Learn to draw Moltres
Everyone has their own way of drawing, but it’s always fun trying out other people’s styles! =D On this page, you’ll learn a few basic drawing techniques to get you started, and then you can follow my tutorial to learn to draw Moltres in a few different styles!
Proportions
One of the most important things with all drawings is to pay special attention to the proportions. This means how big or small one part is compared to another. For example, can you see what looks wrong with these pictures?
In the first one, the eye is far too small in comparison to the rest of the head. In the second one, the legs are too long and in the third, the head and neck are too large. Drawing incorrect proportions often happens when you don’t look at the picture as a whole. For example, you might start the drawing by drawing a detailed head:
Then you move onto drawing the body.
Then you take a step back to look at your beautiful picture and- wait… hang on a minute.
You spent all that effort drawing the head and body separately and now they look strange together! The way to avoid this problem is to start off as basic as possible:
See, now that the drawing is only made up of lines and circles, it’s easy to change the pose and the proportions without a lot of effort going down the drain. It’s important to keep looking at the whole picture through all stages of the drawing to make sure it looks good altogether.
Body shape
Now let’s take a look at Moltres’s body shape. In the official artwork, Moltres has a large, round body and a small head.
Body shape
Now let’s take a look at Moltres’s body shape. In the official artwork, Moltres has a large, round body and a small head.
But the great thing about drawing is that you don’t have to copy someone else’s work! You could make Moltres look a bit more lifelike, by making its body shape closer to real life birds (in this picture, I used a heron as a reference).
Or you can use the body shape I go with, which tends to be a slightly more anthropomorphic (human-like) version of the official artwork.
Details
Like the body shape, you don’t have to draw certain parts of Moltres the way they are drawn in the official artwork. For example, official drawings of Moltres depict it as having narrow eyes like these:
Like the body shape, you don’t have to draw certain parts of Moltres the way they are drawn in the official artwork. For example, official drawings of Moltres depict it as having narrow eyes like these:
But I prefer to draw them like this:
There is no ‘right’ way to draw anything!
Light Source
Shading is a very important part of a picture. It makes it look more 3D, and therefore more lifelike. To determine where you should put your shading, you need to figure out a light source. The shadows fall on the opposite side of the light source because they are the furthest parts away from the light. Here I’ve shown three spheres with different light sources (represented by the sun icons).
Light Source
Shading is a very important part of a picture. It makes it look more 3D, and therefore more lifelike. To determine where you should put your shading, you need to figure out a light source. The shadows fall on the opposite side of the light source because they are the furthest parts away from the light. Here I’ve shown three spheres with different light sources (represented by the sun icons).
The light source often comes from above (from the sun or a light), however Moltres happens to be virtually surrounded by fire. You could try making the fire the light source of the picture:
Or you could completely ignore the flames and make the light come from above or one side.
I tend to use a combination of both these shading techniques, as you’ll see in the actual tutorial below.
Tutorial
So here is a guide as to how I draw Moltres. You don’t have to follow this tutorial exactly as it’s written. In fact, you might even decide to go off on your own path half way through! It’s just a basic guide designed to get you thinking about different techniques! =D
Tutorial
So here is a guide as to how I draw Moltres. You don’t have to follow this tutorial exactly as it’s written. In fact, you might even decide to go off on your own path half way through! It’s just a basic guide designed to get you thinking about different techniques! =D
Like I mentioned before, it’s important to start off as simple as possible. Moltres can be forced down into simple lines and circles as I’ve shown below.
Keep the lines as light as possible so you can rub them out easily if you want to change something, or you make a mistake. The circles don’t have to be perfectly round- they’re just guides to show where each body part will be. Play around with the pose until you get something you like, but remember to keep it in proportion!
Now that you have a basic idea of what your Moltres will look like, you can draw a stronger outline over the top.
Now that you have a basic idea of what your Moltres will look like, you can draw a stronger outline over the top.
Rub out any lines left over from the first step.
Go back and start adding a bit more detail; the eye, feet and things like that are drawn around this point. Now you’ll want to finish up your line-art. Put in the finer details and make any final changes.
Now for colour! Most official Moltres pictures and figures depict its flames as being red and white.
But there is no reason why you can’t make the flames orange and yellow for a more realistic look.
There are many different ways you can colour a picture. For beginners, I’d recommend coloured pencils, acrylic paints or watercolours. You don't have to spend millions at an art supplies shop either- you'd be surprised at the quality of the cheaper art supplies you can find in retail stores and newsagents!
For people familiar with digital drawing software, you can use a variety of techniques to draw in a number of different styles. Personally, I use Adobe Photoshop to colour my pictures. I often paint in the colour on a layer underneath the line-art. Then I use the doge and burn tools to create shadows and highlights. Next, I use the smudge tool to blend in the shading. I also use the smudge tool to create realistic looking flames. Using these techniques, I get a picture that looks something like this:
For people familiar with digital drawing software, you can use a variety of techniques to draw in a number of different styles. Personally, I use Adobe Photoshop to colour my pictures. I often paint in the colour on a layer underneath the line-art. Then I use the doge and burn tools to create shadows and highlights. Next, I use the smudge tool to blend in the shading. I also use the smudge tool to create realistic looking flames. Using these techniques, I get a picture that looks something like this:
The possibilities are endless! There are so many styles and techniques you can experiment with to create your own, unique Moltres masterpiece.
