How to Draw a Scarf & Drawing Ideas for Inspiration

How to Draw a Scarf

Learning how to draw a scarf is easier than you might think. If you’re fairly new to drawing, you can start out with a really simple drawing. And then work your way up to a more complex scarf drawing.

There are many different types of scarves in real life, and therefore many different ways you can draw them. The best thing to do is to try a variety of ways and see what you prefer for your artwork.

You’ll need to gather up some supplies for your drawing, so let’s get started there.

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Art Supplies

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How to Draw an Easy Scarf

We’ll start by learning how to draw a really simple scarf. This is a very easy way to draw one, but you can still make it look good by adding a few extra details to it.

Start by drawing the basic shape of your scarf. Don’t worry about any of the details yet. Just get the size, shape, and placement roughed in.

Now start adding in some details. Draw some folds, and make your lines curved for the top and bottom of the area that will go around the neck.

Next add some fold on the end pieces of your scarf.

Finish up the rough sketch by adding any other details you want to include on your drawing. You could add some stripes or decorations to your scarf as well.

How to Draw a Scarf Step by Step

Now let’s learn how to draw a scarf that’s a little more difficult.

Again, start with some basic shapes for your drawing. Draw a shape that looks kind of like a donut.

Next draw one of the end of your scarf coming over the top of the area that goes around the neck.

Draw the other end of your scarf and then start adding in some folds to give your drawing more detail.

For the other end of the scarf you can draw it going behind the neck area or on top of it like the other end.

I like how it looks coming over the top better. Continue working on your rough sketch until you’re happy with how it looks.

Scarf Drawing Outline

Depending on how you plan on finishing your drawing you may want to outline your scarf. This can be done in a variety of ways and will be determined by your artistic style.

I prefer using markers for my drawings and I like a thick black outline for my drawings. So I typically use a black pen to outline. But you should experiment and see what you think looks the best.

Depending on my mood, I’ll sometimes add some shading with my black pen as well.

You could also try using a colored marker for your outline. Or colored pencils if that’s what you prefer to use.

How to Color a Scarf with Markers

Whether you’re using markers, colored pencils, crayons, or paint, you should use more than one color for each area of your drawing.

This could be different shades of the same color. For example, you could use a middle green, and a dark green. Or you could use three colors and add in a light green as well.

If you’re using alcohol based markers you can blend these different colors together. Use a scrap piece of paper when choosing your colors to see how they look when used together.

You could also use completely different colors to show light and dark areas in your drawings. Color compliments are often used for shadows.

We have an entire tutorial on How to Use Color in Art. Check it out when you’re done drawing your scarf

How to Draw a Scarf on a Snowman

Now let’s look at how to draw a scarf on something. For this example we’ll use a snowman as our model. But you could also use a penguin, reindeer, or a human.

Obviously, you’ll want to place your scarf around the neck.

Follow the same process as illustrated earlier in the tutorial. Make sure you curve the lines going around the neck.

And you can make your scarf as easy or as complex and detailed as you want.

Scarf Drawing Examples

Here are some examples of different drawings where scarves were added. As you can see there are many different ways to draw and color them. And there are many more than what I’m showing you here.

The best way to improve is with practice and repetition. One of the things that can really help when first learning how to draw something is doing some speed drawing.

To do this just set a timer for 5 minutes and do as many quick sketches as you can before your timer goes off.

Don’t worry about small details. Just focus on getting the basic shape of whatever it is you’re drawing. This is a great exercise to help you understand the subject matter a little better before starting your artwork.