How to Draw a Dinosaur the Easy Way

Have you ever gone through some of the cartooned images of dinosaurs online and you are left wondering what was wrong with the one who decided to draw it? Some of them are honestly ridiculers.

I have worked on helping people learn their artistic side when it comes to being creative. That is why I am currently several of these drawing videos that I know will be very helpful to you.

Currently, I am basing on the dinosaur aspect to help grow both the interest and the curiosity of a young mind. It should help them mature into other images and even aspects of their creativity. If you are having male children in the house, I am sure you will really appreciate this article.

Basic things to know before you start drawing a dinosaur.

Just like when you want to start a project, you will need to have a few basic things at the back of your mind. The same things then go for when you want to draw a dinosaur too. You should be prepared in advance.

• What do you want to draw? There are so many forms and species of dinosaurs out there; you should research well before drawing it, unless when you already have a preferred one in mind.
• How does it look like? Understand why it looks like that through the features that it has according to its species, will help you form it to look exactly like how a real one does. Things like the neck length, or the height of the limbs and even the tail.

• Why are you drawing it? Know your reason for drawing it. Would you like it for fun, or you would like it to be detailed and intense. For a young child, details will be just a waste of time. However, if you are drawing it for an art class or even for a project that you need to submit, the more details the drawing will have the more real and more points you are going to get.
• Have you drawn it before? Having an idea of how it is drawn is a good way of getting started. Get the best guide book or video if it is your first time. It will help you get a more honest view of how it looks like and how the final drawing should also look like. Just like the one I offer on my videos.
• Are you ready to make mistakes while you draw? You can’t draw a perfect one on your first trial, so be gentle with yourself and allows yourself to learn and practice especially if you want a detailed one. This is why I always advise you to have several tracing papers with you.

What you need.

Before you get down to draw anything, make sure you have enough of the following items to get you going. Any artist can attest that you can’t draw minus them at any point.

1. Drawing papers.
2. Good pencil and pens/charcoal.
3. An eraser
4. Color pencil/ paint/ crayons if you will need to color.
5. A good calm environment.
6. A copy or guide on how to draw the dinosaur.

Drawing an actual dinosaur

There are so many approaches that people have taken over the years to try drawing dinosaurs of whatever type. However, it all boils down to you and the approach that you would like to take part in.

If it is a children level type of drawing or one that will be 3D with colors and even details. They will each work differently at the end but the basics are the same for all of them.

In this article, I want to major on some of the dinosaur species that I honestly think to give the most basic idea of what most of them look like. In my opinion, they are the major ones which mean most of the images that you will get, will ultimately revolve around the 3 below.

Even when asked to draw any other species, you will notice some similarity with the following ones.

Drawing a Stegosaurus

A stegosaurus is a plant-eating species. This means that they will have a slightly narrow and long skull to allow it to reach the ground easily and nibble on the grass or the plants without any trouble.

They will naturally then have their heads lower than most of the other dinosaur species and because of their general body size, you will notice that their necks are then shorter compared to their body.

The most distinct features of the stegosaurus are the diamond-shaped plates that arise from the surface of their backs with the largest ones being around their hips region. There are also some spike-like shapes features on their tails that are mainly aimed for protection purposes.

1. At the bottom left of your paper, draw an elongated open oval-shaped that is supposed to be the head of the dinosaur. You may not get to shape out exactly as the head looks like, but it will give you the basic outline that it should take.
2. Within the oval, draw a curve at the lower region for the mouth and a dot at the top to show the eyes and a smaller one at the edge of the oval for the nose. These are just symbols, you can as well be as creative as you like.
3. Next, we draw short lines coming out of the ends of the oval you drew at step 1 to show the head. Note, the lines need to look like they are going slightly apart from each other, to show that is the head moving towards the body through the neck. However, be careful not to exaggerate them.
4. Under the line on the lower side, we will need another shorter one from the chin area of the head to the end of that line. Make sure that the line does not go very far from the original line you drew in step 2. It should look slightly real.
5. They have short legs, so here we draw the legs by drawing two curves to show the front legs. The foot area will just be a flat broad surface. Add another slightly hidden curve on the front line of the foot you have drawn to show the second front leg that is hidden.
6. Follow up with another slightly longer line to show the belly region of the stegosaurus. Try and ensure that the line is not too straight. No animal has a straight belly. Give it a slight curve just for the fun of it and to ensure that it looks slightly realistic.

