Around 40% of households in the UK own a pet. It pretty much goes to show that we’re animal lovers. Be they dogs, cats, rabbits, or even horses, pets have a special place in our heart.
How to Draw Animals for Kids
Anyone can be an artist—all you need is your imagination! Learn how to draw beginner-friendly adorable animals with this step-by-step drawing book for kids. It’s full of activities, helpful tips, and lots of animals to draw—from cats and dogs to owls and elephants. A great resource for parents and teachers to teach kids to draw shapes, lines, and other drawing basics. Build on these skills, advance to more challenging animals, and then customize them into something unique. Just grab a pencil and get ready to explore the animal kingdom!
A world of animals—Draw animals from the land, sea, and sky, including dolphins, bald eagles, sloths, pandas, goldfish, penguins, and more.
Step-by-step method—Follow along and develop your drawing from basic shapes like circles and lines all the way to a beautifully detailed animal.
Time to get creative—Get your imagination going with blank scenes that let you draw in your own animals, along with extra drawing ideas so you can keep creating.
Discover how to draw animals the easy way with the step-by-step instructions in this book about drawing for kids.
About The Author
ROCKRIDGE PRESS creates content that inspires, engages, and educates. Our mission is to understand what customers need and to provide well-researched and empathetic solutions. We strive to improve our customers’ lives by publishing books that make a difference.
- Publisher: Rockridge Press (January 4, 2022)
- Length: 52 pages
- ISBN13: 9781648766367
- Ages: 6 – 9
Browse Related Books
- Age 4 – 8
- Age 9 – 11
- Children’s Non-Fiction > Animals > General
- Children’s Non-Fiction > Art > Drawing
- Art > Drawing
Raves and Reviews
“This has been an amazing summer activity for my girl while I work from home it keeps her busy, she draws the animals on a separate paper and colors, and it has been so simple to follow for her she doesn’t even need help!” — Customer Review
“Really makes drawing easy, step by step instructions are easy to follow, great for anyone that wants to draw, kids and adults.” — Customer Review
How to Draw Animals (Kids)
wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 24 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time.
This article has been viewed 282,599 times.
From visiting the zoo to begging for critters of their own, kids love animals! They love animals of all shapes and sizes, covered in fur, feathers, and scales— and they tend to love drawing them, too. Read on below the jump to learn how to draw all you favorite animals, including insects, household pets, and even sea creatures!
Steps
Draw a caterpillar with a couple of rounded “M”s and a circle for the head. Give your caterpillar a nice bright smile while you’re at it, and maybe a leaf or two to munch.
Draw a butterfly using more simple shapes and patterns. Include lots of color and try to make the wings as symmetrical as possible.
Advertisement
Draw a frog poised to hop. The point of view can be from the front or the side, so long as you get the angle of the back legs right.
Draw a hamster with little paws and whiskers. Color it a darker brown on the outline and a lighter brown on its stomach, like so.
Draw a rabbit to keep your hamster company. Your picture could be of a domestic rabbit, shown above, or a rabbit like Bugs or the Easter Bunny. It’s up to you!
Draw a turtle. You can try your hand at a cartoon turtle, a realistic turtle, or even a snapping turtle—draw them all if you want!
Draw a monkey. This one is a little complicated, but you should end up sketching a cute baby monkey with big eyes and a long tail.
Draw a cow grazing in a field. The more realistic your cow is, the more of a challenge it will be to draw it, but you shouldn’t have much trouble so long as your proportions are correct.
Draw a fish as either gray and scaly or as a cartoon. If you’d prefer a fish you could keep in your home, try drawing a goldfish instead.
Draw a dolphin jumping out of the water. Make sure to shade it darker on the bottom!
Advertisement
Community Q&A
Search
Question
How do I draw a lion?
Community Answer
Draw a circle for the lion’s face, then surround it with zig-zag lines for the mane. Add two dots for the eyes, an upside-down triangle for the nose and an upside-down Y for the mouth.
Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy! Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Question
How do I draw a dolphin?
Community Answer
Draw a banana shape with a shape like this “< " on it, but round the point.
Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy! Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Question
How do I draw a realistic chick?
Community Answer
Start by drawing a figure eight shape (like “8”). Then, draw a beak and some eyes on the top circle. Finish up your drawing with some wings and webbed feet on the bottom circle. If you want, you can color your chick yellow and orange too.
Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
As a small thank you, we’d like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full price—wine, food delivery, clothing and more. Enjoy! Claim Your Gift If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
How to Draw a Horse
Kids and adults alike love horses and those who love animals often take a lot of enjoyment from drawing them. However, horses are known as being quite difficult animals to draw.
