How to draw a lion's head with a pencil

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In this article we consider how to draw a lion in stages for children and adults who are learning to draw. The lion is one of the standards of strength, courage, wisdom and justice. The image of this animal is very popular, ranging from cartoons and comics to city symbols.

For example, according to the stories of Londoners and visitors, it is known that tourists tend to one attraction more than all the others, and this attraction is a sculptural group of four huge bronze lions, each weighing seven tons, at the foot of Nelson's Column. They were designed by British artist and sculptor Edwin Landseer and installed in 1867.

Landseer's big cats are one of the most famous creations in Western art. But, of course, there are many others. Artists have depicted lions for thousands of years, and they have become such a common motif that they are often overlooked. In various branches of creativity and religions, this animal has a variety of features. In this article we will look at the basic techniques of how to draw a lion head.pencil.

This drawing is pretty tricky, but working on these techniques will get you up to speed quickly. This very detailed tutorial includes many steps that gradually and smoothly lead you to how to draw a lion's head. If you are going to work with pencil and paper, please keep the lines light for the initial steps of the drawing so that you can easily erase them later.

Draw the basic shapes of the muzzle and head

Create a lion's head like in the example above:

1. Draw a straight vertical line across the middle of the drawing area and then an intersecting horizontal line towards the top end of the first line.
2. Make a circle around the intersection to get the width and shape of the top of the head.
3. Draw two circles to indicate the basic shape and size of the ears.
4. To the bottom end of the big circle, draw two more circles (slightly overlapping the big one) to represent the muzzle.
5. Draw a half circle below the two circles for the lower jaw.
6. Design a set of lines from the large circle to the semi-circle of the lower jaw to line up the muzzle.
7. Draw two curves starting slightly below the horizontal line in the direction of the curves to create construction lines for the muzzle.
8. Draw the outer shape of the mane as two sets of curves.

Draw the features of the muzzle

1. Draw the basic shapes of the features of the muzzleand erase some of the construction lines from the previous step so your drawing doesn't get cluttered.
2. Add cheekbone shapes to the sides that extend from the area around the outer corners of the eyes and eventually curve inwards towards the nose.
3. Then add more detail to the muzzle area, starting with small curves around the nose and ending with large curves that first go in and then out around the eyes.
4. Draw the eyes right above the horizontal line (the inner corner should be below the line) from the first step.
5. Draw the shape of the nose as in the example above.

Emphasize the shape of the muzzle

Now refine the outer construction lines of the muzzle from the first step to a more precise shape of the lion's head.

Draw small details of the muzzle

Now work on the fine details of the muzzle.

1. Add the inner curves of the ears, pretty much following the outer curves.
2. Draw the bottom of the mouth with the outer corners hanging down.
3. Add a pupil, a reflective area and specify the upper shaded area inside the eye. Also draw the curves of the upper and lower eyelids, as in the example above.
4. Add a tiny "slit" towards the bottom of the nose as in the example above.

Add a base fill (shadow)

Draw/shade the areas of the eyes, nose and mouth as in the example above. You can also go to some of your lines insketch and shade them to complete the drawing.

Draw the inner hair of the mane and chin

You can pretty much indicate each little wad of fur with just one or two lines. Try making each wad a slightly different shape, size, and length for a natural look.

Draw a mane

Draw the rest of the lion's mane. Usually the clumps of fur are smaller around the top and larger around the bottom where the fur is longer.

Add mustache

Lions usually have lots of tiny black dots around the top of their mouths from which grow whiskers. Draw a few rows before painting the rest.

Draw the whiskers thicker towards the base and thinner towards their outer tips. It's also worth drawing them in different lengths, and don't forget to bend them in different directions to make your drawing look more natural.

When the mustache is finished, you should have a line drawing ready. If you want to add some colors to it, but do not know how to paint a lion's head with paints, then you can take some brown, yellow, orange and white colors. The muzzle will be slightly lighter, while the mane will be darker. Experiment with colors, your pencil drawing can serve as a coloring book for you.

This face image can be very difficult to draw, but you can simplify it by first breaking it down into simpler shapes, andthen refining your drawing step by step to the fine details. Now you know how to draw a lion's head. But the main thing that you need to develop is the firmness of the hand and the worked out lines. There are many more different drawing techniques, the main thing is to remember that hard work and patience are the key to your progress.