How to Draw Animals: Snakes and Their Patterns. How to draw a reptile from mortal kombat Step-by-step work

In this material, we have collected for you the best video and photo tutorials on how to replicate the effect of reptile skin on your nails using gel polishes. This is a very spectacular and unusual nail design.

Below you will find 6 photo lessons from Yulia Deryabina with beautiful reptiles based on cat eye gel polishes, with a gradient and a three-dimensional pattern. And you already choose which one you like best. Look for other interesting color combinations and ideas on Julia’s page.

1. The pattern of the skin is on the entire surface of the nail, the iridescent stripe of a cat's eye runs vertically.

2. Reptile pattern on the entire surface of the nail, an iridescent strip of magnetic varnish runs diagonally.

3. In this version, the reptile drawing is placed only in the center, diagonally.

4. Volumetric reptile design with a gradient transition.

5. In this version, the reptile is presented in the form of a gradient with gel paint.

6. The following design resembles the scales of a fairytale dragon.

7. A more natural snake skin effect, an effect that imitates leather accessories, can be achieved using reptile sliders, and the volume is already drawn with droplets of thick gel on top. Those. we buy a slider design and fill the existing cells on the slider with a transparent top, that’s it! Very fast and beautiful.

8. If you prefer a matte texture rather than a glossy one, try velvet patterns with acrylic powder. Lesson from Aigulichka Istomina.

What You'll Be Creating

Serpent Often draw. They are considered very simple, with no legs or special muscles to define. There is only a head (no ears!) and a long tail - what could be simpler?

So, welcome to the perfect start to the world of animal drawing: Snake Drawing Tutorial! I'll show you how to draw poisonous and harmless snakes, and how to draw their hesha and patterns realistically. We won't focus on just one type, but rather look at the techniques needed to draw any part of any type of snake. After completing this tutorial, you will be able to draw most types of snakes with almost no effort.

1. Body of snakes

Basic anatomy

Let's start with some basic snake anatomy. We tend to think that snakes are mostly made up of a long tail, but in fact most of a snake's body is its long chest.

The seemingly innocuous belief that a snake's body consists mainly of its tail leads to completely incorrect drawings of snakes. Even being one of the simplest animals, snake designs still suffer from too little knowledge of their structure. Instead of thinking of them as an ever-tapering tail, it's better to think of them as a chain of beads, which is closer to the curved rib shape that actually makes up the snake's body. The neck beads are a little narrower than the chest beads, and then they get smaller and smaller, but not very quickly. Conversely, if you think of a snake as having a long tail, you are likely to narrow it dramatically.

The length and width of the neck and chest segments depend on the species. Some will have no neck at all, while others are so thin that the breasts will not be noticeable. If you're drawing a snake without focusing on the species, this is where you can experiment. Remember: snakes don't always have to be slender, sometimes they look fat and clumsy!

The string of beads method is very useful for creating 3D poses. If you have trouble imagining the sides, you can use cubes instead of balls.

To make the 3D scene easier to draw, you can add more circles between the ones that create the pose. This way you will get a sense of volume and it will be easier to define the sides.

What about the famous snake hoods that are often found on cobras? They are actually the body of a snake, flattened by straightened ribs. This means that the width of the hood depends on the normal width of the body, and it may not be as wide as you might think.

Types of movement

To create a believable pose, we need to know how snakes move.

1. Snake movement- classic snake movement. The animal uses its strong body to push against the terrain (or simply use the terrain as a whole if it is rough enough to provide resistance).

2. Accordion movement- a movement in which the snake regularly folds and expands, like an accordion. Snakes use this method when passing through narrow tunnels.

3. Caterpillar movement- This movement works similar to the vertical movement of an accordion. A small horizontal accordion may also occur during this movement.

4. Lateral movement- this method is very effective on slippery or hot surfaces (for example, in the desert). The snake pushes itself with the swinging motion of the raised coils, which causes it to move somewhat to the side.

2. How to draw a snake's head

Form

Step 1

I will show you three types of snake head: side view (1), front(2) and above(3). This way you can easily compare them to understand the shape in 3D.

Start with a flattened ball. In addition to the center line, there should also be a line located at one third of the diameter.

Step 2

Step 3

Add another, larger ball behind the main one. This way we will properly lengthen the skull.

How much larger should this second ball be? Typically, venomous snakes have more triangular heads, with a distinct neck end, so you'll need a much larger second ball. Non-venomous snakes tend to have narrower heads, so the second ball should be slightly wider.