1. At the end of this line, draw a parted v-shaped line, to show the knee section of the leg with a follow-up curve going in and another one going out for the hind leg.
2. To draw the back, we move back to the oval shape we had drawn at step 1. The top side end, we left untouched. Now, draw a bigger curve from that and let it flow slightly past the hind leg to the bottom side where the possible tail should be.
3. Next, draw another slight curve on the same level as the belly line, from the hind leg to the end of the curve drawn at step 9. You would have formed the tail of the stegosaurus.
4. Here we need to draw the other back leg so that we don’t forget it. Just after the one we have already drawn in step 7, ad a straight line just below the high region of that leg. Add a curve from the tail region just after the straight line you have already drawn and join the two at the bottom to form the foot of the other hind leg.
5. Do not forget the toes on both the front and the hind legs. Every animal has toes except the few that have hooves like a horse. The toes make them more real.
6. It has diamond spikes on the back. From the head region to some distance from the tip of the tail. Begin shaping out diamond-like features, ascending in size to the area above the hip and then descending to the tail region.

1. The plates should look like they are overlapping each other, just the way you could draw flower petals. The idea is to show that they are on either side of the spine of the dinosaur. You could even be creative enough and show the two sets at the end of the tail. This will make it look like the tail had been tilted to face you: the artist.
2. The last thing is the spikes that are on the tip of the tail. On each side of the tail, just draw banana-shaped things, two on each side, to give you the end of the tail. Try and make it pointy at the end to bring out the whole defense thing clearer.
3. For the 3D effect that you would be wanting, you will need to add a few wrinkles around the eyes, knees and thigh sections to make it look as simple but real as possible. Go through other drawing guidelines to see where they form best in your type of drawing if need be.

Drawing a Triceratops

A triceratops is slightly different from the rest. It has a large skull that occupies around ¾ of their general size of the animal. They have a large beak-like feature over their front teeth. They also have a pair of horns just above each eye and another one about their nostrils.

Generally, they have a short hand with 3 hooves each and legs that are also short with 4 hooves on each. You will notice that unlike the others, they are shorter and close to the ground making it easier for them to feed.

1. Start with the horns by shaping 2, V-shapes on one side of the paper, to signify the two horns on the top of the head. The V-shapes should be facing where you would like the body of the dinosaur to be.
2. Below the horns you have drawn in step 1, shape out the head with the second horn that is just above the nostrils.
3. Draw the eyes to shape out the head on the space above the second horn you have drawn in step 2. Every great artist knows that correctly approximating the eyes gives you the best positioning of the head despite what you are drawing.
4. We are now drawing the disk-like shape (head plate) on its head beginning from the nose horn, to between the two V-shaped horns and circling back to the end of the head that you have drawn on step 2.

1. Give the head plate some spikes all along the edge. These are just tiny V’s facing the curve of the horn so that it looks sharp and dangerous. After all, it is for security purposes.
2. We move to the mouth where you will also draw a v-like shape just below the point where their head and the circular shape of the head were meeting. This is going to be the mouth of the dinosaur.

