Drawing animals is so much fun! They are favorites of both children and adults. If you feel like drawing but aren’t sure which animals to draw, take a look at these ideas for easy animal drawings.
Take a few minutes to disconnect from your routine, grab your favorite pencil, and start drawing!
1. Easy Animal Faces
Starting with a circle, you can draw dozens of different animal faces. You just need to change the shape and size of the ears and snouts. Besides the animals shown here, can you think of how to draw a sheep or a mouse?
2. Round Animals
Drawing animals can be as easy as making circles and then adding the appropriate ears, nose, and tail. They are also very quick to draw, which is perfect when my kids ask me to draw an animal (they don’t have the patience for a more elaborate sketch).
3. Dog
“Sit! Good boy…” Dogs are one of the first animals we start drawing as children, and the fascination for drawing them continues as we grow up.
If you love dogs, don’t miss these 12 easy dog drawings.
4. Dog Breeds
Drawing dog breeds is easier than it seems. If you already know how to draw a dog’s face, just pay close attention to a photo of the breed you want to draw and try to vary these elements: 1. shape of the face, 2. type of ears, 3. shape of the snout, and 4. color patterns of the coat.
5. Wolf
If you can draw a dog, it’s not that difficult to draw a wolf; just make it a bit furrier and add some sharp fangs. To make it clear, you can always draw it howling at the moon.
6. Bee
Drawing a bee is as simple as making an oval and filling it with black stripes. You can complete the drawing with more bees and a meadow full of flowers.
7. Whale
The good thing about drawing animals is that you can make them super simple, like icons (perfectly recognizable), and as you gain experience, you can make them a bit more complex. For example, you can see these two styles of drawing a whale.
8. Horse
Drawing a completely realistic horse is one of the most difficult things. Seriously, I can’t do it! But don’t let that stop you from drawing them. You can make a much simpler drawing, and it’s still recognizable.
If you add stripes, it becomes a zebra, and with a horn, it’s a unicorn.
9. Deer
Another animal that is instantly recognizable as soon as you draw the antlers, no matter how well or poorly you draw the body. If it has antlers, then it’s a deer.
10. Rabbit
Another great favorite of children. Since you only need to draw a pair of long ears and a fluffy tail, it’s a great animal to find your own drawing style.
11. Elephant
Childlike or realistic style? Choose the way of drawing an elephant that best suits your drawing abilities—or the one you enjoy most!
12. Hen and Chicks
To draw a hen with chicks, you just need to know how to draw ovals. It’s a quick drawing, and kids love coloring it. And so do I, to be honest.
13. Cat
Cats are adorable and elegant; you won’t stop smiling while drawing them. They are perfect for practicing and mastering curved lines. You can draw them in a thousand different poses, but sitting is one of the easiest.
14. Swallow
This is a slightly more complicated but beautiful and poetic drawing. It’s not that hard to do if you pay close attention to the proportions, but you can also try other birds using reference photos: a sparrow, a pigeon, etc.
15. Giraffe
Its long neck and spots are so characteristic that it doesn’t really matter how you draw the body and head—everyone will know it’s a giraffe!
16. Koala
Fuzzy, soft, and adorable. Drawing a koala always lifts your spirits.
17. Lion or Tiger?
All big cats have a similar structure. Once you master the silhouette, you can easily draw a lion or a tiger by switching between mane and stripes. Also a puma, jaguar, leopard, lynx…
18. Dragonfly
The dragonfly’s silhouette is one of the most elegant, which is why it often appears in tattoos. If you feel like it, you can draw it with lots of details or keep it much simpler, as in the example above.
19. Butterfly
The butterfly is the insect we most often practice drawing from childhood. They are very easy to draw, and you can fill their wings with a thousand different patterns and colors.
20. Ladybug
The ladybug is so easy to draw that everyone dares to draw it. To make a less simple drawing, you can group several and show them following a path.
21. Jellyfish
Just knowing how to draw a semicircle and a few curved lines is enough to draw a jellyfish. They look a bit plain, but they improve a lot if you color them in.
22. Bear
Drawing a bear’s face is quite easy, and most of us know how to do it. Drawing the body isn’t complicated either, much easier than you think. Give it a try!
23. Bird
A symbol of freedom. You can draw birds perched, flying, in the nest… There are also thousands of different species. I encourage you to draw them using reference photos; it’s a fantastic exercise to improve your drawing skills.
24. Duck
Is drawing a bird too complicated for you? Then a swimming duck is your best option—you don’t have to draw the legs or wings.
25. Fish
They can have practically any shape, pattern, and color. Just add fins, and it’s already a fish. One of my favorite drawing activities is to fill an entire notebook page with different fish.
26. Frog
I grew up with Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street. Maybe that’s why I like drawing them so much. Once you draw bulging eyes and a wide mouth, they are unmistakable.
27. Mouse
We all drew a mouse as kids with a semicircle for the body, a circle for the ears, and a line for the tail. With just a few more strokes, you can bring that basic mouse to life—give it a try!
28. Shark
You can find a thousand examples online of how to draw a classic side-view shark. That’s why I chose this other view of this beautiful animal, from above, much more elegant and less terrifying.
29. Turtle
The turtle is one of the easiest animals to draw because the shell and legs are easy to make.
30. Opossum
It’s not a very common drawing; an opossum is not a very common animal. But I love drawing them with all their babies on their backs—it looks so cute!
Before You Go
Thanks for reading this far! I hope this collection of easy animal drawings has inspired you.
If you liked these sketches and are looking for more inspiration, I’m sure you’ll be interested in this collection:
Would you like me to add anything else? Let me know in the comments!
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