How to Draw a Peacock

Learning to draw radial symmetry is a CA Visual Arts standard, and is precisely what is called for in drawing this colorful peacock. I’m in love with this kinder’s drawing, in which she chose to use flowers to cap the feathers, instead of ovals.

1. Starting with a horizontal watercolor paper, students draw half a circle at the bottom.

2. A head with neck is added, and a beak and eye.

3. Oval feathers with lines are drawn at 9, 12, and 3 o’clock.

4. More feathers are added at 10, 11, 1 and 2 o’clock.

5. One more feather is added between each already drawn. A black permanent marker is used to trace all the pencil lines.

6. Crayon lines are added to the feathers. When complete, watercolor paint is used to color the peacock body and the background.

Thanks to Katharine, a kinder, who made this amazing peacock. I can’t get over her flower-topped feathers... nothing short of brilliant if you ask me.

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Russian Cathedral Drawing

St. Basil’s is a famous cathedral in Russia, which was originally designed as a cluster of chapels. It’s unique architecture manages to look both old and new at the same time.

1. For this lesson, I led the students in setting up their basic building shapes, but then gave them THIS color photo for a guide. Starting with letter size paper, they drew a large rectangle in the middle. An “onion” shape was added on top.

2. A somewhat shorter rectangle is attached to the left and right. A curved top with ball is added.

3. Now the fun part – lots of curves and angles and swirls are added to decorate the entire building.

4. When the drawing is complete, all the lines are traced with a black Sharpie marker and the shapes are colored in with crayon.

Thanks so much to Keana A., a 1st grader who let me share her drawing. Can you tell she comes from an artistic family?

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How to Draw a Hen and Chicks

I’m always looking for simple drawing ideas that are then easy to shade. This one works and makes a pretty picture too.

1. On a 9" x 12" piece of paper, the students draw a large circle for the hen body and then a small one for it’s head as shown.
2. The head is connected to the body with a neck, and a tail and legs are added.
3. Details are drawn on the hen head and a wing is drawn on the body. Two or more half-circles are added (wherever there is room) to make the chicks.
4. Heads and legs are added to the chicks.
5. All lines are traced with a black Sharpie and colored in with pastels. My favorite are the Portfolio® 24-pack oil pastels. Older students may add shadows by shading with a bit of gray.

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How to Draw a Truck

Every time I do a geometric drawing lesson like this, I am reminded that some students who yawn at the idea of drawing organic shapes, will work for hours on rectangular trucks or houses. It could be the sign of a future designer, which requires a more methodical set of drawing skills.

1. Working with letter size paper, I gave my kinders a Dixie cup to trace two wheels in the lower center of the paper. They drew the middle section of truck around them as shown in the diagram. 

2. The front and back of the truck are added.

3. The cab and window of the truck are drawn. A wavy or straight line is added for the road.

4. A profile of a driver is drawn, along with the back cab support.

5. Details or the truck and background complete the drawing. Students used a thin black marker to trace their drawing, and crayons to color it in.
Note: This lesson comes from Usborne’s “What Shall I Draw?” book, which has a lot of great drawing ideas.

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How to Draw a Bunny

This breakdown of a bunny drawing is based on Sachiko Umoto’s illustrations in her book “Let’s Draw Cute Animals”. I just added a grid background, which works wonders for setting up the correct scale. About a dozen kinder and 1st graders drew this today, and the bunnies were all adorable!

1. A letter size paper is folded in half vertically, then in half horizontally two times to look like the pink dashed lines. The squarish round face is drawn in the middle as shown, and the eyes, nose and mouth are added.

2. Two ears are added, extending almost to the corners.

3. Curved shoulder lines come down from the head and continue to the feet. Note where the curve for the back legs is placed.

4. Two front legs are added, slightly to the left as shown so that the tail may peek out of the right side. When complete, the drawing is traced with a black marker and colored as desired ... even rainbow colors, if they are your favorite.

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How to Draw a Bushbaby

What’s a Bushbaby you may ask? I’m not really sure, I just know they're really cute, which is all I need to keep the attention of my after school drawing students. This is borrowed from Drawbooks.com, which I plan to visit a lot more in the future.