1. The chin is going to be next, where you will draw a wide w-shape from the tip of the V drawn in 6, and hanging where the belly will be at.
2. The front legs will be next shaping out from the end of the W, we have just drawn in step 7. Like elephants legs, you will need to draw two thick legs, one covering the other to show that it is on the opposite side. Which means, ideally the end picture will be 3 lines, but with two separate sections of the legs to show the difference in sides.
3. Remember it has 3 hooves on the front legs which others call hands. Make sure you place them at the bottom of the legs you have just drawn
4. The next step is to draw a semi-circle just behind the head plate running to the bottom, for its back. The end of the semi-circle will be the end of its tail.
5. The hind legs will be next. Start drawing a curve leaning to the inside of your dinosaur from somewhere close to the top edge of the semi-circle you have just drawn. It should end close to the edge of the tail you have given the dinosaur.
6. Just like the front leg, shape it out to look wide but short. Draw a follow-up curve that is to shows the legs to the thigh region. On the second front foot, draw a small curve bending towards the leg to signify the other hind leg that would have been covered by the body of the dinosaur.
7. Draw a line between the two legs to show the belly of the dinosaur. However, don’t make the line too straight. No living creature has a straight tummy. Give it a slight curve just to make it seem real.

1. Draw a follow-up line, on the same level after the hind leg and curve downwards towards the end of the semi-circle curve you have drawn in step 10. This will form the tail of the triceratops.
2. All that has now remained is a few details. They could be some short lines on the horns, legs and the back of the body.

Drawing a Brontosaurus

Brontosaurus has long necks compared to other species. This facilitates their behavior of browsing over trees as they feed on day-to-day. They have a small head about their body, which I think makes it easier for them to raise it high up over the trees.

Artistically speaking, it is honestly one of the simplest species of them that you can comfortably draw even for the novices. Even when you come to think about it, many of the cartoons and drawing we even get on novels and children’s storybooks are mostly the brontosaurus, because of its simplicity.

Not much is known about the brontosaurus. This is the reason why you may not get so many details about it unlike the other species of its type. Many of what you get are just assumptions and beliefs from scholars and experts. However, when it comes to the physic it is very clear and exact.

1. At the top of the paper, we will start with the head. Ensure it is at the top left of your page. Draw an open curve facing the rest of the paper where the neck of your dinosaur will be at.
2. On the curve, add a simple bold dot almost at the center to represent the eye. Don’t make it too big or too small.
3. We know they have long thin necks. Therefore, from the ends of the head you have just drawn, add two longer lines bending downwards to show the neck region. You however need to remember that since it is going to the body, the neck will thicken as it goes to the body.
4. Adjust the bottom line to go way lower and then curve inwards to show the belly of the dinosaur. You should be careful not to make the belly bulge too big. It will be harder to ease up to the body if you do.
5. At the end of the line we have just drawn to show the belly, we draw slightly curved lines downwards for the front legs. Try and make them look proportionate to the body of the dinosaur that you are trying to replicate.
6. The feet of the Brontosaurus is large and round like the elephants. You will then just need to extend the line slightly outside and then join the two with another curve at the bottom. It should take the shape of an elephant’s foot, though it will not be it exactly.
7. At the end of the second front leg line, extend the belly line we had drawn in step 3 for just a short distance. It should look like a simple continuation of the belly that it already has.
8. Draw another set of curves bending downwards to show the presence of the hind legs. Ensure they are slightly bigger than the ones you drew for the front ones.
9. We go back to the lines we had drawn in step 2. We have left the top line hanging. We need to give the brontosaurus aback. We, therefore, need to extend that line with a curve bending downwards running to some good distance after the hind leg that we have just drawn above.
10. Follow up with another line; from step 6 to the end of the one we have drawn in step 8 to form the tail of the dinosaur. Remember the tail is long and whip-like. It should therefore be narrow and long compared to the rest of the body.
11. Depending on the extent of detail that you would like to put in your work, you will need to add some wrinkles on the back, and legs just to make it look more real.

Final word

Drawing is fun and very simple as long as you get the right guide and a simple tactic to use. The same thing goes for when you want to draw a dinosaur. All you need is a good amount of practice to get you going. However, everything takes time. In this article, we look at how to draw the major three species, stegosaurus, triceratops and brontosaurus. Ideally, many of the others will kind of look like one of the three. You will then have a better idea when it comes to drawing out of them. . It is even advised that you shade under the legs for surface effect. Show that your dinosaur is not floating on air with is impossible.

So let’s get started.