Animal Pencil Drawings

With no formal training under his belt, Paul Lung began drawing animals back in 2004. He studied websites on photorealistic pencil drawing techniques, read through forum comments and photographed his three cats for creative inspiration. Then, armed with a .05mm 4B mechanical pencil in hand, he began to draw.

It takes Paul from 40-60 hours to complete each of his animal pencil drawings. And because he also has a full-time job, Paul must balance his desire to create with his career. Additionally, while his work has been represented in galleries and art books around the world, his drawings are not for sale.

The drawing above is part of a series. The cat’s name is Mocha, and she is one of his the female felines that lives in his home. This drawing has also been featured in an art step-by-step book, published in Finland.

The cat FuFu – which, in the Chinese language, means the color gray– is represented in pencil above. As Paul shared with me, “This was my eighth time drawing her – she is the fourth cat in my home – and she is so cute and lovely. She always watches me drawing and taking photos. This is one of my favorite works… the drawing size is A2, and I used around 50 hours on this drawing.”

A reference photograph from an art forum friend inspired the photorealistic pencil drawing above. Paul received an award for this creation.

Paul went to visit a friend’s studio and found a dog there named Mic. He snapped her photo and took the image back to the drawing table. After about 30 hours of drawing time, he completed the pencil piece above.

If you enjoy drawing animals, check out these National Geographic wildlife photos for some inspiration!

Drawing Credits: Paul Lung