7 Tips for Drawing Dog Noses
How to Create More Realistic Dog Noses
Have you ever noticed how much detail there actually is in a dog’s nose?
It may be a small part of the portrait, but when drawing dogs with pastel pencils, getting the nose right can make such a difference to the finished animal.
Dog noses are not simply black or brown areas. Depending on the breed, they can have very different colors, shapes, textures, and details.
There is also that characteristic wet shine and the interesting cell-like structure of the nose.
Once you know what to look for, you can start adding these little details to make your dog portraits look much more lifelike.
Here are 7 tips to help you when drawing dog noses.
1. DIFFERENT NOSE COLORS
Depending on the breed, the colors and shapes of the dog’s nose, of course, vary.
Here are some dog noses in different colors and shapes:
Before choosing your pastel pencils, take some time to really study the colors in your reference.
You may discover more colors and subtle variations than you first expected.
2. DOG NOSTRILS
Nostrils of dogs are not only round, they look most times like a comma or like a waterdrop.
Some are wider, some are very narrow, but they all look like a comma..
Pay close attention to the shape rather than simply drawing two round dark areas.
Getting those little curves right will already help the nose look much more realistic.
3. DON’T FORGET THE INNER NOSE PARTS
Create a waitlist if you’re doing commissions. Then, raise your prices every 3-4 months, depending on demand. If you’re fully booked for several months, go up with your price. Don’t hesitate to increase your prices—there are people out there for every price point.
Demand is often a sign that your work has growing value.
Raising prices gradually can help your business grow in a healthy way.
4. DON’T FORGET THE INNER NOSE PARTS
Don’t forget to draw parts of the nose inside the nostrils.
Depending on the incidence of light, you can also see details of the skin inside the nose, not just dark nostrils as seen here:
Look carefully at your reference before making the nostrils completely dark.
Sometimes those subtle details inside are exactly what gives the nose more depth.
5. SMALLER NOSES
When the noses are smaller on smaller portraits, I would recommend drawing the structure of the nose with dots.
You don’t always need to draw every individual part of the structure.
With a smaller nose, little dots can give the impression of texture without adding too much detail.
6. HIGHLIGHTS AND WET LOOK
Dog noses always look wet. To achieve the wet look, you have to use white to create very bright highlights.
Mostly you can find a lot of white dots in the middle of the nose and under the nostrils, like here:
These tiny highlights may seem like a very small detail, but they can make a big difference.
Add them carefully at the end to help create that characteristic wet and realistic dog nose
Final thought:
When drawing dog noses, look beyond the basic shape. Pay attention to the different colors, comma or waterdrop-shaped nostrils, visible inner parts, cell-like structure, and bright highlights.
For larger noses, you can add more of those tiny spots, wrinkles, and lines, while smaller noses can be simplified with dots. Together with carefully placed white highlights, these details can help you create much more realistic dog noses with pastel pencils
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