Drawing Camels in Morocco

Suhita Shirodkar

Dec 5

I don't think I have ever drawn a camel before. And until I looked close up at its head, I didn't realize how giraffe-like it was in shape and structure. (Not that I've drawn more than a couple of giraffes in a zoo, ages ago). So my very first drawings of the camels we rode in Essaouira were these little studies.

And then I truly got to look at the animal up close when we settled down to some sketching halfway through our ride while our guides grilled sardines over a woodfire for lunch. To make things challenging, the camel in the front lay down in this interesting pose that wasn't my idea of a classic camel pose (camel #2, luckily held that pose for me)

I had to take up the challenge of sketching while on a very bumpy ride on the way back. This is where I got to. The hardest part was landing the pen where I wanted to while the camel rocked away! Sometimes the most memorable sketches aren't about what ends up on the page but just the experience of making the sketch 🙂

The first post in this series of sketches from Morocco is here.
And the second one on the docks and boats is here.
And the sketches from the market are here.