1. Given my class is mostly made of kinders, I decided to give them an oval (body) and circle (head) cardboard template to start their drawing. Using an letter-size paper, they began by tracing the 6" x 5" oval near the left, and 3" circle overlapping as shown.

2. The line inside the head was erased, and ears were added near the top.

3. Large eyes were added in the bottom half of the face. The placement here is important; if they are too high, some cuteness factor is lost.

4. The body is finished with a tail, legs and toes.

5. The tree branch, leaves and moon are added. All lines are traced with a medium width marker, and the shapes are colored in with crayon.

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Laurel Burch Cat Heads

This cat project was inspired by a talented artist named Laurel Burch, who sadly passed away recently. She had a wonderful style of drawing abstract cats with large eyes that met in the middle.

1. Ask students to make three dots (in pencil) across the center of a paper as per the diagram. The 3 dots are connected to make the eyes. A triangle nose is added, nose lines and mouth. Lastly, the outside of the head is drawn around the head.
2. Students use a black Sharpie marker to trace all their lines.
3. Distribute oil pastels and encourage the students to use unusual colors to fill in their cat and background.

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How to Draw a Dragonfly

Today I demonstrated the basics of drawing a dragonfly to a room full of kinder and 1st graders, and they added so much 6 and 7-year old charm (hearts, flowers, hairbows, etc.) that I could hardly stand it!

1. Students draw a circle head, wide oval, smaller oval and tail, all across the middle of the paper.

2. Three wing lines are drawn going up from the widest oval.

3. Each line is continued and turned into a wing.

4. Two lines are drawn up in the middle of each wing.

5. Small angled lines are added. The face is completed, along with the feet. The drawing is traced with a black Sharpie and colored in with crayons.
A special thanks to Yuna, a talented 1st-grader, who let me share her drawing with you.

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Lois Mailou Jones-style Drawing

This Lois Mailou Jones-inspired drawing is in honor of Black History month (coming up in Feb). During Lois’ remarkable life, she painted, designed masks, textiles and stained glass windows, traveled the world and never stopped learning. Her “Les Fetiches” art has a style that is fun to imitate.

1. Starting with a black sheet of paper (I prefer art paper, not construction...

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Bernard Hoyes-Inspired Dancing Lady

Jamaican-born artist Bernard Hoyes is a Caribbean national who has served his country well. Now residing in California, Hoyes is among the most widely collected and exhibited of contemporary artists. Through his art, many have been able to connect with Jamaica’s colorful traditions and culture.
1. Past experience has...

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How to Paint a Clown Fish

I’m finding that I really like black Sharpies for tracing when it comes to painting with young students, like kinder and 1st grade. They just have a little trouble sometimes, tracing heavily enough with crayons to cover the pencil lines.

1. Starting with a 9" x 12" sheet of watercolor paper and pencil...

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Free Draw a Winter Town Download

This time of year it’s easy to add a little winter flair to architecture drawing. I love vintage features found on old buildings, so I’ve made a pdf file that has samples, along with a grid template that encourages students to draw straight lines. You can preview and download my free pdf file HERE.

1. Print on letter size paper. Students may refer to the sample page for ideas and then draw their own cityscape on the grid paper.
2. When the drawing is complete, all lines are traced over with a thin black marker.
3. Crayon or colored pencil may be used to color. Happy Holidays to all!

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How to Draw Rudolf the Reindeer

Here’s a follow-up to my Santa drawing from a few days ago. I used a grocery bag again and made this drawing that was inspired by some clip art I saw.

1. Follow the instructions on the Santa posting to draw your stamp border on a 6" square. Score by folding or use a ruler to draw the center guide lines.

2. Draw the back of the head as shown.

3. Add the front of the head, with the nose just touching the border.

4. Draw the ears and antlers.

5. Add the eye and the points on the antlers.

6. Erase all connecting lines, trace over with a thin black marker, and color with crayons or colored pencils.

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How To Draw a Santa Stamp

I had really good results with this Santa drawing today. Any colored paper works, but my favorite is just a swatch of a brown grocery bag for that earthy, recycled look.

1. With a 6" square of brown...

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How to Draw a Giraffe

I tried out this giraffe drawing project today in my afterschool class. Just when I thought that maybe it was a bit too difficult for my youngest students, I turned around to see this amazing work of art by Lily G., a kindergartener. I can’t draw things this charming, but Lily sure can.

