Bull Drawings

These bull drawings are part of my journey to keep improving. I'm happy to show you my sketches even though I don't feel they are a good standard.

In truth, I wasn't even sure I could draw a bull at all. I'm certain I couldn't have drawn a bull 3 years ago when I was a raw beginner hobby artist.

This drawing of the bull's head was the one I struggled with the most but I was fairly amazed with the result I achieved just because I put in the effort.

Drawing most certainly teaches you to look at life and nature more closely. I realize I have taken a lot of things for granted so now I am enjoying learning it all anew.

Outline Of A Bull

This outline should be good to start with. Follow the outline with your eyes while drawing it in the air with a pencil and you begin to see that it looks quite do-able.

Measure the bull roughly, using a pencil as the measuring tool and make little marks on your paper to indicate width and length of the beast -- these small marks assist with proportion. Of course, you can use a ruler if you want to, I just use a pencil because I'm too lazy to find a ruler!

Copy this outline using the marks on the paper to guide you. I find this method to be a tremendous help when I'm drawing animals, it's almost like doing connect-the-dots.

When you are finished, critically examine it by looking at the two drawings of bulls (yours and mine) and compare them.

Aside from the hump near his neck, is his back straight? Guide your eye over each outline to see if you notice anything out of place. This is a good exercise and a great habit to get into.

About Bulls

There are many types of breeds of bulls and the shape of each bull varies quite a bit.

This drawing of a Hereford bull was shaded with a 4B pencil.

I drew the outline with a 2B mechanical pencil. I'm comfortable with this pencil and I use it all the time.

A mechanical pencil is a pencil with a retractable lead.
You click the top to extend the length of lead. They have a really fine lead and as a bonus you never need to sharpen them.

The term cattle includes cows, bulls, steers, heifers and calves. You will find lots of information about bulls once you start researching cattle. To save some time, I'm including a brief overview here.