Learn to Draw with Shapes: Easily doodle an adorable little otter!

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Sabrina Goslin, certified wildlife biologist and longtime freelance artist. I'd like to welcome you to my little series Drawing With Shapes where I teach you to draw adorable little characters using only simple shapes and lines. This series is a great companion to my in depth warm ups for artist course, and will help you develop an eye for finding simple shapes to use as a base for developing your illustrations. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, practicing your basic shapes is an important artistic habit. I've made these tutorials fun and byte size, so they're easy to digest and practical. Ready? Let's grab our sketchbooks and do some doodling. 2. Let's Draw an Otter!: This time, I'll be going over, drying otter floating all adorably. We start with a sort of bottom heavy egg for his body. Then an ellipse for his head. These are base shapes. You can always adjust them later. For his stubby arms, draw matching short curves from his cheeks and pull two lines from these to create sort of rounded triangles. Follow the curve of his body and pull a short line out from each side for his feets. Add a little reference dot just above the bottom of his body and create a curve attaching both feet lines. Now for his tail, we start with a little circle close to the body here. Another reference dot where you want the tail to end and curve out to attach it and some zig zags for the fur. The shell is also made from a circle. Draw two angled lines out to create the butt of it and connect them with a curve. Divide it in three rounded segments. Add some texture lines, too. The otter has it in his mouth, so you can add a small curve at the bottom of his head here to represent his little snoop. Now, big innocent eyes. These are small angled ellipses. Mm. Add tiny drooping circles for ears. Make sure they're at the same height. So fluffy fur. Ease using kneaded eraser if you have. This will ensure the drawing won't be completely erased for you to do your liner. Otherwise, erase very lightly or ink and then erase after. As you ink his outline, give it some furry texture using sly zigzags. Be sure not to go over lines that aren't meant to be inked. Now we add some curves around him to imply water ripples. And add more details and variation and line weight if you want. And, boom, we've got ourselves a sweet little utter. If you post your little doodle, please tag me and you could be featured. Please like and share with others who would also enjoy this little tutorial and follow me if you're interested in seeing more. Thank you.