How to Draw a Sword-nosed Bat

• Define the basic shape of the head.

 To easily convey the proportions of the head, create a sphere a base and then add the two long ears. You could also easily place the stout muzzle by using the cross reference mark (with it being right below the half of the sphere). In this way, you could then establish the view angle of the head.

• Once the base form is complete, use it to sketch the actual shape/primary outlines of the bat’s head.

 Define the facial features properly. draw the distinct details of the nose; the nostrils facing sideways with the with small flaps right below it, and the unique sword-shaped protuberance right above (blocking some portions of the face). The sides of its long ears are slightly folding inwards, and the tragus is also significantly long (reaching half of the pinna’s’ length).

• Redefine the main outlines with more visible lines.

Retrace the sketch you’ve made with finer line work to properly define the main outlines of the head, and then erase the unnecessary sketch marks.

• Apply the primary colors.

Aside from the nose having a faint pinkish flesh tone (excluding the nose leaf), a sword-nosed bat basically has a brownish orange fur coat and a deep grayish brown skin tone. So, use orange and brown to apply the primary color value of the bat.

• Convey the darker and lighter values of the primary colors.

Overlay the primary colors with the same color of a different value. Basically, you put another layer of color over the first one on the areas with a darker or lighter tone (depending on the area) to convey the dimensions of the figure, just depict the values as how you would when you apply the shades to describe the contour shape (farther sides deeper areas being darker as the nearest planes of the figure gets brighter). Darken the inner edges of the ears to signify the fold and its concave shape, and also darken the far edges of its subtle ridges on the upper side of the pinna.  Darken the inner portion of the nose leaf, including the curved edges of the nose.

• Once you are satisfied with the tone values of the base, convey the fur texture of the bat with short soft lines (once again, with different values). Use different values of the brownish orange, from bright orange to light brown.

And when you are done depicting the fur, finalize the drawing with a faint (either dark gray or black with a very low opacity/very light strokes) shading to cast shadows and to amplify the dark and light values.

If you want to learn more about how to draw bats, grab a copy of "How to Draw Bats for the Absolute Beginner".

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 More drawing tutorial books about a variety of topics are available here.

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Each drawing steps are thoroughly discussed so even a person with no experience in drawing could easily create a fine piece of artwork.