Buffalo Head Base Lines

• 1). Lightly draw a large oval in the center of your paper, cut the oval in half horizontally and vertically with two straight lines. Where these two lines cross marks the center of the buffalo head. Be sure that the lines you draw are light enough to easily erase but are still visible.
  
  
• 2). Draw a large rectangle where the corners touch the oval and is centered around the cross-point. Draw a small rectangle inside of the large rectangle, about one third its size. The small rectangle should be vertically centered to the central line, but the bottom half of the rectangle should be larger than the top.
  
  
• 3). Draw another rectangle horizontally at the base of the first small rectangle. These two small rectangles should roughly be the same size and the horizontal rectangle should share its top and bottom sides with the rectangles already drawn.
  
  
• 4). Starting at the top corner of the small vertical rectangle draw a 45 degree angle line to the edge of the oval. Repeat on the other side. Note that this angular line should not meet the corner of the large rectangle but should cross below it.
  
  
• 5). Draw another angled line starting halfway between the horizontal central line and the top corner of the small rectangle. This line should be slightly more angled than the 45 degree line you've already drawn and extends only to the edge of the large rectangle. Repeat on the other side.
  
  
• 6). Draw a small oval beginning a third of the way down below the horizontal center line and on the edge of the small rectangle, bring the oval line up and outward until it meets the angled line you made in the previous step. Repeat on the other side. These basic shapes make up the base for drawing a buffalo head.
  
  

Eyes and Snout

• 1). Draw a circle inside of the small ovals already drawn on both sides of the head. The top of each circle should touch the corner of the small rectangle and the bottom should rest on the horizontal central line. Erase any part of the circle that overlapped into the interior of the small rectangle and between the angled lines.
  
  
• 2). Erase the top line of the small vertical rectangle and round the corners where the 45 degree angle meets the sides of the small rectangle. Use the edge of your pencil to lightly fill in what is left of the circle inside of the ovals, and you have completed the eyes.
  
  
• 3). Draw a horizontal tear-drop shape in the center of both sides of the horizontal rectangle. The point of the tear-drop should be facing toward the center line. Connect the two shapes by their points with a line that makes a downward curve, its apex laying on the vertical central line.
  
  
• 4). Create the snout by rounding the corners of the horizontal rectangle, and erase all four sides. Redraw the two short sides so they curve towards the central line slightly.
  
  
• 5). Draw a short curved line on the top side of the horizontal rectangle but do not meet the corners. On the bottom edge draw a line from corner to corner that also curves inwards but with a stronger inward curve.
  
  
• 6). Finish the snout by connecting the top two corners of the snout to the sides of the vertical rectangle with a small curved line. Below the snout create the chin by drawing a half circle whose edges line up with the tear-drop shapes and the apex of the curve falls half way between the bottom of the oval and the large rectangle.
  
  

Ears and Horns

• 1). Begin drawing the ears just above the center horizontal line and on the side of the large rectangle. Make a small leaf-like shape that extends down and out away from the head with a little dip towards the point of the ear.
  
  
• 2). Finish the ear below the center line at the edge of the rectangle, make sure it is far enough away from the start of the ear so it does not have two pointy ends. Add dimension to the ear by drawing a line parallel, and closer to, the top line of the ear bringing it to a point at the tip of the ear. Erase any lines that overlap into the ear.
  
  
• 3). Start the horns at the point where the large rectangle and the 45 degree angle intersect. Draw a line that extends up and outwards away from the head. Make the line organic, slightly curving down and then up.
  
  
• 4). Round the tip at the top of the horn and bring the line back down towards the head, following the curve you made with the first line and ending on the edge of the large rectangle. Leave space between the edge of the horn and the top of the ears so the base oval still shows through between them.
  
  
• 5). Make the base of the horn by drawing a curved contour line. Start where the horn meets the edge of the oval and bring it across the horn to the opposite side. Draw another contour line starting where the horn meets the large rectangle. Together the two contour lines should look like a warped or drooping triangle.
  
  

Hair and Finishes

• 1). Make the beard of the buffalo. Draw a two wavy lines that start just above where the chin and the snout meet and continue down below the bottom of the oval moving inward toward the center line. Make several more wavy lines varying in length to create a long curly beard.
  
  
• 2). Draw on both sides of the face a line parallel to the oval from the base of the ear to the edge of the beard. Erase the old oval line below the ears. Above the ears and around the top of the heard lightly erase the oval line and replace it with a bumpy line. Imagine a bunch of half circles placed next to each other in a line.
  
  
• 3). Erase any lines left from the large rectangle, and the two central lines. Also erase the ends of the two angled lines above the eyes, leaving a small portion of the lines to create the eyelids and the eyebrows. Smooth out the 45 degree angle lines and let them organically curve into the sides of the small rectangle.
  
  
• 4). Go over all of the lines with a black pen, vary the thickness of the lines. The thicker the line the closer it appears to the viewer and lines that move from thick to thin will create more dimension. Add hatching and cross-hatching for texture and shading.