Little Red Riding Hood is a fascinating childhood story that really makes for good drawing inspiration. In this piece, which is a mix of pencil, ink, and watercolor, these two characters are not exactly as the story describes. This version of Little Red Riding Hood features a snake wearing a mouse mask in front of a little mouse out picking wildflowers for her grandma.
What you will need
- Micron pen set
- Watercolor kit
- Watercolor brush
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolor pencil
- Pencil
- Doodling paper
Plotting out the Little Red Riding Hood Drawing
I started not quite knowing how I was going to position my characters, and this is a great reason to stop and think about what you really want to create and how you want it to look before putting it down on paper. Sometimes, the idea in your head is not as appealing on paper. To start, I normally do at least three little sketches to figure things out.
Redrawing the Best Thumbnail
Once you have an idea down, it’s time to throw it onto bigger paper. Do not go into too deep of detail, remember this is still just the beginning stages. If the drawing still looks good, proceed to get out the good watercolor paper to work with. (Note- I did not draw this thumbnail, my awesome illustration teacher did to help me figure out placement)
Creating the Snake on the Branch of the Little Red Riding Hood Drawing
Snakes are super fun and easy to draw. Start with a light sketch of a sort of branchy looking shape across the top of the page and draw little ovals over the branch going at an angle, then sharpen the edges slightly to conform to the branch. This will make it look like it has shape and make it look more like one single snake instead of a bunch of floating pieces. Draw the snakey bit coming down and leave it headless for the time being.
Lightly Sketching the Path of the Little Red Riding Hood Drawing
The path should be winding like the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz. The horizon line will be at about the level of the mouse’s shoulders, so be sure to keep that in mind while you are doing details on the ground.
Making the Base Lines of the Stones
Draw lines that are fairly straight going across the path, like rows of stones. These rows should be closer together around the smaller inside curves and much wider on the outside of the curves. Add two lines per row for the actual brick shape, and alternate them in an almost scale- like pattern.
Why Reference Photos are so Important
While drawing the head of a mouse could be mistaken for easy, the reality is their face shape is sort of weird and difficult to draw. The best thing to do is to look up photos of mice and use them as a reference to draw the head of both the mask of the snake and the head of the little mouse.
Drawing the Cloak of the Little Red Riding Hood
Remember where shoulder level is, and draw a flowing cape all the way to the ground. Again, use reference photos to make the cloth look like it maybe has a little bit of flow to it. Be careful not to make it flow too much though, or it will be harder to draw the body of the mouse.
Doodling Little Flowers
Draw circles close to the edge facing you. Add little lines all around the outside of the circle, and make little mini arches to connect the lines together. Add small shadings in the corners of the petals to make it look like you put in more effort than you actually did.
How to Create Depth with Details in your Little Red Riding Hood Drawing
Make the largest circles face toward you, and as you get closer to the horizon line they need to get smaller and smaller until you cannot even see them anymore. Spend a good two hours of your life just adding petals to the millions of flowers you drew and proceed to just mostly have grass on the other side because it takes less time to draw.
Directing the Eye
Right now, this photo is starting to sort of take form. However, we need something to make the eyes that will see this art do what we need them to do. In this case, the best thing to do is add a shape discreetly to make the eyes move along the paper smoothly. A nice, fluffy, round cloud behind the snake that leads to the path should work just splendidly. Part two of this post will be coming out Wednesday, and we will finish this drawing. Good luck and Happy Crafting!