Step 4

Now you can easily outline the contours.

Step 5

The eyes are placed close to the narrow end of the skull.

Step 6.

Now smile! The snake's smile - or rather mouth - should be wide and well defined. Also add small holes for the nose.

Step 7

With all the guide lines, you can easily draw the rest of the outlines. Don't forget about the small hole between your lips that allows your tongue to slip out without opening your mouth!

Step 9

If you're adding a bottom view to your snake, use the top view circles to create the bottom and just forget about the eyes and nose.

Scales

If you're not comfortable drawing scales just at random and want to remember the rules about their placement, here are some tips. Keep in mind that not all snakes are the same, and their scales may also vary. What I am showing you is a general pattern, especially common in non-venomous species.

Step 1

Let's start with mostly vertical lines. Right under the eye, two on the sides and three more near the nose. (Watch all the views to see exactly what you are drawing, so you can remember it easily).

Step 2

Now, let's move horizontally. Draw a line from the nose to the eye, then divide it into four new ones. The front of the head needs some little tweaks.

Step 3

Now, the back of the head. Immediately behind it, rows of normal scales begin.

Step 4

The bottom view of the head needs a different approach:

Step 5

If you don't want to learn all these arrows by heart, here's a colorful diagram for you. Once again, keep in mind that each snake is different and you can modify these shapes accordingly.

Step 6.

Venomous snakes (and some non-venomous snakes - pythons, in particular, are very clearly visible) may have heat-sensitive pits on their heads. You can think of them as large nose holes made of scales. You can find them anywhere near your nose, and in a line on your upper or lower lip (not necessarily everywhere at the same time, as shown below). They allow the snake to sense temperature (infrared light) to determine its body heat.

Venomous snakes also have smaller, denser scales on their heads, similar to those on the rest of their body. They are easier to draw as they are often quite chaotic. You can make the head less "slick", with high nostrils and strong eyebrows to give a more aggressive appearance to the snake.

Eyes

It's time for some details. Typically, venomous snakes have slit pupils, while non-venomous snakes have round pupils. Their eyes themselves are round, but can appear sharper due to the "brow" scales. Use it for an evil look!

Snake eyes come in an incredibly large array of colors. Basically anything you can imagine will look good on your modified looks as long as you stick to the round shape and the right pupil.

Jaws

Snakes have the most interesting jaw design of any animal (with the possible exception of the moray eel). Let's start gradually. First, the fangs (if any) must be curved inward so that the snake does not bite itself (snakes are not immune to their own venom!).

Secondly, there is a bone between the upper and lower jaws that is loosely connected to them. This gives the jaw a huge range of motion. Snakes with long and strongly curved fangs (such as vipers) can "retract" them - bend the tip of the mouth to highlight them more clearly.

But that's not all: each jaw is divided into two (connected by an elastic ligament), and each can move independently. Now it's obvious how snakes can swallow prey much larger than their head!

Details

Let's take a good close-up of the head:

1. Fangs- sharp, like needles, often covered with thick resin. Only poisonous snakes have it!
2. Poison duct- the poison passes from his gland directly through the hollow fang. It can then be transferred into the victim's body during the bite. Some species are capable of spitting venom through their fangs.
3. Glottis- an opening that is part of the respiratory system. It allows the snake to continue breathing as it swallows and can also create a hissing sound.
4. Language- long, thin (but not flat) and shiny. The snake uses it to "lick" the air, so it is used as an additional sense organ. To process "taste", the tongue must touch a special organ inside the mouth, so it slides in and out. The tip is bifurcated to create two independent tips, each receiving a slightly different signal from its side (just like two eyes work). The pose shown below is impossible because the tongue slips out of its sheath only when the mouth is closed.
5. Cheeks- these strong muscles control the movement of the jaws. Paint them the way they deserve to be, thick and strong.

3. Scales and patterns

The scales are where the serpent's simplicity ends. Now the brave artist must be patient and draw out each scale one by one and then shade them equally. No, I'm not going to show you some magic method to avoid this work, instead I'll show you how to avoid wasting time by finishing with a flat pattern.

Scale structure

We have already described and sketched out the structure around the head. In addition, quite regular and already familiar scales are found in neat, ordered rows. Dorsal scales cover the entire back and sides, while the rest of the space is occupied ventral wide oblong plates, covering the entire abdomen, parallel throughout the body. They can be as wide as the body (covering the entire width of the abdomen) or narrower. If they are narrower, they may not be visible from the side.

