By Tissa Hewavitarane

Drawing and painting a rabbit

C -The complete sketch shows the rabbit seated comfortably

B - The complete figure in colour

Another popular animal found in every village, town and city in this country is the rabbit. This timid short-haired animal is also popular in the world.

If you can draw a rabbit accurately then you could draw any creature. It is a pet most frequently drawn by beginner artists.

The graceful way they move gives an impression of hidden power. A flexible coat and spine allows them to adopt a wide range of interesting poses.

Drawing the profile of a seated rabbit should not be difficult as you learn where each feature should go. A rabbit spends most of its time leaping here and there looking for food and safety.

It is very rarely a rabbit stays in a comfortable position for a long time. Rabbits are best observed while in a bush or in hiding. They are very nervous creatures and move rapidly and suddenly stops to listen or look.

Fig. 1 shows how comfortably a rabbit is seated. Sketches A and B show the basic formation of its pose drawn with pencil. Sketch C shows its profile completed with shading.

The shading is done with a 4B lead pencil. The 4B lead pencil is soft and gives the real texture and observe how the hair radiates.

Fig 1 A, B - The basic outline sketch of the formation of its body structure.

Fig 2 A - The basic outline of the body shape

Observe how small and delicate the nose is, gently curved mouth, the upright ears and few whiskers on both sides. Drawing the rabbit's face in profile is not difficult. The most common mistake that beginners make is drawing the nose too big and ears short, as it is not so. The ears are like petals in structure long and upright.

The newcomers in art tend to draw the eyes small and too high in the face. The eyes are large and a black skin is round the rabbit's eyes.

The Fig. 2 A shows you the basic outline of the body shape drawn before doing the final painting in colour. Illustration B shows the complete figure in colour.

The material used to sketch the basic drawing is the 2B and 4B lead pencil, while to colour a light brown wash and for details use Sabel hair soft pointed No. 1 brush and No. 6 brush for shading and drawing paper Kent 150 gms.