1. Students started with an 8.5" x 17" sheet..

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Draw a Christmas Ornament Card

I made this Christmas ornament drawing using a set of fine tip markers. If you draw the edges of a shape lightly in pencil, fill in the inside with lines, and then erase the outside pencil, the look can be rather sophisticated.
1. Lightly draw three straight lines of various lengths from the top of the card, and then add the outer shapes of an ornament.
2. Fill in little circles for the chains, add sets of horizontal lines and shapes to fill each ornament. Erase all pencil lines.

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How To Draw a Fall Tree

I found this project on Artsonia.com, and I love how it makes students think of trees as a series of branches, and not just a fluffy shape that sits on a stick (not a bad place to start, but can be left behind at some point).

1. Ask the students to draw a large "Y" on their paper.
2. Show them how to add smaller "Y"s on each side, alternating as they go up each branch. To make the "Y"s the most realistic, they should be directed toward the sky somewhat, and not at 90 degree angles.
3. When the lines are complete, they need to be thickened. The fattest part of the trunk should be at the bottom, and all the lines should gradually get thinner until they end in points at the top.
4. Lots of fall colors can be colored around the branches. I used my favorite Portfolio oil pastels here.
5. The background may be added, with grass and shadow and sun and clouds.

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How to Draw A Maple Leaf

I love all things relating to the fall season, especially the wonderful shape and color of the classic fall maple leaf. It’s shape can look a bit complex until you break it down into steps. I made my leaf with grocery bag paper to give it a natural look and feel. Another lovely way to recycle.

1. Give each student approximately half of the seamless side of an average grocery bag to make a piece that measures about 7" x 11". Using rulers, they are to center an 8" vertical line.
2. Measure 4" from either end to find the center, and make a dot from which two “stems” are added at approximately 45 degree angles.
3. Small scallops are drawn at the tip of each line. They should all be the same size.
4. The 2 large“J” shapes connect the scallops. This shape should extend about half way down to the center point.
5. Two more “J” shapes are added with the ends of both just about level with the center point.
6. Gentle curved lines connect the outer points to the center point.
7. Add a second line to widen the stem so that it can be colored in. Small vein lines can be added, all to be traced heavily in pencil. Use colored pencils to fill in the leaf. Layer lots of fall colors and press hard to make a rich looking leaf.

8. Cut out carefully and display as desired.

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How to Draw a Clown

Clowns takes me right back to black velvet paintings, but the subject matter tends to really bring out the creative side of students. Maybe it’s the permission to be silly, which hopefully of goes without saying when drawing a clown face.

1. I started with a 9" x 13" black piece of paper and pencil. I know it is sometimes a little tricky to see the pencil lines, but using either dark pencils or really dark paper will help. Follow my diagram as follows:
a. Draw a large oval.
b. Draw an upside down hat on top.
c. Add two eyes, a round nose and a single line mouth.
d. Add arches over the eyes and two ears on the side.
e. Starting on the left side of the face, draw the ruffle by drawing down, lots of curves across to the right, and up to meet the right side of the face. Also add a flower coming out of the hat.
f. Add curly hair to fill up the space below the hat and above the ears.
2. Trace all the lines with a thick black oil pastel
3. Color in all the shapes with oil pastel. If some of the black lines are lost, trace again with pastel when complete.

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Warhol Cat Drawing

Here's a little different take on a cat drawing, one where you can focus on drawing the face, and then kind of generalize a sitting position for the body. It's actually an attempt to copy Andy Warhol's famous "Red Sam" which is a very cool painting by a very cool artist.

1. Start by drawing a large, rounded "W" in the middle of the paper, and connect the tops points together to close in the head. Add a small curve at the bottom to make a chin.
2. Add two ears that sit at angles at the top and erase the inside lines. Draw two eyes and a nose that extends down to an upside down triangle.
3. Complete the face by drawing whiskers from the cheeks. Draw the cat body around the head by adding a large curve at the top and two bumps at the sides for the hips.
4. Add feet at the bottom and a long tail wherever there is room. After the pencil drawing is complete, trace the lines with a black Sharpie marker, taking care to make the lines fuzzy and broken like fur. Distribute watercolor paint and have fun filling in your beautiful cat!

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