Painting a camel

Before starting to draw and paint a camel children should know its history, biology and lifespan.

This is only a short account of the camel. Camels live mostly in the desert but some are fed and looked after by royal families in the Middle East.

The animals are used for royal functions and sports. Arabs conduct camel races. Camels bear clear fatty deposits known as "humps" on their back. The camel is useful to Arabs. Camels provide milk, meat, hair for textiles or goods such as felted pouches and working animals.

The average lifespan of a camel is 40-50 years. A full-grown camel's height is 1.85 m (6 ft 1 inch) at the hump.

Camels can run up to 65 km (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speed of upto 40 km (25 mph).

The camel has long legs.

As in previous lessons Figure 1 - In the basic outline drawn in pencil, a camel is seated taking a rest. A1 and A2 an oval shape shows the whole body structure of the seated camel at a side view. A3 shows a complete colour painting. At first a light yellow ochre is applied over the body.

Next a mixture of burn sienna is applied to get the shading effect. The hump is shown with yellow ochre mixed with a little brown. To complete the painting a thin outline is drawn with a thin-nibbed pen dipped in black ink or with a pointed No. 1 brush.

Figure 2 - B1 shows the basic outline of the camel standing. The whole body structure can be seen with long legs, ears and the most noticeable hump.

Notice Fig. 2 B1 The basic outline does not show a hump because it is only the beginning of the sketch. B2 shows a more advanced outline drawing to get the correct structure of the body before going to do the final painting. B3 illustrates a complete painting in colour.

As the animal skin looks yellow, the correct skin colour is a mixture of yellow ochre and brown.

The colour is strengthened with a dark shading of brown. To complete the painting a thin outline is drawn with a pointed nib dipped in black ink.

The drawing paper to be used is Kent or Whatman 180 gsm and brushes Sable hair No. 1, 5 and 6.