How To Draw An Elephant

In this lesson you will learn how to draw an elephant with a pencil, step by step. The elephant has a big body and legs, but, unlike other animals, drawing an elephant is quite simple. However, its big ears, trunk and tusks, which are simple at the first sight, are actually difficult to make it look realistic while drawing.

1. Draw a basic outline of an elephant body.

Begin the drawing with the original circuit in the form of a large circle for the body. Draw a circle of smaller diameter for the head at a short distance to the right. Connect these figures, approximately as shown in this picture - it will be the neck of an elephant. You also need to draw two more elongated ovals for the feet - just below the main circle.

2. Draw the contours of the trunk and legs.

Start with the trunk circuit, making it in the easiest way – you only need to draw an arc and a little circle on its edge. The circle is necessary for the accurate observation of the massive proportions of the head and trunk. Next, draw another arc from the contour of the head to the back - it will be the upper boundary of the ear. Once you do that, draw the bottom line of the abdomen. Add two more contours to the legs in the end.

3. The general shape of an elephant trunk circuit.

Now we have the main outlines, and the next step is to add the contours of legs. The elephant moves in the picture, and you can convey this by the position of the feet. Draw the left leg slightly raised. To do this, lift up the contour of the upper leg and turn the lower part to the left.

4. The detailed pattern of the elephant.

Start drawing the contour of the trunk and a huge elephant’s ear. It's not hard to draw the trunk on the existing contour marking, and the ear can be drawn in a free form.

5. How to draw an elephant’s skin.

The first step is to remove the extra contour lines. After that, draw the eye, and then you can draw two tusks and a tail. It is a little harder to draw an elephant's ear. Please note that the second edge of the ear is visible in the picture, but you can do without it.
Once you completely draw the bosy and the head of an elephant, start painting the skin. It can be covered with wrinkles and folds (the trunk) in some places. Do not press too much on the pencil, as the line should be barely noticeable.

6. The final step.

If you choose to draw only with a pencil, you need to take a soft one (2M) and apply the shadows. It will give the volume to the pattern, so it will be more realistic. To draw the shadows of an elephant trunk in an accurate way, you need to imagine from which side the light falls or the sun shines. What is closer to the sun, is lighter.