How to Draw a Lion Step by Step – Easy drawing a Lion

How to Draw a Lion with this how-to video and step-by-step drawing instructions. Easy animals to draw for beginners and kids.

Please see the drawing tutorial in the video below

You can refer to the simple step-by-step drawing guide below

Step 1:

Create the shape of the main body
To start drawing your lion, create a large and long horizontal oval on your canvas. Our top advice for this first step of your lion drawing is to place the oval of the main body in the center of your drawing.

You also want to make sure that there is plenty of space on all sides of the main body where you will be drawing the limbs and head.

Step 2:

Start drawing the lion’s head
Again, we’ll use a long oval to shape your lion’s head. The oval construction of the head should be significantly smaller than the main body.

You want the head oval to be almost vertical but slightly tilted to the left.

Step 3:

Plan a lion’s tail
To create the basic shape of the tail in your lion sketch, draw a curved shape starting at the top of the main body oval.

Step 4:

Shaping the hind legs
Our lion appears to us as if lying on its side, so the legs (one front and one back) on the other side of the lion will be partially hidden. This difference of opinion is why construction lines can be so useful. Start by drawing the upper thigh of the lion’s paw closest to us. One end of the curve will start at the bottom end of the tail. Below this thigh, draw the bottom of the leg slightly forward, then add an irregular oval to represent the foot.

For the second back foot, just repeat these steps, but remember to keep the back half of one leg behind the other.

Step 5:

Standing in front of the lion
If you look at the image below, you’ll see that the lion’s front paws have a very different shape than the hind legs. Start by drawing the leg closest to you, drawing two curved lines that extend slightly forward. Add a split line just above the bottom of the leg and then add an uneven oval to represent the leg of your lion sketch.

For the second leg, repeat this process but this leg should extend straight down and it should be partially blocked by the other front leg.

Step 6:

Detail Drawing of a Lion’s Head
In this step, you will use four lines to create the base structure for the facial details. These lines will help you when you want to know how to draw a lion face. Start with a large vertical line that runs through the center of the lion’s head drawing and curves toward the front of the canvas. Next, draw three curved horizontal lines towards the bottom of the canvas.

The two bottom lines will help you place the right nose and mouth closer together near the bottom of the oval on top.

Step 7:

Sketch the shape of the ear
This step is very easy and quick. All you need to do is place an incomplete oval on either side of the head oval.

Step 8:

Shaping the lion’s mane
The lion’s mane is very beautiful and detailed. In this step, we just need to contour the mane with a line.

Draw a mane shape around the head, which flows to the floor and covers a significant portion of the front legs and main oval of the body.

Step 9:

Create the final sketch of your lion sketch
Now that you’ve drawn all of your construction lines, it’s time to use them to create the final contour of your lion drawing. Start by outlining the ears and use facial contours to place features. On the top horizontal line, draw eyes on either side of the vertical line. On the center horizontal line, draw the nose with the center running along the vertical construction line. On the bottom horizontal construction line, draw the mouth. Perfect the facial details using short strokes to shape the contours of the face and the lion’s chin.

As you move down the body, don’t outline the mane shape as we will do this in the next step. You also don’t want to outline anything in the mane shape, start outlining your body after it’s over.

Curl the lion’s back down and up to join the tail contour. You can outline the rest of the body by sticking pretty close to the construction lines. When you get to the foot section, use small curved lines to create the toes for your lion sketch and add a small nail to each toe.

Step 10:

Shaping the lion’s mane
In this step, you’ll use the mane build shape to help you create the final contour. When sketching a lion’s mane, you want to use short wavy strokes to give the impression of fur. Towards the bottom, you want to bring the mane to small, flame-like spots. You want all currents to flow in the same direction downwards. Add additional lines and coats in the wider mane shape.

Once you’ve completed this step and are happy with your mane, you can erase any construction lines that are still visible.

Step 11:

Add texture details to your lion sketch
Now comes the fun step in our “drawing lion” tutorial. In this step, you will use a series of

short and long lines to create a fur pattern all over the lion’s body. Start by texturing the mane using long lines. You want to make sure that all your lines follow the curve of the mane. On the face, use a combination of dots and short lines to add texture around the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. While you’re here, let’s add some contour to the face shape to give it more depth.

As you move up the body, use short strokes to contour the legs, belly, and end of the lion’s body.

Step 12:

Add the first color layer
To create realistic colors in your lion painting, you will need to color in different layers. To start, use light brown or light brown to color the entire body of the lion.

No matter what medium you are using, make sure that you create a smooth and even coat without any major smudges.

Step 13:

Dimensioning with Shading and Highlights
You will now breathe some life into your lion sketch by adding some highlights and shadows. Start by creating a shadow with a bit of black and a soft brush. Use this black to shade the lion’s frame, including the upper back, tail, belly, and between all the legs.

For all your shadows, go soft with black and try to blend it as smoothly as possible. You can always add more shadows, but you can’t remove them once enabled.

Add some shadows to the facial structure, around the nose, on the forehead, inside the ears, nostrils and in the lower lip. At the end of this step, use a little white paint to create accents throughout the body. Focus the white on the lower half of the lion’s face, just below the eyes, on the front of the hind legs and apply all over the body.

Step 14:

Draw details on the mane
The base color for the lion’s mane is dark chocolate brown. Use this shadow to fill in the shape of the mane and color the tip of the tail.

Step 15:

Add the final strokes of the highlight
Now that we have the base color of the lion’s mane, it’s time to embellish it with some highlights. Using a small soft brush and a light beige color, add a fade effect to the lion’s mane. Starting at the outer edge of the mane, add more light brown highlights as you get closer to the lion’s face. Complete the highlight of the mane by adding a bit of gray to the mane just below the chin.

Now you can repeat this marking process on the small part of the lion’s tail.

Step 16:

Perfect your lion drawing
You’re almost done with your lion drawing, and we’ve reached the final step. This step is optional, simply providing a more seamless finish. You can achieve this by erasing the outlines of your lion sketch. If you are using a drawing tablet, this is very easy for you. If you are using a physical vehicle, simply use the corresponding shade at each point to track it.

If you joined this tutorial and want to know how to draw a lion, we hope to have answered this question for you. Now you know how to draw a lion’s face and body easily and how to create realistic colors. Hope you enjoyed this lion drawing tutorial and you feel more confident creating lifelike lion drawings.