Learn How to Draw an Easy Lion
If you want to learn how to draw a lion head, the easy way, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll show you how in this step by step art tutorial. And we’ll break things down into easy to follow steps.
Learning to draw anything should be relaxing and fun. That’s why we put together these tutorials for you. Our goal is to make learning art relaxing and enjoyable for everyone.
Let’s grab some supplies and get started.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
Lion Head Warm Up Sketching
I recently started doing some quick sketches before working on my drawings and it’s been a great process. In the past I’ve done sketching as a way to loosen up before drawing.
But I’ve discovered it’s also a great way to work through some rough ideas and get some basic characteristics of what you’re going to be drawing down on paper.
And the great thing is they only take a few minutes to do. You can set a timer for three or five minutes, and stop sketching when the timer goes off. Or you could choose a different length of time.
Another option is to keep sketching until you run out of room on your paper. With this method, you should still be finished in five minutes or less.
You want to keep your drawings very loose and quick. The goal is to work through some ideas or to just get familiar with whatever it is you’re drawing. You can use reference photos of real lions, or just draw from your imagination.
How to Draw a Lion Head Step by Step
Learning how to draw a lion head is really easy if you break things down into simple shapes and guidelines. Beginning this way also helps you see what your final drawing is going to look like before you get too much time invested in your artwork.
This way you can make your changes at the beginning instead of wish you would have when you get to the end.
Step 1: Basic Shapes & Guidelines
Let’s start sketching out the basic shape and size of our lion head. Make a larger circle, with a small circle towards the bottom.
Step 2: Add Details
Draw the nose where the two circles meet. And then add some lines for the mouth.
Next, add some lines for the sides of the nose and the tops of the eyes. Draw lightly so you can add more details and change the shapes of your lines if you need to.
Add some circles for the eyes. Try to keep them the same size and placement with each other. You want your lion drawing to be as symmetrical as possible.
Now draw the shape of the eyes. Again, keep things as symmetrical as you can.
Next, draw in the shape of the muzzle and the chin.
Then add the shape of the face and frame it in with the mane. When drawing the mane you want the overall shape to be symmetrical. But it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just make sure it feels balanced.
You can make your lion drawing look a bit more interesting by adding some wrinkles for the nose and some hair on the chin.
Next, draw some ears and add the outside shape of the mane. Typically you want the mane to come to a point at the bottom.
Finish up your lion drawing by adding in any extra details you want to include.
Easy Lion Outline
Making a lion outline is really easy. Simply trace over the pencil lines you want to keep with a black pen or marker.
Step 3: Make an Outline
Your lion outline could be left as it is with just a pencil. In which case you would need to clean up your lines a little bit and you’d probably want to darken it up.
If you’re planning to use markers though you’ll need to go over all the pencil lines. You can use black, like I did. Or you could use a different color.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things.
You can also experiment with how you draw your lion outline. Or you can make your outline thick, thin, or a combination of the two.
You could also try making your lines with sharper edges to add some style to it. Practicing and trying out new things is a great way to improve your art skills.
How to Draw a Lion Head with Markers
Learning how to draw a lion head with markers is really easy. And there’s only a few things you need to keep in mind when using them.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you need to use alcohol based markers. Bic, Sharpie, and Copic for example. As well as many others.
Second, you need to work while the colors are still wet or they won’t mix together. This isn’t a big deal. Just make sure you work on a section at a time.
Third, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create a smooth transition of color. If your markers are too different they will leave a harder edge.
I typically use markers for coloring my artwork. They are so bold and vibrant. And I love how they can be blended together to make smooth transitions.
Regardless of which medium you decide to use for your lion drawings, you’ll want to make sure you’re using more than one color for each area of your drawing.
If you use just brown to color your entire drawing it will look flat and boring. Try adding yellow, different shades of brown, or gray to your drawings.
Add darker areas to show shadows. And lighter areas to show highlights. You can also add some white to the brightest spots in your drawings.
Final Thoughts and Next Steps
Now that you know how to draw a lion head you might wonder what the next steps are. We’ll, that’s easy to answer. Practice.
The more you practice the better you will get. You can challenge yourself to draw a series of lions. While doing this you can experiment with different techniques and styles.
I like using Artist Trading Cards when I do my challenges. They’re a great time saver.
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