How to Draw Golden Retriever Dogs

Study the characteristics of your Golden Retriever and draw small thumbnail sketches of the dog in your notebook, making notations alongside the drawings for reference. This helps train your mind to identify and visually remember the characteristics that differentiate the Golden Retriever from other dogs. Note how Golden Retrievers have box-like, squared off bodies and heads. Draw detail sketches of their huge paws and straight, stocky legs. If you are drawing your own Golden Retriever, study the individual qualities that differentiate your dog from other Golden Retrievers. For instance, your dog may have smaller, floppy ears, or a larger, more angular nose. Remember these observations as you are creating your large drawing.

Decide on a pose for your large drawing after you have made all of your smaller sketches. Lightly sketch in the shapes of the dog on your gray-blue drawing paper with the gray pastel stick. Do not oversimplify. The shape of the dog's body may look a little like a rectangle, but look closely and you will see that it is not a perfect rectangle, but rather a rectangle with bumps or hard edges where there are bones underneath. Draw this imperfect rectangle as you see it. Look very closely for the variations in the simple shapes when first roughing in your drawing.

Lightly rough in the head, legs, paws and tail after completing the body shape with the gray pastel stick. Keep the proportions correct, by constantly referring to your photo, and then comparing it to the drawing. Don't forget your notations from your notebook. For instance, if you have noted in your sketchbook that your Golden Retriever has large paws with long nails, draw them in, and make sure you draw them large so they properly express the characteristics of your dog.

Lightly sketch in the forms of the dog's body by holding the pastel stick on it's side while gently pressing down on the side of the stick as you draw. By using the side of the stick, you will be able to regulate how much pastel you want on the dog's body. To replicate smaller areas of the body, such as the paws of the dog, break the pastel stick in half and once again, draw with the side of the stick, gently pressing down while turning your wrist. Use this same technique with other pastel sticks from your set to create various fur color effects.

Sketch in the fur with the flesh-colored pastel stick using the same technique described in Step 4. Use broad sweeps of movement of the pastel stick to create larger fur areas of the body, such as the back, hind quarters and tail. Rough in the head with the full stick, then break it in half to create smaller shapes in the head. In essence, you are painting with these pastel sticks, layering colors over each other on a cold-toned paper to create effects of depth. Don't overwork the drawing. Allow colors that are underneath to show through. Complete the drawing by adding gray, blue and black tones for the nose, whiskers, eyes and claws.