How to draw · Growing · about 20 minutes

Lion

You need: Paper, Pencil. Optional: Eraser, Yellow, orange and brown crayons, colored pencils or markers.

Thick lines: draw these now. Thin gray: already drawn. Dashed: light guides you erase later.

Finished

  1. 1. Draw a big circle on the left side of your paper for the mane. Press lightly: it is a guide.

  2. 2. Draw a smaller circle inside it for the face, a little below the middle.

  3. 3. Draw a long oval for the body on the right. Let it tuck behind the big circle.

  4. 4. Draw four light lines down to the ground for the legs: two under the mane and two under the back end.

  5. 5. Draw two round ears on top of the face circle, then the cheeks and chin around the rest of it.

  6. 6. Add two eyes, a triangle nose and a round muzzle under the nose, like the letter w.

  7. 7. Draw the mane: a bumpy line like a cloud all the way around the big circle.

  8. 8. Draw the back. Start at the edge of the mane, go along the top of the body oval and round off the back end.

  9. 9. Draw the near front leg under the mane, around the first leg line: thick, with a big round paw.

  10. 10. Draw the near back leg around the last leg line. Add a curved line above it for the strong thigh.

  11. 11. Draw the tummy line from the front leg to the back leg.

  12. 12. Draw the two far legs on the middle lines. They are behind, so each paw stops where it meets a near paw.

  13. 13. Draw a long tail curving up from the back end, with a fluffy tuft at the tip.

  14. erase

    14. Erase the guides: the two circles, the oval and the four leg lines.

  15. 15. Finish with details: little curved strokes in the mane, whisker dots on the muzzle, eyebrows and lines for the toes.

Practice here

Tip: Keep the guides light. The mane line goes around the big circle, not exactly on it, so it is fine to wobble.