How to draw a dinosaur
A long-neck dinosaur is the friendliest dino to draw: a big oval body, a small round head, and the neck that connects them does all the character work.
- 9 steps
- 11 minutes
- 4-10 Ages
- Easy
How do you draw a dinosaur?
Sketch a small circle high up for the head and a big horizontal oval for the body, leaving a gap for the neck. Outline the head, start the body, then draw the neck as two long lines. Add the snout and eyes, small spikes along the back, a pointed tail and four sturdy legs.
Watch it drawn, line by line
The whole drawing in under half a minute, in the same order as the steps below. No sound, so play it anywhere.
Draw it step by step
The new lines for each step are drawn in red. The grey dashed shapes are guides, sketch them lightly and rub them out at the end.
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1 Step 1: Guide shapes
Sketch a small circle for the head and a big horizontal oval for the body, very lightly.
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2 Step 2: Head outline
Draw a big curved line around the guide for the head, add a short curved line inside and a tiny smile.
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3 Step 3: Body start
Add two short curved lines at the left and right edges of the big oval, plus three small curved bits along the bottom.
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4 Step 4: Long neck
Draw two straight vertical lines down for the neck, then a small U shape to close the bottom.
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5 Step 5: Face details
Draw a wide oval for the snout, two small circles for eyes, a tiny oval mouth, two dots for nostrils, and a small cheek curve.
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6 Step 6: Back spikes
Draw a long curved line for the back, then add small triangles on it for spikes.
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7 Step 7: The tail
Add a long pointed oval shape for the tail, starting at the back.
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8 Step 8: Front legs
Draw two big U shapes for the front legs, and a small U shape in the middle for another leg.
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9 Step 9: Back legs
Add a big U shape for the back leg and a thinner U shape just behind it.
What do you need to draw a dinosaur?
A pencil, paper and an eraser. Leave room at the top of the page: the neck goes higher than you expect, and running out of paper mid-neck is the classic dino mistake.
Where do you start?
With the grey guide shapes, sketched lightly. The big oval is the body and the small circle, high up, is the head. The gap between them is not empty: that is where the neck will live, so resist the urge to draw them close together.
What is the hardest part of drawing a dinosaur?
The neck, in step 4. It is two long lines, and they have to be drawn calmly, one stroke each, running from the body up to the head. Keep them a steady distance apart. Short, scratchy strokes are what make a neck look lumpy, and a neck that wanders is the one thing that will not rub out cleanly, because everything else is already attached to it.
Second thing: the legs are columns, not sticks. A long neck dinosaur weighed as much as several elephants, so give it legs that look like they could carry that.
How do you make it your own?
- Change the spikes. Bigger triangles down the back make a fiercer dino; leave them off and it looks gentle.
- Make it eat. A small tree next to it, with the head bent towards the leaves.
- Change the dino. Shorten the neck, enlarge the head and add tiny arms: now it is a T-rex.
- Add a baby. The same drawing at half size next to it, neck curved towards the big one.
What else is worth knowing about dinosaurs?
The long neck dinosaurs, called sauropods, were the largest animals ever to walk on land. Some grew longer than three school buses parked in a row, yet their heads were about the size of a horse head. They could not chew: they swallowed leaves whole and even swallowed stones to grind the food in their stomachs. And the neck you just drew was not held straight up like a crane; most of the time it swept along in a long, gentle curve.
Questions people ask about drawing a dinosaur
Is this easy enough for a 6 year old?
Yes. Nine steps, rated easy, and the only part that needs an adult nearby is the neck. Everything else is ovals, U shapes and small triangles.
How long does it take?
About eleven minutes. The face in step 5 has six small shapes in it and takes longer than it looks.
Which dinosaur is this?
It is a friendly long neck, the shape most children mean when they say dinosaur: small head, long neck, heavy body, long tail. It is drawn as a cartoon, not as a museum reconstruction, so it has a smile.
