How To Draw: Small Mammals

With my encounter with the water shrew on Wednesday, I thought it is about time I draw some of Britain's smallest mammals. In today's How To Draw, I am going to show you how to draw mice, voles and shrews. If you want me to draw rats, I might draw them another time if you ask nicely.

Stage One

Let us begin with mice. For this drawing, I will draw a woodmouse. The basic shapes to create your mouse with is an oval for the head, a round oval or circular shape for the body, two big round circles for the ears, ovals for the legs and draw a long tail at the back of your mouse. Remember, if you are drawing other species of mouse (or a rat), keep note on the size of the body, ears and tail length.

Stage Two

Next we need to work on the shape of the head. I begin with the ear on the right, adding detail to the inside of the ear and the lobe. Then I draw a line between the two ears and add the detail to the ear on the left. Once that ear is finished with, I draw a rough circle from the ear on the left to the ear on the right. At the bottom of this circle, draw a round, triangular shape for the snout. Inside the circle, draw a cross down the middle to help mark out position of the the eyes and create two dark circles for them at the ends of the cross. I found it easier to shade in areas of fur to help mark out the rest of the body shape, leaving space for pale or white areas of fur. The feet drawn in using simple shapes with toes on them. Lastly, the tail is drawn over again.

Stage Three

When you draw over in pen, it is best to draw in the ears, feet and tail in first and shade them in ever so slightly. Don't draw the head and body's outline yet as we will use the fur to guide us round the body instead. I start at the snout, adding lines of dots for the whisker pores on either side and lightly shade in the centre of the snout. At the top of the snout, begin creating the fur by making lots of tiny lines that layer over each other all over the body. Don't forget to add in the eyes along the way and to do fewer or no lines to create lighter patches of fur and compact the lines to create darker areas of fur. Add in the whiskers after the layers of fur is complete. I've also added a nut for my mouse to hold.

Stage Four

Finally, colour in your mouse. My woodmouse is orange layered over yellow with some areas of fur left white. The feet, tail, snout and ears are pink with grey over the top. I used a rubber to lightly fade out the pink on the tail and feet.

Stage One

Similar looking to a mouse is the vole. Voles can be distinguished from mice with their rounder heads and shorter snouts, ears and tails. To draw a vole, you need a circle for the head and body and smaller ones for the ears and feet. You also need to draw a shorter tail at the back of your vole.

Stage Two

Just as before with my mouse, I start at the ears and drawn a smaller circle around them. The snout is slightly different in shape, more rounder than a mouse's and the ears are like small semi-circles. I shaded in the fur, using it to guide me round the body and to create a more rounder feel to the head. I also add in the eyes, nostrels feet and tail.

Stage Three

Just as before when I was drawing over the mouse in pen, create the fur before the outline (except for the ears tail and feet) and use it to guide you round the body, starting at the snout. Add in the eyes along the way and add in the whiskers when finished. I've also smudged the ink lightly at the base of the tail, giving a bit of dimension.

Stage Four

Colour in your vole to finish off. I used brown, orange a bit of yellow and grey to create the lighter and darker sections of fur, while the ears, feet and tail are grey.

Stage One

My final drawing for today is of a shrew. shrews are not rodents like the mouse and vole, but are instead tiny insectivores (insect eaters). They may look mouse-like, but they behave much differently and have sharp needle-like teeth. Their heads are shaped differently too. When drawing a shrew, you need a pointy pear-shaped head, an oval for the body and feet and add a tail at the rear of your shrew.

Stage Two

Add in two tiny ears and eyes as well as toes on the feet. Mark a line to seperate the snout and head, then shade in the fur all over the body except the snout, feet, tail and ears. I shade in the centre of the snout much lightly than the rest of the body.

Stage Three

Shade in the fur and the centre of the snout and add in the whiskers when you are done. Leave the feet, ears and the rest of the snout bare and smudge the ink gently over the tail.

Stage Four

Colour in your shrew. I used brown and grey for the fur and pink and grey for the bare areas (feet, etc).





 I hope this guide has helped you draw these small creatures. If you need any more tips or have any questions or have any suggestions for what I should draw next, don't forget to comment below. Good luck with all your future drawings.