Of course, there is a place where the belly ends and the tail begins. This place is determined anal plate(colloquially, the butt of a snake). Here there are already differences between the poisonous (left) and non-poisonous (right) species:

• Venomous snakes have one anal plate, and the scales under the tail are located immediately behind it
• In non-venomous snakes, the anal plate slipped off, and then the other scales also separated.

The scales themselves aren't very difficult to draw, and you've probably seen the mini-tutorial in the image below. Cross a few lines and they will draw scales in between - we've all done it. The problem is that this trick gives us very flat scales, so we need to change it.

Here are the steps to follow to create an outline for the scales that will look real to the snake's body.

Step 1

The trick is to bend the original line slightly, both ways, in the opposite direction. So, instead of drawing a slanted line, you just need to draw an elongated S (or integral symbol) and intersect it with the mirror image.

Step 2

The other lines should copy the bend. Simply repeat this shallow, curved line pattern along the snake's body.

Step 3

If you now draw the scales on the grid, you will see that they become smaller towards the edge, giving them the receding appearance that a 3D snake's body should have. This is all!

However, this method becomes quite problematic when it comes to curves on the snake's body. Here is a workaround for this problem. It may seem strange at first, but try it and you will see how it works:

1. Draw guides in the usual way on straight sections
2. Draw a set of parallel lines between the pink line from A and the blue line from B
3. Do the same between the blue line from A and the pink line from B
4. If you did everything correctly, the scales should now follow a curve. The stretching of the lines inside the curve should now look natural.

Textures

Generally, there are two different types of scales - smooth(1) and kilva(bordered, 2). Smooth scales are shiny (but not wet) and are usually rounder than keel scales, which are rougher and sharper looking.

There is a special type of keeled scales raised in such a way that they appear pointed.

The scales are connected only to the skin, but not to each other. Therefore, when the skin is stretched (3 - when swallowing a large victim or even when moving), the scales move away from each other. Some less slender snakes may have close-fitting scales on their head and neck (1), with little space between them along their body (2).

Patterns

Once you have a problem sorting the scales, you can add color to your snake. The pattern options are endless! Although most animals are dullly colored for camouflage, snakes proudly show their bodies to the world, announcing how dangerous they are and that they are not worth messing with. Finally, you can use rich, vibrant colors without straying from realism.

Here are color patterns that work well.

Plain

This could be the basis for a template or just a template. Use any color you want for the entire body.

Changing this pattern should softly blend it with other colors. You can make the head darker or the belly lighter as you wish.

Rings

Rings go around the body. They can be single-color or multi-color (stripes with borders).

Cross bands are variations of rings. They also go around the body, but do not cross the stomach.

Stains

These are small spots of color on individual scales.

Stripes

They run the length of the body, straight and regular.

Blots

They can be very irregular, of varying sizes, and placed randomly throughout the body.

Almost every template allows you to change the contrast borders.

Many reptiles, such as lizards and snakes, are covered in scales, sometimes in very bright colors. It is very difficult to draw such a surface, since the scales, like mirrors, reflect the colors surrounding the reptile. At the end of this section you will find an exercise that uses the example of a chameleon to describe in detail how to draw scales.
The bodies of other reptiles, such as turtles, are covered with a hard shell. It's quite easy to draw. The most important thing to understand is how light reflects off a solid surface. If you evaluate the tones correctly, you will be able to correctly draw the change of planes. To convey the form, you need to use several different tones - as areas of the surface move away from the light. The carapace may have ridges and dents, which you will also need different shades of paint to convey.
When drawing with a graphite pencil, you can create different tones by varying the amount of pressure. Start with light pressure. When you are satisfied with the form, you can increase its strength. When painting with oil or acrylic paints, you can cover the entire shell with a medium tone, and then add lighter and darker tones when the paint dries. Before applying a dark tone over the base, test it on a piece of paper to make sure it's the right choice.
The shells of turtles are covered with an interesting pattern. Whatever material you are working with, sketch out the pattern first. Start with light pencil strokes as corrections will likely be needed. There is no point in carefully drawing the pattern of the shell only to later discover an error in scale. Carefully consider how the individual parts of the pattern flow into one another and form something whole. This is the secret of the correct image of the shell.
Once you have decided on the pattern, you can move on to color. When working with oils, acrylics or pastels, start with basic mid-tone colors. Once dry, you can apply light and dark colors according to the direction of the design. With watercolors you need to paint “wet on wet” so that the colors blend into one another, creating a variegated effect.
In general, we can say that the surface of a turtle shell is rough, not shiny. The height of these roughnesses is small, but it should not be forgotten. To convey the texture of the shell, pay attention to the highlights. Although the projections of the shell are small, they still have a shaded and illuminated side. To correctly depict the texture, use the dry brush technique (when working with watercolor or acrylic) or sgraffito. You can draw details with ink or oil pastels over dried watercolors.

