How To Draw A Lions Head

This step by step tutorial shows how to draw a panthera leo's confront and head going from a basic shape sketch to a finished line drawing.

Lion face drawing step by step — Lion face drawing pace by stride

As a king of beasts's face is fairly complex this is a very detailed tutorial with many steps. If yous are going to be following along using pencil and paper please be certain to make low-cal lines for the initial steps of the drawing and so that you can hands erase them later.

Step 1 – Draw the Major Shapes of the King of beasts'due south Face up & Head

Lion face proportions drawing — Panthera leo face proportions cartoon

Start the drawing of the lion's face by beginning breaking information technology down into more basic shapes.

For an explanation of why you should draw this way run into:

Beginner Guide to Learning to Draw

Lion basic head shape step by step drawing — Lion basic head shape step by pace drawing

Construct the lion's head equally in the example above:

Depict a directly vertical line through the middle of your drawing area followed by an intersecting horizontal line towards the upper end of the first line
Make a circle around the intersection to become the rough width and shape o the upper part of the caput
Draw ii circles to signal the basic shape and size of the ears
Towards the bottom stop of the big face circle draw ii more circles (slightly overlapping the big i) to stand for the finish of the snout
Draw a half circle below the two "snout" circles (slightly narrower in with) for the lesser jaw
Projection a fix of lines from the big face circumvolve towards the lesser jaw half circle to human action as structure lines
Draw two curves staring from slightly below the horizontal line towards the "snout end" curves to create construction lines for the snout
Describe the outer shape of the mane as two sets of curves

Stride 2 – Describe the Facial Features

Draw the basic shapes of the major facial features and erase some of the construction lines from the previous step so that your drawing does not get chaotic.

Add cheek os shapes on the sides going from the surface area around the outer corners of the eyes and eventually curving inwards towards the nose.

Adjacent add more than details of the snout area starting from some small curves around the nose to the larger curves that first go in and then outwards around the eyes.

Lion eye shape drawing — Lion heart shape drawing

Draw he eyes straight to a higher place the horizontal line (with the inner corner going below the line) from stride ane with the shape equally in the to a higher place example.

Draw the shape of the nose as the example above.

Stride three – Refine Shape of the Face

Now refine the outer construction lines of the face from pace one to a more precise shape of the panthera leo'southward head.

Lion face shape drawing — Panthera leo face shape drawing

Step 4 – Draw the Smaller Details of the Confront

Lion face detail drawing — King of beasts face detail drawing

Now work on the smaller details of the lion's confront.

Add the inner curves of the ears pretty much post-obit the outer curves.

Draw the lesser function of the mouth with the outer corners sort of "hanging down".

Lion eye details drawing — Panthera leo eye details drawing

Add the pupil, reflection expanse and signal the upper shaded expanse inside the eye. Too draw the curves of the upper and lower eyelids as in the above instance.

Lion nose details drawing — King of beasts nose details cartoon

Add a tiny "split" towards the bottom of the nose as in the above example.

Footstep 5 – Add Some Basic Fill/Shading

Lion facial features details drawing — Panthera leo facial features details cartoon

Fill in/shade the areas of the optics nose and mouth as in the above example. You can as well starting time going over some of your light sketch lines with a more solid stroke to finalize the cartoon.

Step six – Draw the Inner Mane & Chin Fur

Lion inner mane and chin fur drawing — Lion inner mane and chin fur cartoon

Draw the inner function of the mane fur as well the fur on the chin.

You tin can pretty much indicate each little fur clump with just one or two lines. Endeavor and make each clump of slightly dissimilar shape, size and length to brand the fur await natural.

Step 7 – Describe the Mane

Lion mane drawing — Panthera leo mane drawing

Draw the residuum of the lion's mane. Generally the fur clumps volition be smaller effectually the pinnacle area and larger around the bottom where the fur is longer.

Footstep eight – Draw the Whiskers

Finally add some whiskers to stop the drawing.

Lions generally have a ready of tiny black dots around the upper area of their oral cavity that the whiskers abound out of. Draw a few rows of these before drawing the whiskers.

Describe the whiskers thicker towards the base and thinner towards their outer tips. Too be certain to draw them of various length and curving in slightly dissimilar directions to make your drawing await more natural.

When the whiskers are washed you should accept a finished line drawing of the panthera leo's head.

Decision

A lion's face up and head tin be very complex to draw but y'all tin make it easier past first breaking it downward into more basic shapes and and then refining your drawing stride by step downward to the smaller details.

For cartoon the total body of a lion from the side view see:

How to Draw a Lion Full Torso Step by Stride

For other similar tutorials see: