Let's face it, guys, at some point in our life we've all thought "If only I could draw an alligator sitting on a shopping trolley!"
Well have no fear, for I am a wonderful person, and I have come to put all that behind you!
Behold, the ultimate tutorial in how to draw an alligator sitting on a shopping trolley!
First, sketch the basic shapes of the drawing. You've got the alligator's long body and tail, a couple of short, stubby legs, and of course the angular shape of the trolley. Detail isn't important at this point, just get the basic shapes down.
Next, start to add in some of the details. Add some shape to the legs and add an eye, nostrils and the bars of the shopping trolley. These don't need to be all that detailed at the minute, they're still just rough. Alligators have a very curvy mouth, it's best to try looking up some reference so you get the general shape right.
At this stage I made the decision to make the eye all black, instead of giving it a more humanlike pupil. Small changes and details like this are acceptable at this stage, but you want to have the main shapes of the alligator and the trolley more or less sorted at this point.
I added some little circles to the wheels, but aside from that they don't really need much attention.
Alligators have ridged patterns of scales running down their body, so lightly sketch some of these in, keeping your pencil line thin and light. It would take ages to draw in every scale, so just add a couple of little marks hinting at scales over the body. I also added some teeth at this stage. You can start to erase a bit of the construction now, since we're almost done.
Now you can carefully ink in the lineart for your alligator and trolley. See if you can freehand it for the alligator, and feel free to add the odd little scale or fold where it seems appropriate. Alligators have very bumpy textured skin.
You can use a ruler for the lines of the trolley if you want, but I opted not to, partly because the slightly curved, hand-drawn effect makes it seem slightly more cartoony, and partly because, frankly, rulers are for wusses.
Forget what your art teacher says, I think I know a little more than them...
Here I add some crosshatching to the areas of the drawing which are in shade. I don't really need or want to draw a proper shadow on the floor, so a few faint shadows beneath the wheels, heading away from the light source, help to give it a sense of being grounded.
I decided at this stage that the light source would be coming from the top-left area of the page. Knowing your light source when shading is very important.
So yeah, add some nice shading to the parts which are more in darkness. I also chose to thicken up some of the more important lines to help them stand out, but that's just my style, and it's totally up to you if you leave them thin or not.
TA-DA! You have completed your very own alligator on a shopping trolley! Don't you feel proud?
You bore with me thus far, so as a kind of a celebration/congratulation, here is a picture I drew of an octopus with no eyes wearing a monocle and a top-hat:
By @Epifex
