Step-By-Step Tutorial: How to Draw the Houndstooth Pattern

A very classic and popular pattern for clothing, especially coats, jackets, and hats, is houndstooth. This pattern is usually seen in black and white, although any contrasting color scheme is possible. The name “houndstooth” is an attempt to describe the angular, intricate repeating pattern; it is called “pied de poule” (chicken foot) in French, but I like to think of it as “bunny in a bow tie” (more on that later).

Although the houndstooth pattern looks extremely intricate, it is formed of very basic geometric shapes – squares and stripes – and can be fun to doodle, once you get the hang of it. Many people find doodling relaxing and meditative, and some people find that doodling helps them concentrate. If you like to doodle or draw intricate or repetitive patterns, you may find learning to draw the houndstooth pattern to be very enjoyable. I have broken it down into very easy, illustrated steps so that you can easily learn to draw houndstooth right away!

1. Draw a light grid or use graph paper. Draw and fill in every other square in a row, skip a row, then repeat.

2. Draw diagonal lines that exactly bisect each orthoganally-adjacent square. So, everything to either side, and above or below, your black squares.

3. Draw smaller lines on each side, so that those squares are divided into four parts. The little squares that are left with no lines are your white squares (or whatever color the paper is). As you draw, you will see that they will follow the same type of pattern as the black squares – there will be a white block every other square, with a striped square on each of its four sides, on the alternating rows. This is what will create the houndstooth pattern.

PLEASE NOTE: you do NOT draw a border or outline around these striped squares. Part of the stripes will connect to your white areas, so you don't want to “cut through” them.

4. Here's the tricky part. These squares are going to be striped in alternating black and white. That's clear enough. But, when going across, the stripey squares between the solid black squares all "start" with black in the lower left corner, and the next row down - where the stripey ones alternate with the solid white squares, the pattern is reversed, and the lower left corner is white.

The easiest way for me to remember what goes where is to see this pattern as a "bunny in a bow tie". Both sides of his little bow tie need to be the same color.

5. Continue as desired

You may find it easier to draw the pattern larger, especially if you would like to keep the smaller stripes more uniform and precise. This could also be easier if you are just starting to learn how to draw the houndstooth pattern, or if it is difficult to see or to draw the pattern at a smaller size.

Beneath the smaller houndstooth pattern on the graph paper below is a reference for houndstooth using a 2x2 pattern (each block is 2 across and 2 down, for a total of four graph squares in each block of solid or stripe). I left it partially unfinished so you can see how it is easier to draw the smaller connecting lines of the stripe sections in the houndstooth pattern. 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! Join me on my Facebook page for more shenanigans! 

Cover image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houndstooth#/media/File:Houndstooth.jpg

Step-by-step images, my originals (see copyright notice)

Learning to Draw: First Step? Have the Right Attitude

In my experience as an artist, I have frequently mused at the reactions of people to my drawing ability. Many people treat me with almost a kind of reverence, like I'm a precious creature with secret, magical powers. And my students occasionally express shock and, well, awe after I have illustrated a concept with a quick yet accurate drawing, seemingly effortlessly. I certainly don't mean to intimidate them; I hope that instead they will learn that since it's easy for me, it will be easy for them, too, if they keep at it.

It is easy, after you've been practicing for years! But practice, not some magic lightning bolt of talent, is what will polish your skills and make drawing second nature to you. In my case, my mom was an artist, so I had a natural environment of support and development growing up. Furthermore, I attended an excellent art school at which I received top-notch instruction.

So, look at it this way: Suppose my fluent Russian impresses you. But if my mom spoke fluent Russian, it would be no surprise to hear that I grew up speaking Russian, and if I also managed to attend Russian school to perfect my Russian, I doubt you'd think my fluency was an amazing, God-given talent. You might be impressed by my achievement, but you wouldn't be discombobulated by it, and most importantly, you wouldn't think you couldn't possibly do the same thing yourself, if you wanted to.

And yet, I run into this attitude so frequently from my beginning students. I even get it myself, from time to time: I see a piece of artwork that is so creative and well-executed that I think, "I could never do that!" And yet, I could do it; it's just a matter of investing the time and energy in acquiring the necessary skill, so I correct myself and never say never. Because I think in a positive way, when I see really cool artwork by other people, I don't compare my own unfavorably--indeed, I feel very inspired to do more of my own!

The process of creating artwork can be kind of frustrating, even for very experienced people, but it is greatly rewarding. Very often when I am working in a medium that has to be layered to be properly developed, like paint or pastel, I will find myself at an intermediate stage wherein my sketch has been obscured, but the picture isn't developed enough to look like anything yet, least of all the subject, and I will have a small attack of conniptions, thinking, "Good grief, what a mess! This isn't working at all-what was I thinking?"

Then, after I remind myself that I go through that "awkward phase" with almost every picture and they always seem to turn out fine, I calm down and see things through. The final product almost always satisfies me completely, and it always amazes me to think I got a finished piece of artwork out of a piece of paper or canvas and a handful of art supplies. I might be tired or drained afterward, but it's a good kind of tired, like you feel after a killer workout, knowing you've accomplished something. Even if the picture comes out unsuccessfully, you have still gotten the practice, the experience, and learned which approaches don't work, which is actually an important step in the learning process.

So, instead of being intimidated when you are learning how to create art, why not be excited? A whole new world is opening up to you, and there are so many things you can learn and do in that world! After all, you fell on your bum a lot when you were learning to walk and thought nothing of it. Why not take the inevitable drawing errors in stride as well, knowing you'll get better?

And see, that's the coolest part of all, and it's what should make you delighted to keep practicing: You will only get better. It's like riding a bicycle; you can't "unlearn" it. You can improve your skills with every single drawing you do. Isn't that neat? I think so. And once you acquire your skills, you don't lose them; you just continue to build on the foundation. So don't be intimidated, be excited, and get out there and do some art!

For more art instruction:
 http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/i-have-been-professional-portrait.html
 http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/03/figure-drawing-101-wacky-secrets-of.html
 http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/05/figure-drawing-101-so-you-wanna-be.html
 http://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2015/05/painting-composition-101-creating.html

Image is my original work. Copyright law prohibits any reproduction of this work without my written permission. 

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