How to draw a Good Enough bat…three ways!

It’s Halloween, which is time for kids (big AND small) to go batty over costumes and candy. It’s also a busy time of year for graphic facilitators, which is making me just a wee bit batty as well! ;^) So, in honor of this year’s Halloween season, let’s stretch our wings and sink our teeth into something juicy.
 

Here’s how to draw a Good Enough bat of your very own!

 
How to draw a Good Enough bat-frontal view - tutorial image by Jeannel King
 

Three (and a half!) Tips:

 

  • I start my bats with upward swoop of the wingspan, because it helps me scale the image on the page.
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  • When drawing a bat in this “full frontal” view, symmetry is essential. That’s why, after drawing the swoop of the wingspan in step one, I visualize the center of that swoop and drop a guidance dot a little bit below. (In step two, that dotted center line is just to show you what I’m talking about here.) This dot will anchor the centermost point of the bat’s wings, and once I’ve got that I can draw the scallops of the wings in a Good Enough symmetrical way. (I neglected to draw my center point during step three, and you can see what happened to the symmetry! ;^)
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  • When drawing the head, I use the upper arc of the wingspan as the bottom line for the eyes… gives them a more mysterious and creepy look because the rest of the bat’s face is invisible, blended in to the body.
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  • … and the half-tip: When drawing the bat’s ears, simply draw straight lines coming up from the bat’s head, then create slight triangles going towards the inside of the head. That gives our bat a bit of a “Batman” vibe!
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    But what about hanging upside-down?

     
    That’s what my boyfriend asked when I showed him the above bat. And he’s got a point. Fewer things are creepier than being in a cave, looking up, and realizing that there are bats all over the ceiling. (Well, clowns are creepier… but that’s another story!)
     
    So, here’s how to draw a Good Enough hanging-upside-down bat!
     
    How to draw a Good Enough bat hanging upside-down - a tutorial image by Jeannel King
     

    It’s coming right at us!

     
    That drawing got me thinking about once that bat wakes up and starts flying in the night sky, looking for its next dinner date (because we all know that bats turn into vampires). So here’s how to draw a Good Enough bat in flight!
     
    How to draw a Good Enough bat in flight - tutorial image by Jeannel King
     
    I don’t know about you, but if I see this flying towards me, with its glowing red eyes, I’d probably run for the nearest garlic and crucifix! ;^)
     
    … and that’s it! What does YOUR bat look like? Draw yours up, Tweet it out to @jeannelking #goodenough, and – as one bat said to the other – “let’s hang out together!”
     
     
     
    Want to have fun drawing AND inspire others to pick up the pen at the same time?  Got something you wish you could draw, but you’re not sure how to approach it? Tweet your drawing or idea to @jeannelking and tag it with #goodenough: it could be featured in an upcoming “how to draw good enough” blog post!
     
    Looking forward to seeing what you draw forth!
    (… and please share your comments below!)
     
     
     

    About Jeannel

    - INFJ - Strategic | Activator | Connectedness | Relator | Intellection - Scorpio - Cat Person - Movie Buff - Modern-Day Johnny Appleseed - Creative who Specializes in Organizational Culture Change - Painfully Aware of Her White Privilege

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