Turtle in mixed media

First, the main colors of the shell and fins were applied with acrylic paint, and then the artist painted the shell with oil pastels. The oil pastel strokes are applied quite freely. Then the colors were shaded with a soft cloth in those places where it was necessary.

Multicolor lizard

This tree agama is a very interesting subject for an artist, as its head is a different color from its body. It is not necessary to draw every scale, but you should try to create an overall impression of scaliness.

Drawing on the shell

Reptiles like this Galapagos tortoise have very complex shell shapes. Please read it carefully before starting work. Be sure to make sketches.
If you are the author of the photo used in the article, write to us, we will definitely indicate the authorship!

Hello, dear artists! Today we continue to draw the heroes of Mortal Kombat, this super popular game franchise. And the character we will draw today will be a mysterious and dangerous warrior who was present at the very beginning of history. This ninja is a very secretive, flexible and incredibly formidable servant of Shang Tsung, who in many games has a human figure, and the skin and facial features of a lizard.

I think everyone has already guessed that today's lesson will be devoted to... Reptile will look according to his appearance in the film “Mortal Kombat,” beloved by our editors. Note that, as with other main ninjas, Reptile looks different in different games, films and TV series of the franchise.

In some games, such as Mortal Kombat 3: Ultimate, Reptile is a man in a green ninja suit. In later games, the human form is lost, and our hero takes on a creepy scaly face. Well, now we’ll draw a classic Reptile!

Step 1

Let's start with a stickman - a man made of sticks and circles, which we draw in order to convey the basic proportions of the character, his pose and position on a piece of paper. We see Reptile a little from above, and he himself has bent significantly in his body and crouched down a little. In addition, the Reptile stands sideways to us with its head turned. All this must be reflected in the stickman. Please note that at this stage the head should be disproportionately large, just do not overdo it.

Step 2

A very short step, in it we will mark the face with two perpendicular (that is, forming a right angle) lines. The first will indicate the line of vertical symmetry, and the second will indicate the line of the eyes. Everything is clear with the vertical line, it should simply divide the face into two halves, but with respect to the horizontal line there is an interesting point - it should be slightly curved to convey the tilt of the head and the glance from under the brows.

Step 3

In the previous step we started to draw the head a little, in this step we’ll go a little lower and draw the silhouettes of the arms and torso. The arm closest to us is very clearly visually divided into shoulder, forearm and hand; Please note that the silhouettes of the arms should convey the type of sleeves that hide them - this part of the suit fits the arms a little (although the suit is not as tight as, for example, or). The reptile costume is quite dense, but nevertheless there should not be a lot of excess fabric here.

Step 4

Now it's up to the lower torso and legs. The easiest way to draw these parts of the body is to imagine them in the form of geometric shapes - the belt and groin area in the form of a triangle, the thigh parts of the legs in the form of large cylinders. The calf part of the leg closest to us also looks like a cylinder, but the same area on the leg farthest from us is slightly different - it is turned sideways, and we can see a characteristic thickening in the upward direction from the foot to the knee. The feet themselves are also turned to the side.

Step 5

The silhouette is ready, and now we can begin the detailed drawing of our mysterious Mortal Kombat character. Just one thing - if you doubt the correctness of the proportions or pose, it seems to you that the head is too big or too small, the legs are placed unnaturally or something else, use the proven method. Hold your sketch up to the mirror and look at its reflection. In it, all the incorrect proportions and errors in the construction of the pose will be very noticeable and will immediately catch the eye.

After everything is fixed, we begin detailing. As always, we start from the head and move from top to bottom. And in this step we will outline two parts of the costume that hide the heads - the upper one, which fits the head from the forehead to the back of the head, and the lower one, which will later become a beautiful voluminous mask.

Step 6

Now, along the line outlined in the second stage, we will draw the eyes. They have a narrow almond-shaped cut, and the pupils look almost like vertical lines (our character has an almost completely human appearance, but it is the eyes and especially the pupils that should give away his bestial essence). Using two slightly thicker lines towards the nose we draw the eyebrows, mark the beginning of the nose itself and sketch a couple of lines located almost perpendicular to the eyebrows - these will be wrinkles, they should convey tension and aggression in the gaze.

