Start by getting to know the lion skull, differences between male and female, and how to apply details such as fur, hair and manes.
How to Draw Animals: The Big Cats
Creature Art Teacher Course
Learn to draw powerful big cats with anatomy, gesture, and structure.
Join Aaron Blaise for an in-depth course on drawing big cats.
You’ll study lions, tigers, leopards, and other big cats through anatomy, movement, proportions, gesture, paws, heads, fur, and expressive animal drawing techniques.
Animal Drawing
Big Cat Anatomy
Gesture + Movement
With Aaron Blaise
Big Cat Anatomy
Gesture + Movement
With Aaron Blaise
What You’ll Learn
Study big cat anatomy, proportions, gesture, movement, paws, heads, fur, and the forms that create believable animal drawings.
Drawing with Structure
Learn how skeletal landmarks, muscle groups, shape design, and form help create stronger drawings of lions, tigers, leopards, and more.
Course Journey
Follow Aaron through anatomy breakdowns, drawing demonstrations, gesture studies, and practical big cat drawing exercises.
Meet Aaron Blaise
Learn from the Oscar-nominated director of Brother Bear and veteran Disney animator known for his animal drawing, creature design, and wildlife art.
Lessons
02 Drawing Lion Legs
Aaron takes you through the musculature, anatomy and skeletal structure related to lion legs and paws.
03 Lion Bodies
Compare lion male, lion female and human body analogy; identify spine rigid and flexible parts to draw lions in movement.
04 Drawing Tiger Heads
Aaron recaps his knowledge about tigers, starting with the head, and shows the small but significant differences with lions.
05 Tiger Locomotion
Analyze tigers locomotion with an animation Aaron prepared for you.
06 Tiger – Line of Action
Revise the “line of action” concept and how to find it when you´re drawing tiger poses.
07 Drawing Leopard Heads
Compare the leopard and lion skull to understand differences and characteristics of the smaller but stronger big cat.
08 Drawing Leopard Bodies
Learn more about leopards and the patterns on thier skin.
09 Cheetah Heads
Learn about the characteristics that make cheetahs the fastest land animal.
10 Cheetah Bodies & Movement
Aaron explains why he considers cheetahs the most unique between the big cats, while comparing their heads.
11 Drawing Cougar Heads
See the cougar’s pics and skull as you explore the head of the last big cat in this series.
12 Cougar Bodies
Use the information from previous big cats to learn about the proportions of the cougar body.
