How to draw

How to Draw a Peacock with Its Tail Fanned

Challenge (level 5 of 5)
50 min
16 steps
Ages 10–14 (a guide, not a rule)

Start Drawing Draw on Screen Print

Draw on paper: Paper, Pencil, Eraser. Optional: A plate or bowl to trace the half circle, Colored pencils: blue, green, gold and brown.

A peacock's fanned tail looks complicated, but it is one shape repeated: the eyespot feather. Light guides do the hard work: a half circle, spokes like a hand fan and two arcs for the rows. Then you place the feathers row by row, from the nearest to the farthest, so each row tucks behind the one in front.

Rather color it? Print the peacock coloring page.

Step by step

New lines: purple, thick and glowing
Lines you already drew: gray
Guides: dashed blue, draw them lightly
Erase: dotted pink with an eraser

Step 1 of 16 Draw a big, light half circle for the fanned tail. Its center is low in the middle of your paper, and it should fill most of the page.
Step 2 of 16 From the center, draw light spokes out to the half circle, evenly spaced like the ribs of a hand fan. Each spoke will carry one long feather.
Step 3 of 16 Draw two smaller light arcs around the same center: one about two thirds of the way out and one about halfway. They are the rows of eyespots.
Step 4 of 16 Draw the peacock in front of the fan's center: a long, curving neck that widens into a teardrop body. It hides the middle of the fan.
Step 5 of 16 Draw the small round head turned to the left, with a pointed beak, an eye with a pale ring around it, and a crest of five thin stalks with tiny tips.
Step 6 of 16 Add the folded wing on the body's side, the two thin legs with three toes each, and a short line for the ground.
Step 7 of 16 On the inner arc, draw the nearest row of feathers: each eyespot is a rounded oval with a point aimed at the center. Stop where the body is in front.
Step 8 of 16 On the middle arc, draw a row of bigger eyespots, placed between the ones below. Stop each one where a nearer eyespot overlaps it.
Step 9 of 16 On the big half circle, draw the outer row, the biggest eyespots, again between the ones below and tucked behind them.
Step 10 of 16 Draw the edge of the fan: a scalloped line with one bump around each outer feather, and the two sides of the fan running down behind the body.
Step 11 of 16 Draw a thin spine from near the body out to the point of every eyespot. Stop where an eyespot or the body is in front.
Step 12 of 16 Erase the half circle, the spokes and the two arcs.
Step 13 of 16 Inside every eyespot, draw a smaller oval and fill a dark center. The same pattern repeats on each feather and only gets smaller toward the middle.
Step 14 of 16 Add short, feathery strokes along both sides of each spine, angled out like the branches of a fern. This is the soft texture of the feathers.
Step 15 of 16 Shade a middle value on the right side of the neck and body, on the wing, and inside the oval of each eyespot, around its dark center.
Step 16 of 16 Shade the shadow under the feet darkest. Light, middle and dark values plus the dark eyespot centers make the tail shimmer.

A blue peacock with a small crest standing in front of its fanned green tail, which is covered in rows of gold and blue eyespot feathers.

You did it!

Your drawing does not have to look like this one. Every artist draws a little differently.

Color it on screen Print a practice sheet

Tips for this drawing

Helpful hints

Trace around a plate for the half circle if a freehand curve is hard.
Point every eyespot's tip at the center of the fan, exactly along its spoke.
Draw the eyespots in the middle of the row first, then work out to both ends so the spacing stays even.

Common mistakes

The feathers point in different directions and the fan looks messy. Line each eyespot up on a spoke, with its point toward the center.
All the eyespots are the same size. Make each row smaller than the one outside it; the fan looks deeper.
Feather lines are drawn through the bird's body. The body is in front: stop every feather line where it reaches the body.

Make it simpler

Draw the half circle and only one row of eyespots along it, then a teardrop body with a long neck, a small head and a crest. Skip the barbs and shading.

Radial guides

Spokes that spread from one center, like a hand fan, keep every feather pointing the right way and evenly spaced.

Repeated pattern

Each feather has the same eyespot: a pointed oval, a smaller oval and a dark center. Repeat it, making it smaller toward the middle of the fan.

Overlap

The body is nearest, then the short inner feathers, then the longer ones behind. Draw from front to back so each row tucks behind the one in front.

Value

Dark eyespot centers, middle-value ovals and shading on the body, and light feathery texture make the tail shimmer.