In general it will look like this:

Step 7

Let's draw the mask itself. We use lines of medium thickness to designate the horizontal parts of the mask - 4 on each side, and there should be an empty area in the center for the next step. Give the edges of this area the necessary volume, marking them with several lines, as in our sample. Then draw wrinkles to indicate bags under the eyes and apply a small but thick shadow around the cheekbones.

Now let's take a look at the general plan:

Step 8

This step will be short and simple - in a small area that forms the center of the mask and is located in place of the mouth, we draw a pattern in the form of teeth and straight vertical lines.

Well, the general plan:

Step 9

We're done with the mask, now let's go a little lower and detail the body. The angle in our drawing is very unusual, because of it the lower part of the body is practically invisible - which means that the main part of the work will concern the upper part. We use a wide stripe to mark the part of the vest that covers the shoulder. We draw the inner parts of the vest, which are located next to the stomach and back.

Then we’ll add a few folds to the vest, and also draw a little of its edges. Immediately below the vest we draw a belt, on which we also apply a few folds and make a border at the edges, just like on the vest. We complete the stage and literally draw a couple of folds on the neck of our ninja. By the way, the piece of clothing that we conventionally call a “vest” is actually called a “kataginu” - this is a part of the costume that was slightly modified by the creators of the Mortal Kombat universe in order to dress theirs in it.

Step 9

Let's draw the hand. Before that, we suggest you take a little breath and watch a very cool compilation of finishing moves from Reptile from various games in the series.

Many people are probably overwhelmed by nostalgia from the funny fatalities from the early Mortal Kombat games. Now it’s time to move on and become cool artists!

So, let’s draw the arm of the Reptile closest to us - it won’t be at all difficult, since it is hidden by the sleeve of a tight suit. Let's erase the guide lines from the previous steps and slightly adjust the silhouette of the hand so that it looks like in our sample. Let's add some folds to the shoulder and draw the armor that hides the forearm (pay attention to the hem located on the edges of this armor). Usually drawing fingers is quite difficult, but today's hero is an exception. Give your fingers the correct shape, placing them at approximately the same distance from each other.

Step 10

Let's draw the hand farthest from us. This will not be difficult at all, considering that only the forearm, clad in armor, and the hand are visible. Also in this step we will draw the lower part of the katagina, which hangs from the belt to approximately the level of the knees.

Step 11

Our drawing lesson dedicated to the next hero of the Mortal Kombat series of games is coming to an end, all that remains is to draw the legs. At this stage we will deal with the one that is closer to us. Let's give it the desired shape, mark the places of the folds in the area of ​​the knee joint and erase the extra lines from the previous stages.

Let's draw an elastic fabric that is criss-crossed around the lower part of the leg, and also draw a short line that divides the foot into two parts. In general, drawing the legs of the Reptile is not at all difficult, because his costume includes quite spacious pants that do not fit his legs, and, accordingly, do not require drawing muscles and joints.

Step 12

We draw the second leg by analogy with the previous step, except that the foot will be turned completely to the side, and the folds in the knee area will look like ticks.

Step 13

The final step, in which we have to work a little with the shadows and paint over the dark part of the costume. The light falls on the Reptile from the back, that is, to our right, which means that the opposite side should be especially densely shaded. An interesting point - in our warrior’s costume there is quite a lot of black fabric, we must also shade it. Just remember to leave a stripe of light from the illuminated edge.

Cover the dark parts of the costume with cross-hatching in several layers. Adjust the color intensity in different areas of the costume by selecting the desired number of layers. Don't forget to shade the shoulder part of the catagina (the shadow is cast by the head), as well as the lower part hanging down to the knees (the shadow is cast by the body).

This was an article on the Mortal Kombat universe, in which we told you about how to draw a Reptile. After such difficult work, you can relax and enjoy a well-filmed duel between Liu-Kang and Reptile from the 1995 film “Mortal Kombat”. The special effects still look quite watchable, but for its time it was a real breakthrough and the pinnacle of technology, coupled with a sense of taste and a high level of skill of the film crew.

And our team says goodbye to you to prepare even more step-by-step drawing lessons for you! As usual, we invite you to write in the comments about which movie/game/book character you are looking forward to in our step-by-step lessons. All the best and be healthy!