To draw a horse’s head, you need to start with a circle. This will be used to draw the horse’s cheeks when viewed from the side. Next, draw a downwards-facing trapezium which will be the horse’s muzzle.
From there, you can draw the ears above the circle. This simple geometry can go a long way to getting you started. You then need to continue by adding the details of the horse’s face. Add the eyes and nostrils before adding details to the ears. You can also draw the neck even if you’re not planning on drawing the whole horse.
You can draw the geometric shapes in pencil and erase them later while using inks or another medium to go back over the permanent lines.
If you want, you can also draw the rest of the horse using a similar method of using geometric shapes. Use an oval for the body and lines for the legs. This will help you to place them in the right place and also pose your horse. From there, you can add the details to the horse’s body. To create depth, you can add light and shadow to the body.
To practise drawing horses, why not visit somewhere you can see them?
On a nice day, you can watch them move around and draw them. If you’re struggling to get started, look for some video tutorials on YouTube.
How to Draw a Unicorn
While unicorns could be more biologically similar to rhinoceroses than horses, in our collective imaginations, they’re much more similar to the latter than the former. Essentially, they’re horses with a horn on their forehead, which is what most people think of when they think of unicorns.
Find more drawing classes here on Superprof.
You can draw a unicorn uses a lot of the tips we mentioned earlier for drawing horses. Start with the circles for the head and place the features around it. Once you’ve drawn your horse, don’t forget the horn!
You can start with a long and thin triangle on the horse’s forehead. You can then create the markings with diagonal parallel lines. Your unicorn is ready!
So where you can find unicorns?
Whether you’re looking to do realistic unicorns or cartoony unicorns, YouTube is brimming with drawing tutorials. Not only will you have a model to follow, but you can also get into the habit of following the same steps.
Any aspiring artist will need to find inspiration. Fortunately, in the digital age, it’s never been easier to find content and drawings for inspiration. You can even look to films and television to find the perfect unicorn to draw.
Social media can also be used for inspiration. Networks like Pinterest and Instagram can be used to find pictures of unicorns. You can use them for ideas, too.
Don’t forget that you can still use books to help you learn to draw. There are entire books on fantasy and mythological beasts.
How to Draw a Dog
The main difficultly when drawing dogs is that the breeds can vary quite wildly. You can’t draw a King Charles spaniel the same way as you’d draw a husky. You need to change your approach according to the type of dog that you’ll be drawing.
Find more drawing classes here on Superprof.
Much like drawing other animals, you’ll want to start with geometric shapes. Start with a circle for the dog’s head and a trapezium for those with a long muzzle. A square should suffice for dogs with shorter muzzles.
As for the ears, this will vary according to the breed. Some have pointy ears whereas others have floppy ears that cling to the sides of their head. Adapt the geometric shape to the breed of dog.
The fur can also be tricky to draw. You can make simple markings with a pencil or use light and shadow to create the fur. For realistic drawings, the fur can take a long time.
Again, there are lots of useful tutorials online that can help you.
As an artist, you could always specialise in drawing animals. Some artists even accept commissions for drawings of people’s pets. Of course, you could practise by drawing friend’s and family member’s pets for free. Regular practice will help you get better at drawing and also noticing the finer details.
Drawing lessons can also help an awful lot, too. If you prefer to draw on your own, you can ask others for feedback on your work.
If you’re looking for help with your art or drawing a particular animal, consider a private art tutorial from one of the great private tutors on the Superprof website.
You can enjoy face-to-face tutoring, online tutoring, or group tutoring. Each type of tutoring comes with advantages and disadvantages so think carefully about which is right for you, your preferred learning style, and your budget.
Face-to-face tutoring is probably what you think of when you think of tutoring. These sessions between a tutor and a single student can be tailored to the learner, their learning objectives, and their personality. Usually, these types of tutorials are more expensive than the others as you’re paying for a bespoke service, but they’re also the most cost-effective as every minute is spent focusing on your learning.
If you can’t find any suitable tutors working in your local area, you can always opt for online private tutorials. As the tutor doesn’t have to worry about travelling to their students and can schedule more sessions each week as a result, they tend to charge less per student per hour. In many cases, online tutoring, when done right, can be just as effective as face-to-face tuition.
Group tutorials are an excellent option for those on a budget as the cost of the tutor’s time is shared amongst all the students in the class. This does mean the sessions won’t be completely tailored to you, but you will have the opportunity to compare your work to the other students and learn from each other.
Don’t forget that many of the tutors on Superprof offer the first lesson or hour for free. You can use these sessions to try out several tutors before choosing which one is right for you.
Find more drawing lessons for beginners here on Superprof.
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
