black lips thatsometimes a lot of people don't draw or notice, but then in the corner they have very loosegums and lips that hang down.
That means they can open up their mouths reallywide and can stretch.
And then the chin right there.
I'm going to look for the zygomatic arch righthere, kind of show me where it is and then where the ears go up here.
There are two parts to the ear.
There's a little curve here and then a secondbigger curve shape there that folds and then here we do the ear kind of facing the otherway, so we won't see that fold and then there's hair that radiates from the inside outwardslike that.
And then we'll kind of draw a light line backhere and I'm going to try and feel the backbone like that.
Now, think about shapes when you draw.
Try to think in volumes, even though it'sflat, try to think in three dimensions.
So, I try to imagine kind of the shape ofa tombstone right here.
And that's where the shoulder blade righthere is and then the humerus goes down right here.
And that will make kind of a little bump rightthere where their chest is.
And then you'll have their elbow right here.
Now from the elbow, go down to the wrist.
Now lions, like your cat at home will havefive digits in the front.
And they will have four digits in the back.
Lions are what you call digitigrades meaningthey walk on their toes.
We are different, we are called plantigrades, that means we walk on kind of the palms of our feet.
So, I have the nice shape of the spine andI have a nice shape right here for the ribcage.
And I'm thinking about the pelvis, the hipsand then from the hips you have the long femur that goes down right here to the kneecap.
And a lot of people don't realize that thekneecap is all the way up here and that kneecap will have a little bump and it will go backin space like that to the ankle and then really to the bottom of the foot, that's what thosebones are right there.
And then like I said before, they're walkingon their toes.
So they have four toes in the back and theyhave five toes in the front like I said.
I'm drawing the opposite leg on the otherside.
Make sure the tail feels like it comes rightoff the spine, because it does.
And the tail is full of bones and muscles, so it's not floppy.
It has some mass to it.
And then at the end, there's a nice, big tuftof hair at the end of their tail.
So, I mentioned before that this is a malelion.
I haven't drawn his mane yet.
I wanted to show you his entire body, so wedraw a mane kind of right around like a ring right around his face.
And I won't worry about drawing all of thehair.
We'll kind of rough in his shape and thenon the edges, I will indicate the hair.
Then, there'll be a second layer kind of radiatingout and that will build on top of the other layer.
So right now, I'm just drawing in a littlemore detail on that mane, little more detail on the face.
Like your house cat, lions have whiskers.
So don't forget to kind of indicate those, not quite a cat without them.
Then if you have maybe some watercolors orsome crayons or some pastels you can add a little bit of color to your lion.
Lions are very simple in their coloration.
They're kind of a beautiful yellow tawny color, so I'm taking just some basic watercolor and I'm going to put a basic tawny coat on him.
I'm just using one brush, but if you havedifferent brushes you can use those too.
I'm just trying to indicate some of the formthat we were talking about, not trying to flatten out, but maybe even accentuate it.
Now a lot of times they'll have kind of darkerhair on their outer mane, so I'm going to kind of a darker brown right there.
And then, kind of use that to shade righthere.
Lions really are majestic.
I've had the good opportunity to draw themin the wild and at zoos and every time I do I get to see them in the wild or even at azoo, they do take my breath away.
And they are wonderful, amazing creaturesthat deserve our respect and protection.
And I hope that in the way that we plan forthe future and treat wild animals and wild places that we think about important animalslike the lion.
So, thank you for joining me.
I had a lot of fun drawing with you todayand I hope that everyone will enjoy wildlife too.
Thank you so much!.
